The Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial features a bronze relief of a young white officer on horseback leading his Black soldiers forward. It commemorates the first volunteer Black infantry unit raised in the North during the…
Beacon Hill Black Heritage Walk
This walk takes you through the brick-paved streets of Beacon Hill's historic north slope, the heart of Boston's 19th-century free Black community. You'll visit the homes, schools, and churches where courageous activists organized the Underground Railroad and fought for civil rights.
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1. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial
2. Charles Street Meeting House
The Charles Street Meeting House is a brick structure with a tall, white steeple topped by a clock that stopped ticking decades ago. Built in eighteen oh seven for the Third Baptist Church, the building served as a sanctuary for…
3. John J Smith House
The three story brick house on Charles Street features a distinctive rounded bay window that marks the entrance. John J Smith, a formerly enslaved man who escaped from Virginia, owned and lived in this house during the mid nineteenth…
4. Phillips School
The Phillips School building is identifiable by its sturdy, symmetrical brick façade and the prominent central clock face looking out over Anderson Street. Built in eighteen twenty-four, it served as a primary school for the neighborhood.…
5. Lewis & Harriet Hayden House
The Lewis and Harriet Hayden House has a facade of narrow, weathered brick and a simple black front door that blends into the row. In the middle of the nineteenth century, this home served as a major station on the Underground Railroad.…
6. John Coburn House
The John Coburn House stands out on Joy Street with its simple, three-story brick facade and the weathered, rectangular stone lintels topping its windows. John Coburn moved here in the eighteen forties, operating his clothing store…
7. Smith Court Residences
The Smith Court Residences consist of a row of modest brick buildings marked by their weathered facades and the narrow, alley-like intimacy of the court itself. These houses provided homes for Boston’s Black community during the nineteenth…
8. African Meeting House
The African Meeting House features a peaked roof and a facade of weathered red brick, standing as the oldest extant Black church building in the United States. Built in eighteen oh six, the structure served as both a place of worship and a…