Discussion on defining district borders for Boston is in progress. If you know the city pretty well, please share your opinion on the talk page. Boston is the largest city in New England, the capital of the state of Massachusetts, and one of the most historic, wealthy and influential cities in the United States of America. Its plethora of museums, historical sights, educational institutions, restaurants and wealth of live performances, all explain why the city gets 16.3 million visitors a year, making it one of the ten most popular tourist locations in the country.Note:Neighborhood nicknames are in (parentheses).While they may be a bit off the tourist path, these outer districts offer much to offer for tourists who crave a more suburban experience. See also: Greater Boston. Note that all places outside of Boston proper generallu do not have Boston, MA  in their street addresses, but instead use the name of the neighborhood or community that they are part of (ie: Brighton, MA, Hyde Park, MA, Chestnut Hill, MA, etc.) Some attractions may use Boston  though when in doubt, always check the website of the attraction in question.Boston is a city of diverse neighborhoods, many of which were originally towns in their own right before being annexed to the city. This contributes to a strong pride within the neighborhoods of Boston, and many people will often tell you they are from “JP” (Jamaica Plain), “Dot” (Dorchester), “Southie” (South Boston), or “Eastie” (East Boston), rather than that they are from Boston. Alternatively, people from the suburbs will tell you they are from Boston when in fact they live in one of the nearby (or even outlying) suburbs. If in doubt, you can look for “Resident Parking Only” street signs, which will identify what neighborhood you are in.Another consequence of this expansion is that the neighborhoods, in addition to their cultural identities, also retained most of their street names, regardless of whether or not Boston -or another absorbed town- already had a street with the same name. According to a survey by The Boston Globe, there are at least 200 street names that are duplicated in one or more neighborhoods in Boston. For instance, Washington Street in Downtown Boston, is different from Washington Street in Dorchester, Washington Street in Brighton/Brookline/Newton and Washington Street in Jamaica Plain. This can play havoc with web-based mapping and direction services. When outside of Boston proper, DO NOT input Boston  as the city, but instead, use the name of the neighborhood (West Roxbury, Charlestown, Allston, Brookline, etc.)Be aware that geographic references in district names tend to mean little. For example, South Boston is different from the South End, which is actually west of South Boston and north of Dorchester and Roxbury districts. Some other confusing notables: East Boston and Charlestown are further north than the North End. The West End is in the northern part of town (bordering the North End and Charles River).The Back Bay is one of the few neighborhoods with streets organized on a grid. It is so named because it used to be mud flats on the river, until the city filled in the bay in a land-making project ending in 1862. It is now one of the higher-rent neighborhoods in the city. The north-south streets crossing the axis of Back Bay are organized alphabetically. Starting from the east, at the Public Garden, and heading west, they are: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester (pronounced ‘gloster’), and Hereford. After Hereford Street is Massachusetts Avenue, more commonly known as Mass. Ave., and then Charlesgate, which marks the western boundary of Back Bay. The alphabetical street names continue a little way into the Fenway neighborhood on the other side of Charlesgate, with Ipswich, Jersey, and Kilmarnock, but the streets are no longer arranged in a grid.There are also several “districts” you might hear mentioned. “Districts” are generally areas of common interest located within a larger neighborhood:New England is unpredictable and becomes very cold in the winter and is prone to mild bouts of humidity in the summer. The vast majority of tourism in Boston takes place in the summer, from late May through late September, when the weather is ideal and the most attractions are open. Boston summers are quite comfortable, with sunshine 60-65% of the time and and highs in the mid 70s to low 80s F (mid to upper 20s C).When the heat does start, there are some beaches within the city, and many beaches outside of it, for swimming. The Standells classic “Dirty Water” doesn’t apply any more as the water is safe to swim in thanks to the Boston Harbor Cleanup project. Beware that no matter how hot it is outside, the ocean water will not be warm.Early and late summer tends to be nice, but this varies by year. In that time, the temperature will be perfect, and there will be no humidity. The city does have unpredictable stretches of heat between late June and early August when low 90s and high humidity are