Newlywed Home of Martin LutherKing Jr. and Coretta Scott King
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Marker Inscription
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott met in Boston and had their first date in January 1952. During their courtship, Martin moved to 397 Massachusetts Avenue, and Coretta moved to The League of Women for Community Service at 558 Massachusetts Avenue.
The Story
In the early 1950s, Boston's Back Bay was home to a remarkable pair of young students: a Georgia-born theology doctoral candidate at Boston University and an Alabama-raised singer training at the New England Conservatory. Their 1952 introduction and the courtship that followed — carried on between rooming houses along Massachusetts Avenue — would join two lives that reshaped a nation. The League of Women for Community Service, where Coretta boarded, was itself a pillar of Black Boston, a reminder that this romance unfolded within a close, striving community.
Why it matters
The partnership that began on these blocks became one of the defining alliances of the American civil rights movement, making an ordinary stretch of Boston streetscape part of the origin story of a struggle for justice that changed the country.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Edmund Fowle House5.3 mi away · 26;28 Marshall Street, Watertown, MA
- Griffin Museum at Digital Silver Imaging5.4 mi away
- Drive By Projects5.4 mi away · 81 Spring Street, Watertown, MA
- Armenian Museum of America5.6 mi away · 65 Main Street, Watertown, MA
- turtle studios6.0 mi away · 213 California Street, Newton, MA
- The Plumbing Museum6.2 mi away · 80 Rosedale Road
Attractions
- Harvard Square2.9 mi away
- Heartbreak Hill (Top/End)4.9 mi away
- Heartbreak Hill (Bottom/Start)5.3 mi away
- Arlington Center Historic District6.4 mi away
- Central Street Historical District6.5 mi away
- 1899 MIT Observatory site7.0 mi away
Food & drink
- Lexington House of Pizza9.5 mi away
- Bruegger's Bagels10.1 mi away
- Formosa Taipei10.1 mi away
- Spirit of India10.2 mi away
- Dunkin'10.2 mi away · 10 Woburn Street, Lexington, MA
- Dunkin'10.2 mi away · 373 Waltham Street, Lexington, MA
Places to stay
- Homewood Suites5.0 mi away · 1 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA
- The Lodge at Brandeis9.3 mi away
- Hilton Garden Inn9.6 mi away · 450 Totten Pond Road, Waltham, MA
- Extended Stay America9.7 mi away · 52 Fourth Avenue
- Extended Stay America9.7 mi away · 32 Fourth Avenue
- Best Western9.8 mi away · 380 Winter Street
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Martin Luther King Jr.
- · Coretta Scott King
Related events
- · Civil Rights Movement
Themes & tags
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