History & Culture

On December 17, 2023, join the National Parks of Boston at the Great Hall in Faneuil Hall for compelling reenactments of two historic meetings to commemorate the landmark 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

Faneuil Hall 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts is not the Faneuil Hall of 1767, Nor is Boston for that fact. Today, Faneuil Hall, and the adjacent Quincy Hall Marketplace, is an international destination for shoppers to the historic marketplace in the oldest part of Boston. Faneuil Hall, a gift to the residents of Boston from Peter Faneuil, allowed for a more formal marketplace and meeting hall which became the meeting place in Boston by the 1770’s. As tension grew with the m

In 2024, the National Parks of Boston and its partners commemorated the 249th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill with several events throughout June.

In 1915, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a state referendum on women's suffrage. For months, Bay State suffragists worked tirelessly to acquire support for the referendum. Learn more about the 1915 campaign for women's suffrage in Massachusetts.

Benjamin Lincoln, a major general of the Continental Army, was present at pivotal moments in the American Revolution. He oversaw the Continental Army's largest defeat when he surrendered 5,000 soldiers to the British in Charleston, South Carolina in May 1780. After being exchanged, he returned to the army and was present at the allied Franco-American victory at the Siege of Yorktown. He accepted the surrender of General Charles O'Hara's sword.

Charles Lee, former British Army officer, became the second highest ranking general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. On June 28, 1776 he oversaw the victory at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in Charleston, SC. Two years later, his retreat on the field at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse would result in his court martial and the end of his military career. Learn more about this controversial figure here.

Horatio Gates, a former British army officer, settled in Virginia in the 1770s and volunteered for service with the Continental Army after the American Revolution began. Commissioned a major general, Gates famously commanded the northern army that defeated British General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga in 1777, a major turning point in the war. Gates, a favorite of Congress, was later assigned to the Southern Department where his military career ended in defeat at Camden.

General Sir Henry Clinton, the longest serving British general of the American Revolution, served as commander in chief from 1778 to 1782. In the years after the Revolution, Clinton defended his actions in writing and felt unfairly labeled as the scapegoat for British defeat. He died in London in 1795 before he was able to assume the post of governor of Gibraltar.

Nisbet Balfour was a capable British Army officer, who fought throughout the American Revolution and was hated by patriots in South Carolina for his conduct as commandant of Charleston.

Reformer and writer Julia Ward Howe is most famous for writing the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the American Civil War and the "Mother's Day Proclamation" (1870). She advocated for the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and peace.