expected. All public transit options, including cabs, buses, and the subway system (called the “T”) are air-conditioned. Boston’s fall foliage is at or near its peak beauty in mid-October, which also normally offers the advantage of many crisp sunny day (outside the city itself, peak foliage timing depends on how far north or south you venture from Boston.)If you visit during the less busy wintertime, the Atlantic Ocean has a large moderating effect on temperatures. The average low in January is 22F/-5C, so as long as you dress appropriately, you should be fine.Massachusetts’ first governor, John Winthrop, famously called Boston a “shining city on the hill,” a reference to Jerusalem and a declaration of the original settlers’ intent to build a utopian Christian colony. From the very beginning, the people who lived there declared their home to be one of the most important cities in the world.The father of American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes) once called the Boston statehouse “the hub of the solar system,” but common usage has expanded to the now-current Hub of the Universe. This half-serious term is all you need to know to understand Boston’s complicated self-image. Vastly important in American history, and for centuries the seat of the USA’s social elite, Boston lost prominence in the early twentieth century, largely to the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Over the past two decades, Boston has regained political, cultural, and economic importance. In 1629, English Reverend William Blackstone was the first English immigrant to arrive in the city. A year later, John Winthrop and the Massachusetts Bay Colony had followed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony were Puritan religious dissidents who had fled England to find freedom in the New World. At the time the city was called Shawmut, a name coined by Native American settlers, however now a new settlement, Winthrop had decided to rename the city Boston after his hometown in England. Because of its easily-defended harbor and the fact that it is the closest port to Europe it rapidly assumed a leading role in the fledging New England region, with a booming economy based on trade with the Caribbean and Europe. The devastating Fire of 1760 destroyed much of the town, but within a few years the city had bounced back.Boston was also a city of great intellectual potential. Many statesmen had emerged in Boston along with prestigious Schools such as Harvard and the first public school in America, Boston Latin. With the founding of these schools as well as the first printing press in New England, Boston was becoming more of a colonial society.Bostonians were the instigators of the independence movement in the 18th century and the city was the center of America’s revolutionary activity during the Colonial period. Several of the first Revolutionary War skirmishes were fought there, including the Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and the battles of Lexington and Concord -which were fought nearby. Boston’s direct involvement in the Revolution ended after the Battle of Bunker Hill and, soon afterwards, the ending of the Siege of Boston by George Washington. For some time afterwards the city’s political leaders continued to have a leading role in developing of the new country’s system of government. The residents’ ardent support of independence earned the city the nickname The Cradle of Liberty.Throughout the 19th century, Boston continued to grow rapidly, assimilating outlying towns into the metropolitan core. Its importance in American culture was inestimable, and its economic and literary elite, the so-called Boston Brahmins assumed the mantle of aristocracy in the United States. Their patronage of the arts and progressive social ideals was unprecedented in the New World, and often conflicted with the city’s Puritan foundations. They helped drive unprecedented scientific, educational and social change that would soon sweep the country. The Abolitionist movement, anesthesia and the telephone are a few examples of this.At the same time, the city’s working class swelled with immigrants from Europe. The huge Irish influx made Boston one of the most important Irish cities in the world, in or out of Ireland. Gradually the Irish laborer population climbed into city’s upper class, evidenced no better than by the continued importance of the Kennedy family in national politics.From the early twentieth century until the 1970s, Boston’s importance on the national stage waned. Cities in what was once the frontier, like Chicago, San Francisco, and later Los Angeles, shifted the nation’s center of gravity away from liberty’s cradle. In the past two decades, Boston’s importance and influence has increased, due to growth in higher education, health care, high technology, and financial services. It remains America’s higher educational center

Airport: BOS General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport Cities in United States

Country: United States