Old State House

This brick Georgian building at the head of State Street served as the center of colonial and revolutionary government in Boston. Built in 1713, it was the site of the Boston Massacre in 1770, marked by a circle of cobblestones outside, and from its east balcony the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians in July 1776. Today it operates as a museum of the American Revolution, with exhibits on the events that unfolded around it. The lion and unicorn atop the gables recall its British origins.