Video: We hold this Boston tourist attraction to be self-evident
In the heart of Boston, Faneuil Hall carries history and stays busy.
Boston has history the way Manhattan has density and Los Angeles has brown lawns. And one of Boston’s busiest historic areas is Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
It goes back to 1742 and, as this video from July shows, has emerged as one of the busiest tourist destinations in the city, full of restaurants, shops and street performers in the area’s South Market, North Market and Quincy Market buildings. The swanky Bostonian Millennium Hotel -- where my family and I enjoyed terrific service -- is across the street.
The marketplace area is all very commercial and touristy – but it’s always been a marketplace, so it would be a bit silly to complain about that.
Instead, if your inner patriot needs feeding, chase down some Revolutionary history. The upstairs meeting room of Faneuil Hall itself is part of the city’s Freedom Trail for good reason.
Every year on Independence Day, someone reads the Declaration of Independence from the balcony. This is in honor of July 18, 1776, when the declaration was first publicly read from that same place.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”
And if your inner tourist needs feeding, the rotunda in the Quincy Market building is a fine place for coffee, a snack and some prime people-watching.
“A Minute Away” is a video series in which nothing much happens -- except you see the world, and hear it, and get a respite from workaday life. We’ve covered Machu Picchu, Red Square, the Yucatan, the Alamo, an Alaskan float plane and the reading room of the New York Public Library, among other places. Since early 2013, we’ve been adding a new minute every week (and some of those “minutes” are closer to 120 seconds. So if you’d prefer an hour or two away, we’ve got more than enough here for you…
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