By Kelly Kasulis, News Staff
Beyond the Freedom Trail – and note the word “free” in there – a few niche tourist spots are available to Bostonians for little to no money. Students can practice the lifestyle of a true historian by delving into former crime scenes and old sites of major Boston game-changers whether or not a tourist plaque is on display nearby.
Mob Tourism
Emily Sweeney of Boston.com compiled a list called “the Mob Tour” which cites several spots around Boston where Whitey Bulger and other members of the Winter Hill Gang carried out their organized crimes.
Although most mob tour spots are in South Boston, 98 Prince St. in the North End was bugged by the FBI for three months in 1981 for information that “eventually led to the downfall of the Patriarca family,” according to Sweeney’s article. Similarly, the North Terminal Garage on 165 Prince St. was once host to “one of the most infamous robberies in history” in 1950 called the Great Brink’s Robbery which netted over $1.2 million in cash.
Newspaper Row
Newspaper Row, where some of Boston (and America)’s first print presses came to life, can be taken in as a historical district across Washington, Milk and Hawley street in the downtown area. In the area between the Government Center and Downtown Crossing stops on the Green Line, some of the first papers including the Boston Post, the Boston Evening Transcript and the still-existing Boston Herald and Boston Globe. Other publications, some of which helped incite the American Revolution as well as the abolitionist era, existed around newspaper row in Boston.
The official locations of old sites are 322 – 328 Washington St., 5-23 Milk St. and 11 Hawley St.
The Mapparium
The Mary Baker Eddy Library, located at 200 Massachusetts Ave. near the Christian Science Center, has a three-story dome of a political map backlit through stained glass.
Built 79 years ago, the Mary Baker Eddy Library describes this tourist spot as a “three-dimensional perspective of the world of 1935.”
Admission is $4 with a student ID.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Contrary to popular belief, Massachusetts General is more than a hospital. Its Ether Dome on 55 Fruit St. exhibits a number of historical artifacts in the world of medicine, free of charge.
According to the Ether Dome’s website, “a small collection of artifacts, including an oil painting of the famous first surgery, an Egyptian mummy and early surgical tools” can be found in the dome, which housed more than 8,000 operations between 1821 and 1868.
Open on Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., visitors should still call ahead to ensure that the dome is not closed for staff meetings.
