Back Bay Skyline

Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, seen here from the Cambridge side of the Charles River, has some of the city's tallest and most interesting buildings, as well as some of the area's best shopping, dining, and residential streets. The neighborhood is called the Back Bay because at one time it was literally the back bay for Boston. The land the neighborhood was built on was created by filling the tidewater flats of the Charles River, a project that took several decades to complete.