Boston, Massachusetts

The Freedom Trail is painted on the sidewalk in red – a two-and-a-half mile line through sixteen of the most consequential sites in American history. Boston doesn't hint at its significance; it marks it with paint.

And the significance is real. This is where unarmed colonists were shot dead in the street, where 92 tons of tea went into the harbour in what Bostonians call, with characteristic understatement, a Party, and where Paul Revere set off on his midnight ride before getting arrested. The founding story of a nation runs through fewer than three square miles.

But the red line is a groove as much as a guide. VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace it with a depth that goes beyond the textbooks – the propaganda behind the Massacre, the years of smuggling and defiance that preceded the revolution. And they go beyond it: into the North End's Italian streets and out to South Boston, where student veterans tell their own stories. Pause when you need to. The Old State House isn't going anywhere.

Plug in your earbuds. Boston's been here longer than the country has.