Before Boston Walking Tour
How the Freedom Trail Paved Over Indigenous History
This guided walking tour provides a hidden historical narrative of Native spaces in greater Shawmut, before it became known as Boston. It highlights changes in land, water, and lifeways following the disruptions and violence of European colonization.
The tour covers a vast chronology, from the origins of Native Peoples in Shawmut over 13,000 years ago to present-day Native communities living in and around greater Boston. This is intended to serve as a public history resource for learning and unlearning about sites near Boston's "Freedom Trail," which hold significance for Native and non-Native peoples, past and present. It is not a comprehensive history of Indigenous homelands and peoples of Boston, nor does it speak on behalf of or represent regional tribes, individuals, or groups.
Request a Guided Walking Tour
If during spring, summer, or fall you would like to request this guided walking tour for your group, led by Upstander Project educators and our colleagues, please email info@upstanderproject.org.