Boston...So American, So Transcendental.

Transcendental. Literature, History. Education. Rebellion. Religion. Politics. Sports. 
Settled in 1630 by Puritans, who named it after a town in England.Harvard--America's first college in 1636. America's first public school in 1634.
Revolution. Boston Tea Party. Paul Revere. The Battles of Concord and Lexington and the "shot heard 'round the world. Battle of Bunker Hill. Boston Massacre.  John Adams. 
Thoreau and Walden Pond. Emerson. Alcott. Longfellow--the Transcendentalists. "The Athens of America." 

First subway. 16 percent Irish. Catholic. Jewish. Tip O'Neil. JFK and the Kennedys. 15,000 people in 1760. Now, 600,000+ people, including 7.6 million in area. Home to MIT and 100 colleges and universities. Global economic dynamo. Boston Globe with 16 Pulitzers. 
Boston Red Sox, founding member of American League. The Celtics. New England Patriots. The Boston Marathon, world's oldest annual marathon, one of six World Marathon Majors.  Started in 1897 after 1896 Summer Olympics marathon. Always held on third Monday in April, Patriots' Day. More transcendental that ever. So American. Boston.