111 Places in Boston That You Must Not Miss

by Heather Kapplow, Kim Windyka, Alyssa Wood (Photographs)

* The ultimate insider's guide to Boston* Features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides* Part of the international 111 Places/111 Shops series with over 250 titles and 1.5 million copies in print worldwide* Appeals to both the local market (more than 690,000 people call Boston home) and the tourist market (more than 19 million people visit Boston every year!)* Fully illustrated with 111 full-page color photographsFaneuil Hall is fine and the duck boats are just dandy, but if you want to go beyond the Boston of brochures and get to the heart of this mysterious, charming old metropolis, you have to dig deep and be willing to get a little weird. 111 Places in Boston That You Must Not Miss is a guidebook with a one that takes you far off the beaten path -- and the Freedom Trail -- to explore a side of the city that's offbeat, unexpected, and completely fascinating for visitors and locals alike. Whether you want to pay your respects at the memorial for a fictional character, sneak behind a vending machine to go shopping for sneakers, sip cocktails where hardened criminals sat behind bars, or hang out with some life-sized puppets, you can do it all here...and before dinnertime to boot. Throw on your Red Sox cap, hop on the T, and uncover some secrets along the way.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2021

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Open this book randomly at any page and you are sure to find something interesting! For example: Did you know, or would you have thought of taking a class in making "cherry pistachio biscotti" at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts during your time in Boston?

Or, perhaps you would be interested in floating. "Floating, for the uninitiated, is like taking a bath, except the "bath" is super, super salty, and the "tub" is more of a space pod." Sounds very relaxing!

Finally, if you find yourself in Boston on a Sunday (rain or shine) you can always visit the SoWa Vintage market where you will find "delightfully bizarre knick-knacks, secondhand clothing, and vintage furniture."

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Boston” is one of my favorite cities in the U.S. and this book revealed a whole new hidden side of this historical city. The writers, Heather Kapplow and Kim Windyka, are engaging and comical to boot. I love Boston and this book just made me want to visit this city all over again. Here are the places in the book that caught my interest:

1) A4cade
2) The Ancient Crypt
3) Backbar
4) Bodega
5) Boston Barber & Tattoo Co.
6) Boston Cyberarts Gallery
7) Church of the Covenant
8) Cocoanut Grove Tragedy
9) Curio Spice Co.
10) The Dutch House
11) Echo Bridge
12) Edes & Gill
13) Ether Monument
14) The First Casualty
15) Float
16) The Garment District
17) Graffiti Alley
18) The Great Molasses Flood
19) Harbor Island Secrets
20) Houdini Plaque
21) Indoor Lightning Storms
22) King Philip’s War
23) Liberty Hotel
24) The Mapparium
25) Olives & Grace
26) The Paramount
27) The Plumbing Museum
28) Revere’s Piping Plovers
29) Salmagundi
30) The Sargent Gallery
31) Singing Beach
32) The Skinny House
33) The Skull of Phineas Gage
34) SoWa Vintage Market
35) Taza Chocolate Factory
36) Washington Tower

Boston, here I come! 🫡

[Holly Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

only a good guide book if ur an old lady that likes looking at massacre sites. where was the juicy stuff? like it didn’t even have cafes???? only good one was the giant milk bottle which i will be attending. only get this guide book if u want the list of places not to go. pretty pictures tho

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed in the authors for taking the scholarly work of a yong female archaeologist of color and studying her work in favor of sensational words that support outdated stereotypes of community’s of color. Chapter 3. O is for opium p is for prostitution. she says it best in her posts about her disappointment providing a clear misuse of her work.

In 2018, I titled a SHA conference "O" is for Opium: Offering More than Education at the Abiel Smith School that can be found on academia.edu. This title was crafted collaborative with the NMSC's Archaeology Team.

In 2022, Heather Kapplow & Kim Windyka published 111 Places in Boston that You Must Not Miss. One of these MUST NOT MISS places is the Boston African American National Historic Site (BOAF) that is home to the African Meeting House and the Smith School. The chapter on this site is called "O" is for Opium, "P" is for Prostitution.

Not only did they decided to give the BOAF site a title that emphasizes crime & vice they, too inappropriately "cited" my work w/o citing me! See below. The sentence insinuates that the teachers at the Smith School were drugging the students in a non-moral way. When in fact, I argue that the Smith School functioned as a health care system to help African Americans on Beacon Hill combat illnesses.

If you all can, please share this post and re-tweet: https://twitter.com/lerman_melanie/st...

Thank you in advance. This is my thesis work & I would truly appreciate it if it were honored & respected. This is distasteful. Let this be a cautionary tale Heather and Kim to not undervalue someone's scholarly work and not have the decency to cite them

[Jenn Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was ready to have my complaints, but this was actually really well done. Not just full of the usual boring spots, there are some quirky and unique experiences and locations highlighted in here - some of which I added to my Want to Go list.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 111 places covered were interesting and will make for lots of off-the-beaten-path adventures for tourists and locals. However, if we are going to consider Cambridge and Somerville as Boston, I wish the authors had also included something from Quincy, the City of Presidents, in this book. At the other end of the redline visitors can find, underneath the United First Parish church, a crypt holding two U.S. presidents and their first ladies. Outside the church’s front doors you’ll also find a recent addition of an Abigail Adam’s Statue with an interesting backstory of it’s creation laced with modern day misogyny.

[Jiwon Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book as a present to someone who already lives in Boston because it completely caught me offguard as to how informative and entertaining it was! I can't wait to read the rest of the 111 places series and discover hidden gems in the most touristy cities.