Boston Athenaeum

The center of intellectual life during Boston’s [1] golden age in the early 19th century was this private library located near the State House [2], where scholars such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes gathered to debate the political and philosophical issues of the day.

Today, docents offer tours of the renovated Boston Athenaeum (10½ Beacon St., 617/227-0270, www.bostonathenaeum.org [3], 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m. Mon. and Wed., 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Tues., Thu., and Fri. year-round; 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Sat. Sept. 12–May 22, free), including the study where Nathaniel Hawthorne reportedly saw the ghost of an old friend.

Among the Boston Athenaeum’s more unusual holdings is the private library of George Washington, and one of the world’s largest collections of books about the Romany people (commonly known as gypsies). Tours are offered at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and require reservations.