Boston African American National Historic Site

For the last 4 years my sister has lived in Cambridge, MA and just recently decided to move out of state. On her last weekend in the city we decided to give her a proper sendoff, which of course, involved exploring a new NPS site, before hitting up Pizzeria Regina in the North End for lunch (if you are from Boston, you understand how this was an appropriate last meal). 

At this point, we have visited just about all of the NPS sites in Massachusetts but we hadn't crossed the Boston African American National Historic Site off our list just yet. First up, we hit up the visitor center that they share with the Boston National Historical Park in Fanieul Hall to pick up a walking map of the Black Heritage Trail. This walking trail is the main activity highlighted at this site and while they do offer a Ranger guided tour, a self-guided tour fit our needs and our schedule a bit more.

The first stop of the 14 stop Black Heritage Trail was the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. This bronze memorial was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens who has his own National Historic Site dedicated to him located in New Hampshire. From there we winded our way through Beacon Hill and stopped to learn about some of the other sites like the Charles Street Meeting House, the Abiel Smith School, and the George Middleton House. Many of these locations were homes of prominent historical African Americans and some served as hiding places along the Underground Railroad. 

The end of the trail brought us to the African Meeting House where you can pay admission to the Museum of African American History. We opted out of this due to time constraints and the overall patience of a 4 year old but would love to make it back to the museum in the future.