The Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea

The Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea. Old State House. , The Walk to the Sea encompasses four centuries of Boston history. Beginning at the State House on Beacon Hill, overlooking Boston's ancient Common, the Walk passes among historic landmarks and skyscrapers. The Walk crosses ground that centuries earlier, was not ground at all but an active harbor. Boston's history is tied to the sea, whose smells and sounds once pervaded the town. The Walk from summit to sea, spanning one mile and descending a hundred feet, brings that history to life. , Old State House , The wooden Town House of 1657 stood here, its ground floor open to merchants, until the Great Fire of 1711. Two years later the first bricks were laid for new offices for the Massachusetts colonial government. , The Old State House, the oldest public building in Boston, bears on its gables a gilded unicorn and lion. These symbols of English dominion were removed after the Revolution and later replaced by replicas. The building occupied Boston's most prominent intersection, King (now State) Street led from the Old State House to Long Wharf. Washington Street, the only street connecting Boston to the mainland crossed King Street here. , , Settlement and commerce grew around the building. Colonial governors looked down to Long Wharf from the balcony of the State House. Famous scenes of the American Revolution unfolded at its doorstep , In 1798, Charles Bulfinch's gold-domed State House opened atop Beacon Hill to begin a proud new era for Boston. The old, colonial State House passed on to other uses and, in 1881, to the protection of The Bostonian Society.