Birthplace of American independence
Boston is where the American Revolution stopped being an argument and became a war. The Massacre in 1770, the Tea Party in 1773, and the running fight back from Concord in 1775 all happened within a few square miles, and the Freedom Trail — a painted red line, unglamorous and extremely effective — connects sixteen of those sites on foot. The city was founded in 1630 on a peninsula so small that most of today's Back Bay is landfill, dumped into the water over decades in the 19th century. Harvard and MIT anchor one of the world's densest concentrations of research talent just across the river. The neighborhoods hold their identities hard: Beacon Hill's gas lamps, the North End's Italian bakeries, South Boston's waterfront, each defended with the seriousness of a separate town.
