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Introduction
BOSTON: Boston is a city of contrasts, a gentle blend of the old and the new. The city has a very ‘English’ feel about it, with hilly, crooked, cobblestone streets, a grassy common and cosy Victorian townhouses with polished brass door-knockers. It also played a vital role in the opposition to colonial rule that led to the American War of Independence.
The Freedom Trail, which is marked by signs and a red pavement line, is a walk that passes 16 points of historical interest, some of which are in the Boston National Historical Park. The highest observation point in New England, the 60th-floor John Hancock Observatory, offers a bird’s-eye view of the city. Other attractions include harbour cruises, some of which enable the visitor to see the Boston skyline, the airport and the 1822 USS Constitution at Charlestown Navy Shipyard; the Museum of Fine Arts; the famous Museum of Science; the John F Kennedy Library and Museum; the New England Aquarium; the Old North Church; Faneuil Hall; the Skywalk Observatory at the Prudential Tower (a viewing platform on the 52nd floor, open office hours); and the Cheers Bar, upon which the popular TV series was based.
Cambridge lies across the Charles River from Boston. Here stands Harvard University, the USA’s oldest university (1636). In the south of Boston is Quincy, the birthplace of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
ELSEWHERE: Salem, north of Boston, is famous for its seafaring history and the 1692 witch trials. Also north of Boston, Marblehead is one of the east coast’s premier sailing centres, its old town full of 18th- and 19th-century homes of fishermen, merchants and artisans. Just west of Boston, Concord is one of the most historic and beautiful towns in the USA. Its Old North Bridge was the site of the ‘shot heard round the world’ in the opening engagement of the American War of Independence. The engagement commenced on what is now called Battle Road in Lexington on 15 April 1775. Plimoth Plantation, in Plymouth, is an open-air museum recreating a 1627 Pilgrim village. The Mayflower II, also in Plymouth, is a full-scale reproduction of the ship in which the Pilgrims made their harrowing 66-day voyage from England. Battleship Cove, in Fall River, harbours 20th-century US Navy vessels and is the largest complex of its kind in the country.
New Bedford, a restored whaling community, has the Seamen’s Bethel, which inspired Herman Melville’s description in Moby Dick, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which displays the skeleton of a rare, 66-foot blue whale. Cape Cod has some 400km (250 miles) of beautiful beaches, and 21 seaside towns and fishing villages, making it one of the USA’s prime resort areas. The Cape Cod National Seashore stretches over 27,000 acres, featuring expanses of unspoilt sandy beach and stunning desert-like sand dunes. Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape, is where the Pilgrims first landed. Nantucket Island, once a great whaling port, is now a popular sun resort. Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, a picture-postcard island, both lie off the coast of Cape Cod. They are accessible by air from Boston, Hyannis, New Bedford, Providence (Rhode Island) and New York City, and by ferry from Woods Hole and Hyannis – booking well ahead for ferry and air services is strongly advised in the summertime.
Old Sturbridge Village, in central Massachusetts, is a living history museum recreating an 1830s New England town. The New England Science Center in nearby Worcester has a zoo, various exhibits and a range of lectures, which provide an ideal learning opportunity for all members of the family. The Higgins Armory in Worcester, set in a Gothic-style castle, contains the largest on-display collection of medieval and Renaissance armour in the western hemisphere.
Just two hours from Boston are the Berkshire Hills and the Mohawk Trail. The former is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (based at Tanglewood), and a number of museums, including the Norman Rockwell Museum; whilst the legendary Native American trail winds through 500,000 acres of State parks, forests and reservations. It is very popular for foliage viewing in the autumn.
Massachusetts has been named by the World Wildlife Fund as one of the world’s top ten whale watching spots, with a variety of species of whales found just 40km (25 miles) off the coast. Whale watch cruises operate from April to October and depart from Boston, Gloucester, Hyannis, Nantucket, Newburyport, Plymouth, Provincetown, Quincy and Rockport.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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