A Visit To Boston
By Harry Bagg
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
For a long time, Boston was the United States. In the 17th and 18th centuries, America's formative years, the city played a starring role in the country's fight for independence. In the 19th century, some of America's most influential doers and thinkers called Boston home, unabashedly dubbing it the "Hub of the Universe.".
In the 20th century, the Biggest Small Town in America experienced the same growing pains sweeping the rest of the nation, including immigration booms, civil rights battles, and problems with urban expansion and renewal.
On this side of the millennium, Boston at times seems to trump up its illustrious past too aggressively. Indeed, many visitors think the city is little more than the Freedom Trail, a walking tour through the city's most important historical landmarks. But while the well-trampled Trail does revisit some exciting moments in US history, this most American of American cities didn't earn the title of "America's Walking City" for one measly 2 mile. walk.
Boston is a restless stew of compact neighborhoods, dramatically distinct communities, winning cultural attractions, and acres of urban parks all of which are best sampled on foot. While the Freedom Trail is a nice place to start, wandering around Boston's many different districts its jumble of streets, its (rarely square) squares---will give you a less well-polished glimpse of a still-evolving metropolis where tired old history is less important and somewhat less fascinating than the lives of those who live in the city today.
