17 Apr 2026 Partners in Preservation: Leah, Hub Town Tours
Here, Leah, Outreach Director of Hub Town Tours, shares why they’ve partnered with HBI to preserve Boston’s historic places and spaces. Hub Town Tours has been deepening public understanding of Boston’s history since 2016, becoming one of the most popular tour companies in the city. See what they’ve got lined up for the summer of America’s 250th here!
1. What does preservation mean to your organization and your commitment to Boston?
Preservation is what allows us to do what we do. Then in turn, by buildings being preserved, we can profit off of sharing these stories and then give money back toward preservation of those historic sites. So, it’s kind of cyclical for us. By being able to landmark historic events in place by the physical site where history happens, people feel more connected to it.
Our goal as historians– our entire staff are professional historians, archaeologists, professors, journalists, etc.– our goal is to get people connected to the past to learn from it and then to work towards the betterment of our collective future. It’s also quite striking for people to see a historic building in a modern city. Boston has always been a hub. And there’s a reason our company is named that because Boston’s always been a hub of innovation, right, but it doesn’t end in 1783 at the end of the revolution. You see this innovation continuing to this day. We host guests who are coming here for conferences at MIT and workshops in science and engineering, and we provide them with the context to see that those themes have existed since even before Boston was founded in 1630.
So I think for guests to be able to see that, engage with a place, it really has an impact. When people from California come and they see this building in the city that they’ve always conceived our nation was birthed out of, it reminds them how important it is to continue preserving. Part of why we’re so committed to Boston is because it is so rich in preserving that past. America is so young. Boston is one of the oldest places with European connections and the most well-preserved city in the U.S. So it is perhaps the closest portal we can get to the past. This is as close as we can get to our history in 2026.
2. How does working with Historic Boston Inc. (HBI) further your own work?
Our organization could not share these stories or conduct these tours without the preservation of the city’s historic sites. It’s a cyclical relationship, historic interpretation and preservation.
Especially with the scrim up on Old Corner right now. Our guides are actually using that to their advantage to say: there is active preservation actually happening here. It’s like going to Disney World and a ride is closed, right? Guests see a building covered and might say “I didn’t get my money’s worth.” But we refute that because what they get is the opportunity to see an active preservation effort firsthand– that is what’s going on. And guests love it because at first they see ye old Chipotle and they love that joke, but then we tell them how all of it works and how tenants here help preservation at large, and that’s a way to keep Boston rooted in its past. The Washington Street corner is a hot spot for groups. If you haven’t gotten a guest on your side at that point, they’re on your side there because they realize that they are watching history happen.
Then guests say “I wish Chicago did that,” or “I wish Phoenix did that,” or “in my city they just tear everything down,” and they lose that connection to the past and to themselves.
“But not here,” I tell them, “not in Boston because we’re cool.”
Hub Town Tours offers a fantastic tour along the Freedom Trail, but they also take great pride in sharing the lesser known history of our city as well! Leah recommends checking out their Underground Railroad: History Tour of Beacon Hill and Votes for Women: History Tour of Back Bay