Monte's Restaurant

America's fight for independence began in Boston, so what better way to celebrate Independence Day than in the place where it all started? The Boston Harborfest is the city's week-long celebration of American independence, and on July 4th the festival moves to the Charles River Esplanade for a great view of fireworks and patriotic music by the Boston Pops.

From the classics to contemporary theater entertainment, the Huntington Theatre Co. brings stories to life through the productions on its stage. Since the theater was founded in the 1980s, it has hosted performances of Prelude to a Kiss, Love's Labour's Lost, The Glass Menagerie, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Raisin in the Sun, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Arms and the Man.

The Salem Witch Museum recreates and examines a dark part of early American history. The Salem witch trials sound like a tale of fiction, merely folklore, but over 180 people were accused and imprisoned for practicing witchcraft with some convictions leading to death by hanging. If you were a witch or were accused of being one in 1692, Salem, Massachusetts was the last place you'd want to be and this museum is the best place to learn why.