Faneuil Hall Marketplace: Home to the Best Shopping in Boston
How do you describe something as amazing as Faneuil Hall? Here's our best stab at it: Faneuil Hall is part modern day marketplace, part historical meeting place and all around unbelievable. Best of all, Onyx Hotel is just a mere four blocks away. Located near the Boston Waterfront/Inner Harbor and Government Center, Faneuil Hall Marketplace comprises four attractions in one: Faneuil Hall, North Market, Quincy Market and South Market, set around a cobblestone promenade along Boston's famed Freedom Trail. It's the epicenter of history and shopping in Boston.
Faneuil Hall has been a bustling marketplace and meeting hall since 1742. Wealthy Boston merchant, Peter Faneuil, had the hall built for the city at that time and its ensuing legacy has made it an important gift to both the city and our nation.
Designed in the style of an English country market with a space for assembly above the market stalls, Faneuil Hall became a vital venue in the American Revolution. There were so many important pre-revolutionary meetings held in the assembly space that the hall soon became known as the "Cradle of Liberty," where the likes of Samuel Adams inspired the masses to revolution and eventual independence from Great Britain.
Important political meetings and stirring speeches occur in Faneuil Hall to this day. Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy have spoken here, like their predecessors, Oliver Wendall Holmes and Susan B. Anthony. Also, historical events continue to unfold under the hall roof: Senator John Kerry, for example, conceded the 2004 presidential election in Faneuil Hall.
Faneuil Hall is still an important meeting place, and its original purpose as a marketplace also continues unabated. The restoration of the marketplace has served as a model of urban renewal for cities in the U.S. and abroad. Bustling shops, restaurants and entertainment areas keep things lively throughout the day.