A GPS tour of JFK’s Boston

Welcome to Boston.com’s GPS tour of John F. Kennedy’s Boston. Now you can enjoy a real tour from the comfort of your own car. You may download the GPS route to your Garmin, TomTom, or other devices by using the links below.

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As a freshman at Harvard, JFK lived behind the wrought-iron gates of Harvard Yard in Weld Hall, before spending his remaining years at the college in Winthrop House along the banks of the Charles River.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.373883

Lon: 71.117131

The park adjacent to the Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge features a fountain and pillars with inscriptions of passages from some of Kennedy’s notable speeches.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.371155

Lon: -71.121342

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in a modest home on a quiet, tree-lined Brookline street on May 29, 1917. Visitors to the John F. Kennedy National Historic Site can walk through the boyhood home of the 35th president and view a short movie about the Kennedy family.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.346945

Lon: -71.123242

Closest street address:

83 Beals St., Brookline

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, a ribbon of parkland that replaces the scar left behind from the Big Dig, is dedicated to the memory of the Kennedy matriarch. In a bit of irony, the greenway supplanted the elevated highway that was named in honor of Rose’s father, John “Honey Fitz’’ Fitzgerald.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.362222

Lon: -71.050386

The historic marker mounted between broken windows and peeling paint of the doorway of 4 Garden Court in the North End is the only clue that JFK’s mother, Rose Kennedy, was born there.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.364244

Lon: -71.053234

Closest street address:

4 Garden Court, Boston

St. Stephen’s Church, in the shadow of the famous steeple of the Old North Church in the North End, is where Rose Kennedy was baptized in 1890 and where her funeral mass was held in 1995.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.365386

Lon: -71.052998

Closest street address:

401 Hanover St., Boston

Whenever he had the chance, JFK enjoyed trekking up the stairs of the Union Oyster House and settling into booth 18 in the dimly lit dining room. A small plaque marks the booth.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.361089

Lon: -71.05691

Closest street address:

41 Union St., Boston

On a chilly Election Day morning in 1960, JFK and Jackie cast their ballots in the basement of the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, which today is the Old West Church at 131 Cambridge Street.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.361668

Lon: -71.064231

Closest street address:

131 Cambridge St., Boston

Eleven days before delivering his memorable inaugural address in January 1961, the president-elect delivered his famed “city upon a hill’’ speech to the legislature inside the State House. Although he never served underneath the golden dome, a bronze statue of JFK stands outside the State House’s west wing.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.359591

Lon: -71.062172

Closest street address:

1 Ashburton Place, Boston

When Kennedy decided in 1946 to run for the congressional seat once held by his grandfather, John “Honey Fitz’’ Fitzgerald, he moved to Boston and rented a two-room suite in the old Hotel Bellevue. The building at 21 Beacon Street is now a private residence.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.358248

Lon: -71.062421

Closest street address:

21 Beacon St., Boston

Kennedy announced his 1946 candidacy for Congress at the Parker House Hotel, and his bachelor party was held in the dark-paneled Press Room. According to some accounts, Jack proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at the hotel. The Last Hurrah restaurant on the ground floor features a JFK Lobster Roll.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.357711

Lon: -71.059914

Closest street address:

60 School St., Boston

Locke-Ober, the traditional lair of Boston’s power brokers, was also a favorite dining spot of Kennedy’s. While plotting his run for the presidency, he often had policy discussions with Harvard intellectuals in one of the rooms on the third floor. One of the private rooms is named for JFK.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.355401

Lon: -71.061458

Closest street address:

3 Winter Place, Boston

A trip to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum on Columbia Point in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester begins with an 18-minute introductory film, told in JFK’s own words, that covers his career up to his nomination at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.32682

Lon: -71.05227

Closest street address:

Columbia Point, Dorchester

Around the corner from 21 Beacon St., between a coffee shop and a barber, is the entrance to 122 Bowdoin Street, which was Kennedy’s registered voting address when he served in Congress and even when he resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.30307

Lon: -71.071481

Closest street address:

122 Bowdoin St., Boston

Political memorabilia lines the walls of Doyle’s Cafe, Boston’s premier political watering hole, in Jamaica Plain.

GPS coordinates:

Lat: 42.306435

Lon: -71.107232

Closest street address:

3484 Washington St., Jamaica Plain