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Roots Earth in Boston: audio stories about 48 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 48 places in Boston, United States, in North America. The Boston stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Boston, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 48 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: boston.md

The 48 places in Boston with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. Faneuil Hall
  2. Massachusetts State House
  3. Old State House
  4. Old North Church
  5. Boston Common
  6. Paul Revere House
  7. Bunker Hill Monument
  8. USS Constitution
  9. Trinity Church
  10. Boston Public Library
  11. Museum of Fine Arts
  12. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  13. Fenway Park
  14. Boston Public Garden
  15. Quincy Market
  16. Old South Meeting House
  17. King's Chapel
  18. Granary Burying Ground
  19. Park Street Church
  20. Copley Square
  21. Boston Massacre Site
  22. New England Aquarium
  23. Custom House Tower
  24. John Hancock Tower
  25. Prudential Tower
  26. Symphony Hall
  27. First Church of Christ, Scientist
  28. Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
  29. Institute of Contemporary Art
  30. Cathedral of the Holy Cross
  31. Old Corner Bookstore
  32. Boston Athenaeum
  33. Beacon Hill
  34. North End
  35. Haymarket
  36. Chinatown
  37. South End
  38. Newbury Street
  39. Charles River Esplanade
  40. Copp's Hill Burying Ground
  41. African Meeting House
  42. Harvard Square
  43. Jamaica Pond
  44. Arnold Arboretum
  45. Mount Auburn Cemetery
  46. Castle Island
  47. Jamaica Plain
  48. Franklin Park

Is there an audio guide for Faneuil Hall?

Yes. Faneuil Hall has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 48 Boston places in the app, at 42.36, -71.05611. Every one of the other 47 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Boston

Open Roots Earth and choose Boston. The city has its own map of places with all 48 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 48 places in Boston, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 48 places in Boston, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. Faneuil Hall

Coordinates
42.36, -71.05611
In one line
A red-brick Georgian market hall and meeting place opened in 1742, nicknamed the Cradle of Liberty for the fiery Revolutionary debates held in its Great Hall above the bustling stalls below.

2. Massachusetts State House

Coordinates
42.35817, -71.06369
In one line
Crowning Beacon Hill since 1798, this Federal-style capitol by Charles Bulfinch is famous for its gleaming gilded dome, once sheathed in copper by Paul Revere. It still houses the Massachusetts legislature and governor.

3. Old State House

Coordinates
42.35877, -71.05781
In one line
Built in 1713, Boston's oldest surviving public building once seated colonial government. From its balcony the Declaration of Independence was first read in 1776; the Boston Massacre unfolded on the street below in 1770.

4. Old North Church

Coordinates
42.36639, -71.05444
In one line
Boston's oldest standing church, built in 1723 in a Georgian style inspired by Christopher Wren. Two lanterns hung in its tall white steeple in 1775 signaled the British advance, immortalized as one if by land, two if by sea.

5. Boston Common

Coordinates
42.355, -71.06556
In one line
Established in 1634, this 50-acre green is the oldest public park in the United States. Once cattle pasture, militia field, and execution ground, it now hosts concerts, protests, and skaters on its winter Frog Pond.

6. Paul Revere House

Coordinates
42.36372, -71.05368
In one line
Built around 1680, this timber-frame dwelling in the North End is downtown Boston's oldest surviving building. Silversmith Paul Revere owned it during the Revolution and set out from here on his famous midnight ride in 1775.

7. Bunker Hill Monument

Coordinates
42.37636, -71.06078
In one line
A 221-foot granite obelisk in Charlestown, raised between 1825 and 1843 to mark the Battle of Bunker Hill. Its 294 steps climb to an observation room with sweeping views over Boston and the harbor.

8. USS Constitution

Coordinates
42.3725, -71.0566
In one line
Launched in 1797 and still afloat at Charlestown Navy Yard, USS Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned warship. The wooden frigate earned the name Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 when enemy cannonballs bounced off her thick oak sides.

9. Trinity Church

Coordinates
42.35, -71.07556
In one line
Consecrated in 1877 on Copley Square, Trinity Church is the masterwork of architect Henry Hobson Richardson and birthplace of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. Its massive tower, rich murals by John La Farge, and luminous stained glass make it widely admired.

10. Boston Public Library

Coordinates
42.34932, -71.07827
In one line
Its grand McKim Building of 1895 on Copley Square holds the soaring Bates Hall reading room, a serene courtyard, and murals by Sargent and Puvis de Chavannes.

11. Museum of Fine Arts

Coordinates
42.3394, -71.0942
In one line
Founded in 1870 and housed since 1909 in a grand neoclassical building on Huntington Avenue, the Museum of Fine Arts is among the largest art museums in the United States, with works spanning ancient Egypt, Asian art, and Impressionist masterpieces.

12. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Coordinates
42.33833, -71.09889
In one line
Opened in 1903, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a Venetian-style palace built to house its founder's personal art collection around a glass-roofed garden courtyard. In 1990 thieves stole thirteen works, including a Vermeer, in the largest unsolved art heist in history.

