About Beacon Hill
Learn about the unique sites and features visitors will encounter on Beacon Hill Circle for Charity Group Tours. Also, check out the new Holiday Tours section!
Step back into 1795 Boston
Tour Beacon Hill and step back two hundred years as you experience a Boston neighborhood that looks and feels much as it did in the days of Paul Revere and the Mt. Vernon Proprietors. Visitors start our tour in the Boston Common, a 45-acre park founded in the 1630’s. The Common has been Beacon Hill’s great outdoor resource for centuries, playing host to cows, militias, duels, celebrities (from George Washington to Pope Paul II), as well as to the modern-day recreational pursuits of City residents and visitors alike.
Next, we’ll cross Beacon Street and enter the Beacon Hill neighborhood, a thriving community of historically preserved townhouses and intriguing shops. By 1848, the entire “Hill” was covered with row houses, nearly all brick and built by Boston’s most renowned architects, predominately in Georgian, Federal or Greek Revival styles.
Thanks to the strict architectural standards of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission, the exteriors of most structures in the Historic Beacon Hill District are preserved to this day.
The best way to experience Beacon Hill is on foot. (Tour buses are not permitted on interior Beacon Hill streets.) The brick sidewalks, twinkling gas lamps, and quaint tree-lined streets create an ambience reminiscent of older European cities. Highlights on our walking tours usually include such popular sites as:
• Acorn Street – A hidden cobblestone lane lined by small homes nestled into the slope of the Hill, this street is Beacon Hill’s most photographed destination
• Louisburg Square – A majestic European style square featuring beautiful federal style houses surrounding a lovely garden. Louisburg Square was designed by Charles Bulfinch, architect of Boston’s State House
• Charles Street – Beacon Hill’s fashionable shopping district
• The North Slope – featuring serene mews and a colorful past, the North Slope played an important role in Boston’s active Underground Railroad.
Let us welcome you into our homes!
Every Beacon Hill Circle for Charity Tour includes a guided tour of the neighborhood as well as the unique opportunity to tour three private homes. Each house tour lasts for 15-20 minutes and includes a mix of architectural and historical facts about the property, as well as the homeowner’s personal perspective as a resident of this timeless community. No other tour in Boston offers this experience to visiting groups.
To learn more about Beacon Hill Circle for Charity Tours, visit our home page.
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