You might be surprised to know, for example, that the North End was the site of Boston's first windmill, the nation's first grammar school, and America's first childrens' playground.

Once the birthplace of Boston Brahmins, the North End became a ghetto for the dispossessed as successive waves of immigrants have washed ashore over the last 150 years.

The North End guards well its many secrets: hidden tunnels through which contraband was smuggled ashore; the missing $1.2 million in loot from the Brinks job that might still be around; and the miraculous mystery of the "Blinking Madonna".