New Waterfront

Adjacent to the Greenway are four waterfront landmarks: The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston’s premier new art venue; the Boston Children’s Museum, which has undergone a $47-million renovation; the new Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum; and the state-of-the-art Boston Convention and Exhibition Center with 516,000 square feet of contiguous meeting and exhibition space.

The Greenway also connects to the 44-mile HarborWalk, an inviting public walkway along Boston’s waterfront filled with public art, cafes, exhibit areas, and dramatic vistas. The HarborWalk includes the downtown Boston waterfront and continues north and south along wharves, piers, museums, historic forts, bridges, beaches, and shoreline from Chelsea Creek to the Neponset River.

New Attractions

New England Aquarium’s spectacular four-story Caribbean coral reef exhibit, the Giant Ocean Tank, underwent a complete renovation in 2013 and now features new windows, a redesigned reef, an education center at the top of the tank, and many new species of fish.
The newly-renovated Earth and Planetary Sciences Gallery at the Harvard Museum of Natural History features a spectacular array of stunning minerals and intriguing rocks, some of which will be on public display for the very first time.

Frost Ice Bar, New England’s only permanent indoor ice bar, opened at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in August 2013. Designed and furnished entirely of ice and kept at a refreshing 21˚F, Frost Ice Bar presents ever-changing offerings of specialty beverages, music, and decor.

Laugh Boston, a new 297-seat comedy venue, opened in fall of 2013 at the Westin Waterfront Hotel in South Boston. Laugh Boston specializes in stand-up comedy and showcases both local and national acts.

In November of 2013, the Museum of Science opened the 10,000-square-foot Hall of Human Life featuring exhibits on human biology and will soon add another gallery focused on the evolution of technology in human life.

The Old State House celebrated its 300th birthday in 2013 with special events and programs throughout the year. The Boston Children’s Museum celebrated its 100th birthday with dazzling new exhibits and spectacular public programs.

The African Meeting House, the oldest African church building standing in America—and a location where many events leading up to the abolishment of slavery took place—recently completed an $8 million restoration as part of its bicentennial celebration. Elements of the project included restoring windows, the building’s façade, and several of the original pews while making the upper floors handicapped accessible.

Exciting developments in 2014 include the opening of The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, a dynamic “laboratory of democracy.” The new 40,000-square-foot facility, designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly, will emphasize civic education as well as provide in-depth information about the Senate.