13. Fenway Park

Coordinates
42.34639, -71.09778
In one line
Opened in 1912, Fenway Park is the oldest active stadium in Major League Baseball and home of the Boston Red Sox. Its quirky shape is defined by the Green Monster, a 37-foot wall looming over left field.

14. Boston Public Garden

Coordinates
42.35417, -71.07
In one line
Established in 1837, the Boston Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America. Its 24 acres of winding paths, ornamental plantings, and a tranquil lagoon are famous for the pedal-powered Swan Boats, which have carried visitors across the water since 1877.

15. Quincy Market

Coordinates
42.36, -71.055
In one line
A long granite market hall opened in 1826 behind Faneuil Hall, designed by Alexander Parris in the Greek Revival style. Once Boston's central food market, it now anchors a lively dining and shopping marketplace.

16. Old South Meeting House

Coordinates
42.35694, -71.05861
In one line
A brick Georgian meetinghouse built in 1729, famous as the gathering place where thousands assembled in 1773 before the Boston Tea Party. Once the city's largest meeting space, it now serves as a museum on the Freedom Trail.

17. King's Chapel

Coordinates
42.35806, -71.06
In one line
A heavy granite Georgian church built between 1749 and 1754 to designs by Peter Harrison. Founded as New England's first Anglican parish, it later became Unitarian and holds a bell recast by Paul Revere.

18. Granary Burying Ground

Coordinates
42.3575, -71.06167
In one line
Boston's third-oldest cemetery, established in 1660 beside Park Street Church. Its closely packed slate stones mark the graves of Revolutionary figures including Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and five Boston Massacre victims.

19. Park Street Church

Coordinates
42.35691, -71.06215
In one line
A Federal-style church of 1809 with a soaring white steeple, designed by Peter Banner. Known as Brimstone Corner, it heard William Lloyd Garrison's first abolition speech and the debut of the anthem My Country, Tis of Thee.

20. Copley Square

Coordinates
42.35, -71.076
In one line
A civic square in Boston's Back Bay, named for painter John Singleton Copley. Framed by Trinity Church, the Boston Public Library, and Old South Church, it holds the Boston Marathon finish line and a stage-set fountain.

21. Boston Massacre Site

Coordinates
42.35878, -71.05717
In one line
A cobblestone circle outside the Old State House marks where British soldiers fired on a crowd on March 5, 1770, killing five colonists. The Boston Massacre became a rallying point on the road to revolution.

22. New England Aquarium

Coordinates
42.35917, -71.04944
In one line
Opened in 1969 on Central Wharf, the New England Aquarium centers on a four-story Giant Ocean Tank holding 200,000 gallons of seawater. Its spiral ramp, harbor seals, and penguin colony draw more than a million visitors yearly.

23. Custom House Tower

Coordinates
42.35907, -71.05337
In one line
A Greek Revival custom house from 1849 gained a soaring tower in 1915, designed by Peabody and Stearns. Rising 496 feet with a 22-foot clock, it was Boston's tallest building for nearly half a century. Today it houses a Marriott hotel.

24. John Hancock Tower

Coordinates
42.34928, -71.07478
In one line
Completed in 1976 and designed by Henry Cobb, this 790-foot mirrored tower is New England's tallest building. Its sleek glass skin once shed windows in high winds, a crisis fixed before the parallelogram landmark became an icon near Copley Square.

25. Prudential Tower

Coordinates
42.34716, -71.08252
In one line
Completed in 1964 to a design by Charles Luckman, the 749-foot Prudential Tower ended the Custom House Tower's long reign as Boston's tallest.

26. Symphony Hall

Coordinates
42.34283, -71.08569
In one line
Home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, it ranks among the finest concert halls in the world.

27. First Church of Christ, Scientist

Coordinates
42.34443, -71.08487
In one line
The Mother Church of Christian Science pairs an 1894 Romanesque original with a vast domed 1906 extension. Founded by Mary Baker Eddy, its 13. 5-acre plaza, redesigned by I. M. Pei with a reflecting pool, anchors one of Boston's most striking architectural ensembles.

28. Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum

Coordinates
42.35216, -71.05172
In one line
Built on the Fort Point Channel, this museum re-creates the protest of December 16th, 1773 with full-scale replica ships and live reenactment. Reopened in 2012, it holds the Robinson Tea Chest, one of the few surviving relics of the original night.

29. Institute of Contemporary Art

Coordinates
42.35284, -71.04286
In one line
Founded in 1936 and reborn on the Seaport waterfront in 2006, the Institute of Contemporary Art is a bold glass landmark by Diller Scofidio plus Renfro, its dramatic cantilever reaching over Boston Harbor with galleries devoted entirely to living artists.

30. Cathedral of the Holy Cross

Coordinates
42.34069, -71.06934
In one line
Built between 1866 and 1875 to designs by Patrick Keely, this vast Gothic Revival cathedral in the South End is the seat of the Boston Archdiocese. Stretching 364 feet, it ranks among the largest Catholic churches in New England.

