All About Old Boston Tours
Our story begins in 1722 - the early part of the century. [Well okay, so it was 2001 and not 1722. It just sounds a lot cooler and sometimes feels that way when you are always surrounded by history.] But back to our story: having lived in the North End for a couple of decades, Guild Nichols found himself walking once again on a hot summer afternoon past a group of sight-seers. Recently furloughed from an 8-hour bus trip, they had been released onto the bricked-in enclosure known locally as "The Prado".
The stories the tourists heard that day from the tour guide were limited to Revolutionary history, boring, and in some instances simply dead wrong. The only alternative that the curious tourist could turn to was to accompany a U.S. Park Ranger for an accurate, but scripted interpretation of a high school history book. Like so many times before, Nichols felt that this was a problem in need of a solution.
He believed that visitors to Boston’s North End deserved more, much more. Not only did he know the Revolutionary history better than most of the guides he had overheard, but he also knew the neighborhood history and a lot of the local lore that these guides would never know. After all, he had lived here for well over a quarter century. So, he took his boundless love of history and cobbled together a product that was better than both of the other options... and thus, North End Secret Tours was off and running.
And run they did! Nichols was doing so many tours and adding so much to them that he needed help.
Erstwhile tour guides Ann Nall and Matthew Black noticed that Mr. Nichols was doing an exhausting three-hour tour, and asked why he was doing so much (not to say that the people he took along weren't grateful for the extra education – there was just too much to cover in one tour and Nichols was only one person!)
In fact, there was much more to tell, and so many new areas to cover, that they chose to expand the tours to more than one theme of the North End. The idea was to create tours within specialized niches while keeping the original Secret Tour offering. A diversified set of tours were designed, covering myriad subjects and taking diverse approaches to Boston's storied past, focused on audience interests – not on a tour guide's script. Repositioned as "Old Boston Tours", the new venture began with great zeal, with a modified mission and with many new faces.
Which brings us to today. We hope you enjoy your tour experience with us and thank you for being part of the Old Boston Tours story.
