Boston Harbor Islands, Walbeobachtung & die Wiedergeburt des Hafens
Boston Harbor (the estuary of the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset Rivers at the western end of Massachusetts Bay — the harbor that launched the American Revolution (the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, when colonists dumped 342 chests of British East India Company tea into the harbor) and that was once the most polluted major harbor in the United States (the subject of a famous 1988 presidential campaign advertisement attacking Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis), before a massive clean-up effort in the 1990s-2000s transformed it into one of the cleanest urban harbors in the eastern United States).
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Boston Harbor Islands — Civil War Fort & Swimming
The Boston Harbor Islands State Park's 34 islands include Georges Island (Civil War-era Fort Warren, where Confederate prisoners were held) and Spectacle Island (a former landfill transformed into a public beach with Boston skyline views).
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New England Aquarium — Harbor Seal Rescue Program
The New England Aquarium on the Central Wharf houses the Giant Ocean Tank (200,000 gallons, coral reef ecosystem) and runs the largest marine animal rescue and research program on the East Coast, rehabilitating seals and sea turtles.
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Whale Watching — Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Stellwagen Bank (25 miles offshore) is one of the world's great whale feeding grounds — humpback whale breaches, fin whale surfacing, and minke whale encounters are reliably observed from April to October on Boston Harbor Cruises vessels.
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Institute of Contemporary Art — Waterfront Museum
The ICA (Diller Scofidio + Renfro, 2006) cantilevered over Boston Harbor is the city's most architecturally dramatic museum — a wedge of glass hovering over the water, housing Boston's finest contemporary art collection since 2006.
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Seaport District — Boston's New Neighborhood
The South Boston Seaport (formerly industrial docks) is Boston's most radical urban transformation — Amazon, PwC, and dozens of tech companies occupy new towers above Moakley Park, the Harborwalk, and Boston's best restaurant cluster.
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Boston Harbor Harborwalk — 43 Miles of Public Access
The Harborwalk, mandated by the Massachusetts Chapter 91 Public Waterfront Act, provides 43 miles of continuous public waterfront access from East Boston to Quincy — the most ambitious urban waterfront law in US history.