A Walking Tour of Boston's Government District

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour from walkthetown.com is ready to explore when you are.

Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.

For more than 300 years the government of Boston has clustered in the area to the northeast of Boston Common. The first town hall was here, the first public school, the first burial...and so on. Where a colonial landmark has survived it often appears like a first-grader playing on the high school basketball team but these historic buildings maange to hold their own on the modern streetscape with the strngth of their character.

This land all belonged to the first white European who settled here in 1622, William Blackstone. The Puritans set up their first hovels in 1630 across the river in Charlestown but quickly resettled here due to presence of a critical natural spring to provide drinking water.

The American Indians called the place “Shawmut” meaning “living waters” but the new arrivals named it Boston after a town back in England. This walking tour will begin in that northeast corner of the Boston Common to see what those settlers created...