Boston Black Heritage Trail

The Black Heritage Trail is a short walking tour winding visitors through Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. Covering ten sites important in American black history, its 1.6 miles can be completed in an hour or two, depending on how long you spend at each site, and any side trips you might decide to take.

Understand
In 1783, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to declare slavery illegal — mostly out of gratitude for black participation in the American Revolutionary War. When the first federal census was counted in 1790, Massachusetts was the only state in the Union to record no slaves. Subsequently, a sizable community of free blacks and escaped slaves developed in Boston, settling on the north face of Beacon Hill, and in the North End. With a strong abolitionist community, Boston was long considered a desirable destination for southern black slaves escaping slavery via the Underground Railroad.

The free African American community in Boston was concerned with finding decent housing, establishing independent supportive institutions, educating their children, and ending slavery in the rest of the nation. Although some black Bostonians lived in the North End and in the West End north of Cambridge Street, more than half the city’s 2,000 blacks lived on Beacon Hill just below the residences of wealthy whites. The historic buildings along today’s Black Heritage Trail were the homes, business, schools, and churches of a black community that organized from the nation’s earliest years to sustain those who faced discrimination and slavery.

Prepare
Self guided tours are free and available year round. Stop by the Museum of African American History in person for a printed map, or get online and print one yourself. Guided tours, also free and lasting about 90 minutes, are available several times a year during the summer and fall seasons. If your schedule doesn't line up with a guide, you can download a family focused audio tour and listen yourself for only $0.99. The majority of sites on the tour are today private houses and not open to the public. The only sites available for touring are the African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School.

Get in
Centrally located on Beacon Hill across from the State House, driving is profoundly discouraged. The T is a quick, cheap, and convenient way to access this area of the city. Park Street Station is the closest stop for those taking the Red or Green lines, on the Blue line Government Center and Bowdoin stations are about equidistant, and Downtown Crossing (DTX) is the closest station on the Orange line. See Boston by public transit for more information.

Stay safe
Take normal big city precautions, but there is little to worry about here in terms of personal safety. Not only is this is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, but you're also walking within a stones-throw of all the security within the Capitol building. These sites are all located on a hill, so make sure you're OK with a little light exertion. Take care in inclement weather, those bricks may look beautiful but they can become slippery when wet.

Go next
You're centrally located here in "The Hub of the Universe", and will have no lack of options for what to do next after finishing the tour.
 * Walk across Cambridge or Tremont Street and into the heart of Downtown Boston.
 * Hop on the Red Line and head south into South Boston, home of the Institute of Contemporary Art.
 * Continue exploring black culture at The Museum of Afro American Artists, way off the beaten path in Roxbury.
 * Keep walking across the Longfellow bridge and into Cambridge's Kendall Square.
 * Take the B trolley on the Green Line to head into student centered Allston.
 * Freedom Trail
 * From Plymouth to Hampton Roads, the long story of the antebellum north
 * Black Belt, for the African-American heartland in the South