Its bricks provide a warm contrast to the passionless concrete of Borders Books, the chain store across the street. Inside, we have ongoing talks about the history of the hall, an exhibit on its restoration and a gift shop that can't be missed. I enter the cavernous main room and take a seat in one of the box pews. Up front, a docent tells how incensed citizens disguised themselves as Indians, boarded British ships and flung untaxed tea into the harbour. The trail proceeds through a concrete canyon formed by a palisade of highrises.
Sidewalks surge with office workers marching beside tourists.
It's a face-hugging parade of cell phones and camcorders. Built in 1713, the building was considered obsolete a century ago. When the city of Chicago offered to move the structure to Lake Michigan, Bostonians realized its potential. A neighbouring circle of cobblestones marks the site of the Boston Massacre, the first incident of bloodshed in the American Revolution. Beyond lies the Blackstone block, Boston's oldest commercial district.