Ken Burns has a new PBS documentary — The American Revolution — and if you live in Boston, especially South Boston, it’s worth adding to your watch list. The six-part series takes a fresh look at how the colonies went from British rule to building a new nation, but what makes it especially relevant for us is how prominently Boston appears throughout the story.

This isn’t a national history lesson from far away — the documentary repeatedly returns to the neighborhoods we know.

Local call-outs you’ll spot

While you’re watching, keep an ear out for:

• Dorchester Heights (South Boston) — the turning point where Continental troops placed artillery overlooking the harbor, ultimately forcing the British to evacuate Boston.  Henry Knox, the unlikely hero who helped turn the tide of the war. At just 25 years old — a Boston bookseller with no formal military training — Knox led an almost impossible winter mission to transport 60 captured cannons from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to Boston. Hauling them by sled, oxen, and sheer determination across frozen rivers and mountains, Knox delivered the artillery to Dorchester Heights. Those cannons ultimately forced the British to evacuate Boston

• Charlestown — Breed’s Hill / Bunker Hill — the early battle that changed both strategy and morale on both sides. The battle was fought on June 17, 1775, on Breed’s Hill. The British suffered about 1,000 casualties, including “220-some” British dead.   Although the patriots lost, this battle was significant; it proved that colonial militias could stand up to the professional British army, boosting American morale and hardening the resolve of both sides. The heavy British casualties demonstrated that the war would not be easily won, and the battle also highlighted the need for a unified colonial military, leading to the formation of the Continental Army.

• Faneuil Hall — described as the “Cradle of Liberty,” where resistance meetings helped ignite the movement.

• Boston Harbor — referenced throughout as the backdrop for protests, blockades, and supply control.

Why it matters

Burns doesn’t present the Revolution as a tidy string of heroic moments — he shows disagreement, uncertainty, and the complicated decisions people faced. It’s a reminder that the Revolution wasn’t inevitable and wasn’t happening in abstract. It was happening in places we walk today — the harbor, the hills, the streets downtown, the neighborhoods around us.

Watching the documentary through a neighborhood lens reinforces something simple but powerful: the history that shaped the country also shaped our community.

How to watch

The American Revolution is available on PBS and streaming on the PBS app.