3 Best Sights in Boston, Massachusetts

This pocket of early-19th-century brick row houses, near Arlington and Piedmont Streets, is a fine, mellow neighborhood (Edgar Allan Poe was born here). Its window boxes and short, narrow streets make the area seem a toylike reproduction of Beacon Hill. Note that, owing to the street pattern, it's difficult to drive to Bay Village, and it's easy to miss on foot.

This historic district, which was designated by the City of Boston in 2009, features the city's largest, most cohesive grouping of late 19th- and early 20th-century industrial loft buildings. The Boston Wharf Company owned and developed the area from 1836 to 1882. Today, the small, walkable, revitalized area sits between the Fort Point Channel and the Seaport District and is home to Boston Children's Museum, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, working artist studios, and a variety of restaurants.

Cast-iron fences, Victorian-era town houses, and a grassy area all add up to one of Boston's most charming slices of a neighborhood.