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Beacon Hill
The original Boston settlers, clustered around what are now the Old State House and the North End, considered Beacon Hill far distant. Today the distance is a matter of atmosphere; climbing "the Hill" is like traveling back in time. Lace up your walking shoes (the brick sidewalks gnaw at anything fancier, and driving is next to impossible), wander the narrow streets, and admire the brick and brownstone architecture.
At Beacon and Park streets is a figurative high point (literally, it's the high point): Charles Bulfinch's magnificent State House. The 60-foot monument at the rear illustrates the hill's original height, before the top was shorn off to use in 19th-century landfill projects. Beacon and Mount Vernon streets run downhill to commercially dense Charles Street, but if ever there was an area where there's no need to head in a straight line, it's this one. Your travels might take you past the former homes of Louisa May Alcott (10 Louisburg Sq.), Henry Kissinger (1 Chestnut St.), Julia Ward Howe (13 Chestnut St.), Edwin Booth (29A Chestnut St.), and Robert Frost (88 Mount Vernon St.). One of the oldest black churches in the country, the African Meeting House, is at 8 Smith Court.
These days, Alcott probably wouldn't be able to afford even the rent for a home on Louisburg Square (say "Lewis-burg"). Twenty-two homes where a struggling writer would more likely be an employee than a resident surround the lovely park. The iron-railed square is open only to tenants with keys.
Your wandering will probably lead you down to Charles Street. After you've had your fill of the shops and restaurants, you might want to investigate the architecture of the "flats," between Charles Street and the Charles River. Built on landfill, the buildings here are younger than those higher up, but many are just as eye-catching. MTV fans might recognize the converted firehouse at Mount Vernon and River streets as a former Real World location (it's also a one-time Spenser: For Hire set).
T: Red Line to Charles/MGH, Green Line to Park Street, or Blue Line to Bowdoin (weekdays only).
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