It happened between what was then King Street and Quaker Lane on March 5, 1770. In this virtual workshop, we will consider multiple views from historic maps to understand how this event unfolded the way it happened because of where it happened. Explore the specifics of Boston’s geography acted as a pressure cooker leading up to the massacre, the chaos of the moment itself, and the concentration of fury in its aftermath.

Learn how maps can aide your teaching of this seminal event in American history. Educators will leave this workshop with primary sources and teaching strategies for using them with students.

Join LMEC Head Curator Garrett Dash Nelson for a special sneak preview exclusively for educators of our upcoming exhibition, Terrains of Independence. In this exhibition maps will offer the entrypoint to a reconsideration of the Revolutionary War through the lens of locality and place.

The exhibition will be on view at the Leventhal Center through January 2026 with special guided experiences for K-12 students available.

In a fictional 1773, Johnny Tremain walked the streets of Boston. In reality in 1942, Esther Forbes used her extensive knowledge of the geography of colonial Boston to create an accurate world around her young protagonist to move through.

This workshop pairs this classic text with historic maps to connect students with Johnny Tremain and the very real world around him.

More information to follow