Living in Beacon Hill, Boston

Acorn Street, its cobblestones climbing a steep block behind Chestnut Street, ranks among the most photographed lanes in Boston, a narrow passage of brick rowhouses lit by gas lamps after dark. Louisburg Square's private, gated garden sits a few blocks over, ringed by some of the neighborhood's grandest townhouses, and the gold-domed State House stands at the hill's summit, looking down Beacon Street toward the Boston Common, where the Frog Pond sits at the base of the hill as a reflecting pool ringed by walking paths. Beacon Hill's narrow lanes sit within one of the city's oldest protected historic districts, a designation that has kept its federal-era brick and gas lamps from being altered for decades. The Red Line's Charles/MGH and Park Street stops, the Green Line's Park Street and Boylston stations, and the Blue Line's Bowdoin stop all sit within walking distance. Brick sidewalks buckle over old tree roots and turn slick with ice in winter, uneven footing that takes some getting used to for anyone pushing a stroller or walking with a cane.

Gas lamps flicker on along Beacon Street by evening, lighting a fifteen-minute walk past Louisburg Square's dark windows down to the Common — enough time to take in the hill's whole character in one loop.