Dorchester Heights

South Boston [1] is also home to the little-visited Dorchester Heights ((G St., S. Boston, www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/dohe.htm [2] Sat–Sun noon–6 p.m., free), where in 1776 the siege of Boston [3] was finally lifted. Despite the battles of Concord [4] and Bunker Hill [5], the British and Americans were in a long stalemate, with the colonists controlling the west bank of the Charles, and the British blockading the harbor.

During the winter of 1775, Bostonian General Henry Knox braved snow and cold in an epic 300-mile journey to drag the cannons of New York’s Fort Ticonderoga [6] to Boston. Wrapping their wheels in straw, colonists moved the cannons up onto the high ground at Dorchester Heights during the night of March 4, 1776, when a British attack was thwarted by storms.

With the cannon pointing down at them, the British position was untenable, and they deserted Boston under a gentleman’s agreement with Washington a week later. While the heights have since been leveled for landfill, the high ground is capped by a monument and offers an impressive and unusual vantage of Boston Harbor.

Call ahead to determine opening hours for the monument, as they can be capricious due to recent National Park staff cuts. In one recent year, it was only open on weekend afternoons from June to Labor Day.