Faneuil Hall MarketplaceFood, Festivities and Fun
The hall itself is in the National Register of historic places, a distinction that has been amply achieved by the fact that the building itself is called “The Cradle of History” because of speeches given by Samuel Adams and James Otis who encouraged our nation to declare its independence from Great Britain. Unfortunately, the original hall burnt down in 1761 but was rebuilt in 1762 Faneuil Hall is now a part of a much larger festival marketplace and is now called Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It sports three rather long granite buildings that are called North Market, South Market and Quincy Market. South Market is now well known and operated as an indoor-outdoor mall and is full of delightful places to eat.
Quincy Market was built in 1824–1826. In 1822 the Quincy Market was called for by an increased demand for market placement in Boston, and thus Quincy Market was then an indoor pavilion filled with vendor stalls. It was mainly used for sales of foodstuffs as well as bread, cheese and eggs. The upstairs seating hall still boasts some of these food stalls, and we found them quite interesting to visit.
Bars and fancy restaurants occupy most of the basement levels, but a lot of Quincy Market is now the province of more restaurants as well as fast food stalls. As in the olden days, many vendors still have spaces on the outside of Quincy Market, and sell various trinkets and tourist memorabilia. Meanwhile South Market and North Market are filled with small specialty shops, and some other well-known shops such as Crate & Barrel, the Yankee Candle Shop, Ann Taylor, Victoria’s Secret, Crabtree & Evelyn, Godiva Chocolatiers and even Harley Davidson! My kids were enthralled with the Build-A-Bear Workshop. There are also some office spaces, and even more restaurants. People who visit Boston are always amazed at the variety of food sold there, and this is but one of their market places that highlights the best of Bostonian cuisine. The open spaces found at the East and West ends of the Faneuil Marketplace itself contain the well-known and highly appreciated gathering of various street performers who usually command a huge audience around them. There you will find jugglers, guitar players, singers, and pantomimists. There are bicycle riders on old bikes of the 1700’s and many other talented street performers. The kids were totally mesmerized by the magicians and even the face painters. Other people walk around in full regalia from yesteryear and yet others are wearing costumes that represent aliens having landed on earth. Throughout all the markets you will see a plethora of shopping pushcarts that sell the fabulous creations of New England artisans. Also within the Faneuil Hall Marketplace are entertainment theaters that feature musical acts and various variety acts. Located in the heart of Boston, the Faneuil Hall Marketplace boasts over 18 million visitors annually, now you can become one of them as I did. Depart Faneuil Hall back to Boston Tourism
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