John Adams Courthouse

Beacon Hill & Boston Common


Peek inside the impressive courthouse on Pemberton Sq, which is home of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the oldest appellate court in the country), as well as the Appeals Court and the Social Law Library. You can't enter the courtrooms, but you can admire the barrel-vaulted ceiling in the Great Hall and peruse the small exhibits – one on John Adams and the other on the Sacco & Vanzetti trial.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Beacon Hill & Boston Common attractions

1. Boston Athenaeum

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2. Steaming Kettle

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3. King's Chapel & Burying Ground

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Puritan Bostonians were not pleased when the original Anglican church was erected on this site in 1688. The granite chapel standing today – built in 1754 …

4. Old City Hall

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5. Granary Burying Ground

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6. Massachusetts State House

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High atop Beacon Hill, Massachusetts’ leaders and legislators attempt to turn their ideas into concrete policies and practices within the State House…

7. City Hall Plaza

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City Hall Plaza is a cold, windy, 56-acre concrete plaza, surrounded by government office buildings. Occupying the site of the former Scollay Sq, the…

8. Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

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The magnificent bas-relief memorial opposite the State House was sculpted by Augustus St Gaudens. It honors the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of the Union…