3 Best Sights in Boston, Massachusetts

Affectionately known as "Old Ironsides," the USS Constitution rides proudly at anchor in her berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. fleet is a battlewagon of the old school, of the days of "wooden ships and iron men"—when she and her crew of 200 succeeded at the perilous task of asserting the sovereignty of an improbable new nation. Every July 4, she's towed out for a celebratory turnabout in Boston Harbor, where her keel was laid in 1797.

The venerable craft has narrowly escaped the scrap heap several times in her long history. She was launched on October 21, 1797, as part of the nation's fledgling navy. Her hull was made of live oak, the toughest wood grown in North America; her bottom was sheathed in copper, provided by Paul Revere at a nominal cost. Her principal service was during Thomas Jefferson's campaign against the Barbary pirates, off the coast of North Africa, and in the War of 1812. In 42 engagements her record was 42–0.

The nickname "Old Ironsides" was acquired during the War of 1812, when shots from the British warship Guerrière appeared to bounce off her hull. Talk of scrapping the ship began as early as 1830, but she was saved by a public campaign sparked by Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "Old Ironsides." She underwent a major restoration in the early 1990s. Today she continues, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, to be a part of the U.S. Navy. In 2015, she was dry docked for a 26-month restoration that included replacement of select hull planks, the 1995 copper sheathing, and deck beams, returning to the water in 2017.

The navy personnel who look after the Constitution maintain a 24-hour watch. Instead of taking the T, you can get closer to the ship by taking MBTA Bus 93 to Chelsea Street from Haymarket. Or you can take the Boston Harbor Cruise water shuttle from Long Wharf to Pier 4. This is Freedom Trail stop 15.

A National Park Service site since it was decommissioned in 1974, the Charlestown Navy Yard was one of six established to build warships. For 174 years, as wooden hulls and muzzle-loading cannons gave way to steel ships and sophisticated electronics, the yard evolved to meet the Navy's changing needs. Here are early-19th-century barracks, workshops, and officers' quarters; a ropewalk (an elongated building for making rope, not open to the public), designed in 1834 by the Greek Revival architect Alexander Parris and used by the Navy to turn out cordage for more than 125 years; and one of the oldest operational naval dry docks in the United States. The USS Constitution was the first to use this dry dock in 1833. In addition to the ship itself, check out the Constitution Museum, the collections of the Boston Marine Society, and the USS Cassin Young. The Charlestown Navy Yard Visitors Center has exhibits on ships and a fun souvenir shop. A 10-minute movie about the Navy Yard runs every 15 minutes in a small theater.

Built in 1943, this Fletcher-class U.S. Navy destroyer survived action in Asian waters during World War II (including seven Pacific battles and two kamikaze hits). She served the Navy until 1960. Walk beside her and take in her size, explore her top deck, or go below deck for a guided tour offered by the National Park Service. She is the namesake of Captain Cassin Young, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism at the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; he was killed in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in the fall of 1942. Check the website for special opening hours.