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BOSTON_HISTORY
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| Boston: Tracking History of a Nation |
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It was originally a Puritan settlement when founded in 1630. Some 60 years later, the colony grew to include the preceding Pilgrims, who had arrived at Plymouth in 1620, and then formed the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The village was established on the Shawmut peninsula, a place of Native American habitation for 5,000 years. The peninsula has since been shifted and shaped by land reclamation projects.
Boston was not always Boston. For a brief time, it was called Trimountaine by its earliest European settlers. It was later anglicized, renamed for the city of the same name in Lincolnshire, England. This kind of thing was a common practice then. Sometimes, when you leave an old world for new, it’s nice to have something remind you of home. And maybe, hometown pride spans time and distance, just ask a Red Sox fan about Babe Ruth, but more on that later.
Fast forward a bit: Boston becomes England’s largest North American colony in the mid-1700s, pesky tax and representation problems ensue, things get nasty and before you know it, England’s out, the U.S. is in and, wow, everybody is really proud.
Post-Revolution Boston rises to rank among the world’s wealthiest trading ports. Cool beans (that’s another story). Shipping gave way to manufacturing as the decades rolled on and one international political problem or another discouraged free trade.
This did not discourage European immigrants to begin filling the city in the early 1800s. First the Irish, followed by French Canadians and Russian and Polish Jews, then Italians. Italians settled in the North End, Russian Jews in the West End, and the Irish, as they do today, dominate the South End.
Over a period of 160 years between 1630 to 1890, Boston reclaimed land by filling in marshes and mud flats and other such watery places, boosting its size three-fold. Despite being an internationally recognized hub for medicine and education, Boston suffered economic downturns and civil strife. Desegregation in the 1970s met with violence, mostly around public schools. However, the town recovered in the ‘80s and continued to flourish, but is now facing gentrification and inflation issues. A kind of victim of its own success, by 2004, the Boston metro area had the highest cost of living in the U.S. |
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BOSTON_ROADTRIPS
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Click on a trip below to adopt the trip. You can change the dates, add your preferences, or even rearrange the items in the Trip Plan, then plot the trip and save it as your own.
Road trips around Boston
BOSTON - FAMILY
Museums, trails, tea parties; Discover Boston as a family.
For details see article on: 
BOSTON - ART/CULTURE
You’ll have a whole new appreciation for the art/culture that Boston displays!
BOSTON - HISTORICAL
From New England’s ghost tour to historical monuments - take this trip into the past!
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