• The pulpit, floor, and pews in the African Meeting House, the center of the free African American community in antebellum Boston and birthplace of the Abolition Movement.

    Boston African American

    National Historic Site Massachusetts

Operating Hours & Seasons

Black Heritage Trail
The Black Heritage Trail® explores the history of the 19th century free Black community of Boston. The trail consists of 14 sites and begins at the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Beacon Street. Self-guided tours can be conducted at any time, Monday through Sunday. Maps and site brochures can be obtained at the Abiel Smith School during site hours.

Ranger guided tours of the Black Heritage Trail® are conducted as follows:

Summer Season
(Memorial Day Weekend - Labor Day Weekend):Monday-Saturday; 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. Please call 24 hours in advance to reserve a tour for groups of 5 people or more. Group Size Limit: 15 people

Fall and Spring Season (Labor Day Weekend - November 24th; March 18th - Memorial Day Weekend): Monday-Saturday; 2:00 p.m. tours are open to the public. Please call 24 hours in advance to reserve a tour for groups of 5 people or more. Group Size Limit: 15 people

Winter Season (November 25th - March 17th): No Public Tours conducted.

Tours are 90 minutes long.

The Museum of African American History

The Museum of African American History's Abiel Smith School and African Meeting House are open to the public year round, six days a week, Monday-Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. National Park Rangers are available there throughout the day for historic talks.


Special Events

Throughout the summer the Boston African American National Historic site will be conducting specialized tours on a variety of topics relating to the African American community and Civil Rights in Boston. For more information, please see our Events page.


NOTE: The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial is owned by the City of Boston, is located on the Boston Common and is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. The African Meeting House and the Abiel Smith School are owned by the Museum of African-American History. The Abiel Smith School is open to the public during site hours only and houses the National Park Service visitor area. All of the other sites on the Black Heritage Trail are privately owned and are not open to the public.


Did You Know?

Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman and the Boston African American NHS logo

In 1783, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to officially abolish slavery, after two slaves, Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman and Qwok Walker, successfully sued in separate cases for their freedom.