31. Old Corner Bookstore

Coordinates
42.3575, -71.05889
In one line
Built in 1718 as a home and apothecary, this brick corner building became the heart of American letters when the publisher Ticknor and Fields worked here, printing Emerson, Hawthorne, and Longfellow. Saved from demolition in 1960, it survives on the Freedom Trail.

32. Boston Athenaeum

Coordinates
42.35804, -71.06216
In one line
Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is one of America's oldest independent membership libraries. Its sandstone home at 10 and a half Beacon Street, completed in 1849, holds over 600,000 volumes, including much of George Washington's personal library.

33. Beacon Hill

Coordinates
42.3583, -71.0661
In one line
Boston's most storied neighborhood, Beacon Hill rises behind the State House in a maze of Federal-style rowhouses, brick sidewalks, and gas lamps. Laid out from the 1790s, it holds Louisburg Square, cobbled Acorn Street, and a deep African American heritage.

34. North End

Coordinates
42.365, -71.05444
In one line
Boston's oldest residential neighborhood, settled in the 1630s, the North End became the city's Little Italy after waves of immigration. Its narrow streets brim with cafes, bakeries, summer saints' feasts, the Old North Church, and the Paul Revere House.

35. Haymarket

Coordinates
42.36158, -71.05608
In one line
Around 50 vendors shout their bargains beside the bronze Asaroton pavement art that records the market's discarded scraps.

36. Chinatown

Coordinates
42.3501, -71.0601
In one line
New England's only surviving historic Chinese enclave, rooted in Boston since the 1870s. A dense quarter of restaurants, herbal shops and a ceremonial paifang gate, it remains a living center of immigrant life, food and festival.

37. South End

Coordinates
42.33972, -71.07306
In one line
The largest intact Victorian rowhouse district in the United States, built on filled marshland from 1849. Its bowfront brick streets and leafy residential squares have sheltered waves of immigrants, artists and a vibrant community across more than a century.

38. Newbury Street

Coordinates
42.34917, -71.08417
In one line
Boston's most famous shopping street, laid out on Back Bay landfill in the 19th century. Its mile of Victorian brownstones, once grand residences, now houses galleries, boutiques and cafes that spill onto wide, lively sidewalks.

39. Charles River Esplanade

Coordinates
42.35623, -71.07601
In one line
A riverside park along the Charles River Basin, shaped between 1910 and 1936.

40. Copp's Hill Burying Ground

Coordinates
42.36732, -71.05584
In one line
Boston's second-oldest cemetery, established in 1659 atop a hill in the North End.

41. African Meeting House

Coordinates
42.35998, -71.06548
In one line
Built in 1806 on Beacon Hill, this is the oldest Black church building still standing in the United States. A center of worship, education and abolition, it earned the name "Black Faneuil Hall" in the fight against slavery.

42. Harvard Square

Coordinates
42.37361, -71.11889
In one line
The bustling crossroads at the gates of Harvard University in Cambridge. A triangular plaza of bookstores, cafes, street musicians and a historic subway kiosk, it has long been a meeting ground for students, scholars and the wider world.

43. Jamaica Pond

Coordinates
42.31667, -71.12028
In one line
Jamaica Pond is Boston's largest natural freshwater body, a glacial kettle pond reaching 51 feet deep. Once a source of harvested ice and city water, it now anchors Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace with a beloved walking loop.

44. Arnold Arboretum

Coordinates
42.29778, -71.12278
In one line
The Arnold Arboretum, founded in 1872, is the oldest public arboretum in North America. Spread across 281 acres designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, this Harvard-run living museum holds over 17,000 plants and a famed lilac collection.

45. Mount Auburn Cemetery

Coordinates
42.37111, -71.14472
In one line
Mount Auburn Cemetery, dedicated in 1831, was the first garden cemetery in the United States. Its 174 landscaped acres of winding paths, ponds, and thousands of trees inspired America's public parks movement and remain a haven for birdwatchers.

46. Castle Island

Coordinates
42.3376, -71.0106
In one line
Castle Island in South Boston has been fortified since 1634, among the oldest continuously defended sites in North America. Its granite Fort Independence, built between 1833 and 1851, now anchors a popular harborside park with beaches and walking paths.

47. Jamaica Plain

Coordinates
42.3075, -71.11306
In one line
Jamaica Plain is a leafy, diverse Boston neighborhood annexed by the city in 1874. Once a brewery district and one of America's first streetcar suburbs, it now blends Latino culture, an active arts scene, and a generous share of Olmsted's Emerald Necklace parks.

48. Franklin Park

Coordinates
42.30139, -71.09444
In one line
Franklin Park is Boston's largest park, 527 acres designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as the crown jewel of his Emerald Necklace. Named for Benjamin Franklin, it holds a zoo, a historic golf course, woodlands, and miles of trails.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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