Boston, MA

Discover Boston

A city of history and tradition, Boston offers a proud legacy of culture, education, and numerous sporting championships. Boston's independent spirit has been displayed to the world ever since colonists angry over a British tax on their beloved tea dumped shiploads of it into the harbor in protest. In 1630, the city of Boston, Massachusetts was founded. In the early 1600s, the peninsula that would become known as Boston was controlled by Native Americans until John Smith (barber, abolitionist, and state legislator) named the area New England to attract European settlers. It is one of the oldest cities in the U.S.A. No American city has made more of an effort to preserve its history, and you'll find buildings that pre-date the republic dotted throughout the region. But Boston isn't a city to dwell on the past: it has renovated and revitalized, in the process shedding its once deservedly parochial reputation. And its culture is refreshed every fall by an influx of freshmen pouring into its constellation of powerful universities, which attract great minds from around the globe. Visiting will reveal a distinct mix of puritanical ideals and liberal politics — the former responsible for the first public school in the Americas, the latter spurring Massachusetts to become the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. Don't believe everything you've heard about the gruff demeanor of locals. Bostonians are often friendlier than the unacquainted might expect...just don't call it "Beantown" to their face.