Massachusetts
10 historic landmarks in Massachusetts, across four eras of American history. Start with Faneuil Hall, Old North Church and Paul Revere House.
- Landmarks
- 10
- Eras
- 4
Pictured Faneuil Hall
ajay_suresh · CC BY · via Wikimedia Commons
Landmarks in Massachusetts
- Revolutionary War
Faneuil Hall
Boston, MA
Faneuil Hall has been called the 'Cradle of Liberty' for the fiery meetings that helped spark the American Revolution.
Revolutionary WarOld North Church
Boston, MA
Old North Church is where the American Revolution received its most famous signal.
Colonial AmericaPaul Revere House
Boston, MA
The Paul Revere House is the colonial home from which the silversmith and patriot Paul Revere set out on his famous midnight ride in April 1775.
Early RepublicUSS Constitution
Boston, MA
The USS Constitution — 'Old Ironsides' — is the oldest commissioned warship in the world still afloat.
Gilded AgeLowell National Historical Park
Lowell, MA
Lowell was where America built its first factory city from scratch, and where the Industrial Revolution first put thousands of young women to work under one roof.
Revolutionary WarOld State House
Boston, MA
Surrounded today by Boston's glass skyscrapers, the Old State House was the seat of British colonial government in Massachusetts and a flashpoint of the Revolution itself.
Colonial AmericaPlymouth Rock
Plymouth, MA
Few American landmarks carry more symbolic weight on so little historical evidence than Plymouth Rock.
Colonial AmericaSalem Maritime
Salem, MA
In the decades after the Revolution, Salem, Massachusetts became one of the richest ports in America by trading directly with the far side of the world.
Revolutionary WarFreedom Trail
Boston, MA
The Freedom Trail solved a simple problem with a brilliant idea: paint a line on the sidewalk connecting Boston's scattered Revolutionary sites, and let visitors walk the story of American independence in order.
Early RepublicOld Sturbridge Village
Sturbridge, MA
One of the first and largest living history museums in the country, Old Sturbridge Village reconstructs an entire early-19th-century New England community from buildings rescued from around the region, letting visitors step into a working recreation of pre-industrial rural life.
Historical Essays
- Revolutionary War · Colonial America
Boston's Road to Revolution, Street by Street
A market hall, a statehouse balcony, a church steeple and a silversmith's house — the places where Boston argued its way into a war, all within a walk of each other.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026
Gilded AgeGilded Age America: The Mansions and the Mills
The Vanderbilts built palaces in Newport and the Blue Ridge; the workers of Lowell and Pullman built the fortunes behind them. Four landmarks show both sides of America's industrial boom.
Old USA Editors · 2 min read · September 28, 2026