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Boston's role in the fight to end legalized slavery is linked by the Black Heritage Trail in historic Beacon Hill. This pedestrian path is best experienced on foot, in a small group, with a knowledgeable local guide! Your 2.5-hour loop tour travels from Boston Common to visit Underground Railroad sites, elite homes of "Boston Brahmins," and abolitionist landmarks such as the African Meeting House. Our small-group walking tour delves deeply into the years 1833 to 1863, the tumultuous years leading toward Civil War. We walk in the footsteps of 19th-century Bostonians, all of whom grappled with the "peculiar institution" of racial enslavement in the U.S. With a captivating storytelling approach, Hub Town Tours provides the perfect introduction to Boston's role in America's "Second Revolution." As we travel past landmarks from Civil War Boston, your guide shares the gripping story of local Bostonians finding their voices and demanding an end to injustice across their young nation.
Check Availability✓ Small Groups (16 guests max)
✓ Black Heritage Trail (All 10 landmarks)
✓ Beacon Hill Neighborhood
✕ Gratuity for Guide (optional)
✕ Admission inside Museums
✕ Guides in Period Costume
10 min
Meet your guide at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the center of Boston Common, steps from the Boston Common Visitors Center at 139 Tremont Street (02108). Look for a white granite column topped by a female figure holding a flag; four bronze statues surround the base of the central column.
Oldest public land in the Americas and Boston's communal grazing pasture (1634)
10 min
Narrow cobblestone alleyways wind throughout historic Beacon Hill
Elegant neighborhood square from elite world of 19th-century "Boston Brahmins"
10 min
Built as a whites-only school in 1824, but among the first schools to integrate in Boston by 1855
10 min
Home of leading abolitionist, state legislator, and former barber
Primary thoroughfare of Beacon Hill, lined with local shops and restaurants
15 min
Historic meeting house (1807) and site of contentious debate over racial integration
Home of African-American community activist and abolitionist
15 min
Underground Railroad safe house owned by the Haydens, staunch abolitionists who were formerly enslaved
10 min
1796 residence of Harrison Gray Otis, Boston mayor and nephew of revolutionary James Otis, Jr.
Historic 1806 church designed by noted architect Asher Benjamin
Home of outspoken abolitionist and U.S. Senator beaten unconscious in the Capitol over the issue of slavery in 1856.
Homes of several African-American abolitionists, including historian William Cooper Nell
Founded in 1835 as segregated school for Boston's African-American children
25 min
Cultural center of Boston's African-American community and oldest extant black church building in the U.S. (1806)
10 min
Oldest extant house in Beacon Hill (1787) was home to African-American Revolutionary War veteran
Massachusetts state capitol and "Hub of the Solar System" (1798)
15 min
Our tour concludes beside the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial opposite 24 Beacon Street.
Meet your guide at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the center of Boston Common, steps from the Boston Common Visitors Center at 139 Tremont Street (02108). Look for a white granite column topped by a female figure holding a flag; four bronze statues surround the base of the central column.
End Point
Your 2.5-hour tour concludes in front of the Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial, across the street from the Massachusetts State House. This special loop tour of Beacon Hill ends within 0.2 miles of its starting location at the Prescott House.