Built in 1713, the Old State House served as a merchants’ exchange as well as the seat of colonial and state governments. In 1761 James Otis opposed the Writs of Assistance here, inspiring John Adams to state “then and there the child independence was born.” A cobblestone circle beneath its balcony marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians killing five including fugitive slave Crispus Attucks.  I was in the area for a meeting which ran long and paused in traffic for a quick shot on the way home.