Less than a block away from Quincy Market, on the north side of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, is Haymarket Square, a constant presence since the early 1830s, almost a hundred years after the opening of Faneuil Hall. Here an open-air fruit and vegetable market is held each Friday and Saturday, rain or shine, all year long. This produce market is a compliment to the more upscale offerings of the various food shops, restaurants and boutiques adjoining the marketplace. For visitors it offers rich photo opportunities.
Located on the short, narrow Blackstone Street most of the costermongers, or vendors, are the old timers from Boston’s North End Italian community. Many have worked the market for decades, while some of the families have done it for generations. The culture of the merchants, with their bantering street talk, adds to the appeal of this robust market making it not only authentic but vibrantly colorful.
Haggling over price is possible, though buying from the market is still less expensive than most places. Dropping by late in the date, prices fall as the costermongers would rather sell than pack up and cart home. Haymarket is a place linked to the past but now also infused with relative newcomers from Asia, North Africa and the Caribbean expanding the rich variety of produce. Here one can find peppers, mangoes, citrus fruits, an assortment of berries. tomatoes and squash, plus foods and exotic spices, all within one marketplace.
Haymarket is an institution for the foodies of Boston, where quality and price are mixed in with the history and culture of Faneuil Hall.
“Friends, Brethren, Countrymen! That worst of plagues, the detested TEA, has arrived in this harbour. The hour of destruction... stares you in the face.”
George R.T. Hewes, A Survivor of the LIttle Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbor in 1773...
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