Beacon Hill, Boston

This is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Boston. Beacon Hill borders Boston Common, and includes the beautiful, golden-domed State House designed by Charles Bulfinch in 1787. The buildings are mostly Federal style townhouses, with beautiful bowfronted facades, ornate iron balconies, and graceful columns. This is a view of the south slope of Beacon Hill, facing the Common. To quote from Wikipedia:

"The south slope 'became the seat of Boston wealth and power.' It was carefully planned for people who left densely populated areas, like the North End. The residents of opulent homes, called the Boston Brahmins, were described by Oliver Wendell Holmes as a 'harmless, inoffensive, untitled aristocracy'. They had 'houses by Charles Bulfinch, their monopoly on Beacon Street, their ancestral portraits and Chinese porcelains, humanitarianism, Unitarian faith in the march of the mind, Yankee shrewdness, and New England exclusiveness.' Literary salons and publishing houses were founded in the 19th century. 'Great thinkers' lived in the neighborhood, including Daniel Webster, Henry Thoreau and Wendell Phillips."