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During your Boston vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Nichols House Museum
A stroll around Beacon Hill can leave visitors wishing to know what the stately homes look like inside. This is one of the only places to satisfy your curiosity. This 1804 home is decorated with beautiful antique furnishings collected by several generations of the Nichols family. Its most prominent occupant, Rose Standish Nichols, was a suffragist and a pioneering landscape designer. Her legacy includes not just family heirlooms but objects she brought back from her many travels. Open days may vary, so call ahead.
Faneuil Hall
Built in 1742 (and enlarged by a Charles Bulfinch design in 1805), this building was a gift to the town from prosperous merchant Peter Faneuil. This "Cradle of Liberty" rang with speeches by orators such as Samuel Adams -- whose statue stands outside the Congress Street entrance -- in the years leading to the Revolution. Abolitionists, temperance advocates, and suffragists used the hall as a pulpit in later years. The upstairs is still a public meeting and concert hall, while the downstairs holds retail space, all according to Faneuil's will. The grasshopper weather vane, the sole remaining detail from the original building, is modeled after the weather vane on London's Royal Exchange.National Park Service rangers give free 20-minute talks every half-hour from 9am to 5pm in the second-floor auditorium and operate a visitor center on the first floor. On the top floor is a small museum that houses the weapons collection and historical exhibits of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. Admission is free.To continue on the Freedom Trail: Leave Faneuil Hall, cross North Street, and follow the trail through the "Blackstone Block." These buildings, among the oldest in the city, give a sense of the scale of 18th- and 19th-century Boston. In the park at the corner of North and Union streets are two sculptures of legendary Boston mayor (and Congressman, and federal prisoner) James Michael Curley, the basis for the protagonist of Edwin O'Connor's The Last Hurrah. Pause on Union Street.
Commonwealth Museum/Massachusetts Archives
The nearby Kennedy Library explores the history of one of Boston's most famous families; here, you might find your own clan's history. The Commonwealth Museum has videos, slide shows, and interactive exhibits on the state's people, places, and politics. Topics covered recently in the regularly changing exhibits include the archaeology of the Big Dig, the Civil War, and state history. In the same building, the state archives contain passenger lists for ships that arrived in Boston from 1848 to 1891; state census schedules that date to 1790; and documents, maps, and military and court records starting with the Massachusetts Bay Company (1628-29). Knowledgeable staff members are on hand to answer researchers' questions in person, by mail, or by phone. This is a worthwhile detour on the way to or from the Kennedy Library.
Hilton Boston Logan Airport
Walking From the Airport Terminals: Terminals A & E - From Terminal A & E follow signs for ''bridge to central parking'' and ''pedestrian bridge.'' Take this walkway until the parking elevators. Proceed to second floor and into the Hilton Hotel via skybridge. Terminals B, C & D - Follow the directions from A & E or from the Airport by Hilton Shuttle. From the Airport by Hilton Shuttle: Follow signs to baggage claim area of terminal. Go to courtesy phones and press ...
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