The Faneuil Hall Visitor Center gives the following description:
Boston National Historical Park visitor centers can be found at two convenient locations along the Freedom Trail. The downtown visitor center is located on the first floor of Faneuil Hall. The Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Center is located in Building 5 next to the USS Constitution in Charlestown, just inside Gate 1 of the Navy Yard. Each provides free comprehensive orientation to the culture and history of the city.
The Faneuil Hall Visitor Center is staffed by park rangers and volunteers eager to help plan a vacationer's visit. Maps, brochures, free ranger guided tours, and information about sites along Boston's historic Freedom Trail® can be found here.
The Navy Yard Visitor Center, at Building 5, provides an orientation to the sites in Charlestown. Maps, brochures and restrooms are also available here. Visitors can enjoy a 10 minute introductory video of the Navy Yard and view the "Serving the Naval Fleet" exhibit.
Both Visitor Centers are open 9 am to 5 pm daily. Boston National Historical Park is closed on Christmas, New Year's Day and Thanksgiving.
The City of Boston detailing the many sites along the Freedom Trail describes Faneuil Hall as follows:
"Faneuil Hall has served as a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. Funding was provided by a wealthy merchant, Peter Faneuil, for the construction and local artisan to create the grasshopper weather vane that still perches on the building's cupola. Inspirational speeches by Samuel Adams and other patriots were given at Faneuil Hall. These oratories became the footstool for America's desire to obtain independence from the British.
Faneuil Hall was expanded in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch. When Boston became a city the use of Faneuil Hall as a government meeting place came to an end, but it was still regularly used. Today, the first floor is still used as a lively marketplace and the second floor is a meeting hall where many Boston City debates are held. The fourth floor is maintained by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company."
Wikipedia provides the following history of Faneuil Hall:
"After the project of erecting a public market house in Boston had been discussed for some years, merchant Peter Faneuil offered, at a public meeting in 1740, to build a suitable edifice at his own cost as a gift to the town. There was a strong opposition to market houses, and although a vote of thanks was passed unanimously, his offer was accepted by a majority of only seven. Funded in part by profits from slave trading, the building was begun in Dock Square in September of the same year. It was built by artist John Smibert in 1740–1742 in the style of an English country market, with an open ground floor serving as the market house, and an assembly room above. According to Sean Hennessey, a National Park Service spokesman, some of Boston's early slave auctions were located near Fanueil Hall.
The grasshopper weather vane on top of the hall is a well known symbol of Boston; see the section "Grasshopper weather vane," below. Knowledge of the grasshopper was used as a shibboleth during the Revolution period. The people would ask suspected spies the identity of the object on the top of Faneuil Hall; if they answered correctly, then they were free; if not, they were convicted as British spies.
In 1761 the hall was destroyed by fire, nothing but the brick walls remaining. It was rebuilt by the town in 1762. In 1775, during the British occupation of Boston, it was used for a theatre.
In 1805, the hall was greatly expanded by Charles Bulfinch, doubling its height and width and adding a third floor. Four new bays were added, to make seven in all; the open arcades were enclosed, and the cupola was moved to the opposite end of the building. Bulfinch applied Doric brick pilasters to the lower two floors, with Ionic pilasters on the third floor. This renovation added galleries around the assembly hall and increased its height. The building was entirely rebuilt of noncombustible materials in 1898–1899.
On October 9, 1960 the building was designated a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places a number of years later. The ground floor and basement were altered in 1979. The Hall was restored again in 1992.
Faneuil Hall is now part of a larger festival marketplace, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which includes three long granite buildings called North Market, Quincy Market, and South Market, and which now operates as an indoor/outdoor mall and food eatery. It was designed by Benjamin Thompson and Associates and managed by The Rouse Company; its success in the late 1970s led to the emergence of similar marketplaces in other U.S. cities.