Bunker Hill Monument
The battle was fought on Breed's Hill, not Bunker Hill — and the 221-foot granite obelisk took 18 years and two funding halts to finish.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Boston offline.
Dedicated June 17, 1843 — exactly 68 years after the battle — it was the largest obelisk in the United States at completion. The site marks where Continental forces met the British in 1775, at a cost that included the death of soldier Joseph Warren; a monument to him stood here as early as 1794. It sits on the Freedom Trail inside Boston National Historical Park.
What to look for
- Solomon Willard's 221-foot granite obelisk rising from the 4-acre Monument Square
- William Wetmore Story's statue of William Prescott, positioned south of the obelisk
- The granite entrance building on the north side, completed in 1902 after decades of fundraising
National Park Service site since 1976; part of the Freedom Trail, so it connects naturally to other Revolutionary-era stops in Charlestown and downtown Boston.
Bunker Hill Monument is one of 31 sights worth the detour in Boston, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Boston pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts BostonFour hundred and fifty thousand works of art under one roof — one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas.
- TD GardenThe subway stops underneath it — TD Garden is built directly above MBTA's North Station, so you step off the train and you are already at the door.
- Harvard College ObservatoryOn the night of July 16-17, 1850, astronomers here made the first daguerreotype of a star — Vega — through a telescope that was the largest in North America.
- Fenway ParkThe oldest active ballpark in MLB, where a cramped city block accidentally invented some of baseball's most famous features.
- Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIn 1990, thieves walked out with thirteen works worth $500 million — none have ever come back, and the case is still open.
- Boston Public LibraryJohn Adams' personal 3,800-volume library lives here — and any Massachusetts adult can walk in and access it.