The cradle of the American Revolution, Boston is full of history, charm, and cosmopolitan sophistication all wrapped up in this approachable, walkable, compact metropolitan city. One of the oldest cities in the United States, and its largest that is manmade, you’ll find cobblestones, monuments to freedom, diverse neighborhoods including a vibrant Chinatown and historic North End Italian district, quaint New England architecture, and a foremost roster of higher learning with three medical schools, six law schools, and three music schools.

Here in Boston, the seeds of American independence from Britain were planted. Walk the Freedom Trail and follow in the footsteps of Paul Revere. From the steeple of the Old North Church, where within families owned pew boxes to worship from, he warned the city of the coming of the British. The Old State House balcony is where the newly drafted Declaration of Independence was read, and surrounding the city are natural features marked in history such as Bunker Hill, site of one of the Revolution’s bloodiest battles, the harbor where the Boston Tea Party occurred as a protest against British high taxation and escalated to a war of secession, and the Charles River that separates Cambridge from Boston. In this city history prevails, but now resides side by side with the present.

The Old North Church, Boston

The Old North Church, Boston

The Old North Church, Boston

The Old North Church, Boston

Boston, Massachusetts

I took a tour of Cambridge, home to the famed Harvard University, arguably the most prestigious and historic law school in the country, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and NECCO wafers, made by the New England Confectionery Company for those who remember them. Harvard, originally an exclusive school for men only, known for its early red buildings and ivy covered New England structures, is centered around Harvard Square, the large, lovely central lawn surrounded by prestigious houses of learning. Harvard Square is enclosed with a tall wrought iron fence, built over time with the year of each section’s completion forged in the design. The fence was constructed to keep the students inside at night, as it was believed that any young man of a high reputation and distinction would not see fit to be beyond the fence after dark. If a student missed that curfew, he would be promptly expelled.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard Square Fence, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Office of The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s Newspaper

In more modern times, Boston is also home to the famed “Cheers!” bar from the popular television show of the same name, that emphasized the familial neighborhood charm that embodies historic Boston.