Boston Day 2 - the freedom trail

Boston is a great city. The traffic in Boston is not so great. After driving around a lot yesterday I was ready for something new. After a relaxing morning, Alison and I headed into the city and parked our car at the Boston Common parking garage. We knew we wouldn't be back to pick it up until we were ready to head back to the hotel. We decided we wanted to walk the freedom trail. That is all we planned to do today. Alison and I enjoy American history and the freedom trail is where it all began, which is why it is known as the cradle of America.

The trail begins at Boston Common, which is the oldest park in America. We walked around the park enjoying the ambiance until we found the trail. The trail is really easy to follow because there is a red brick/painted path the entire length of the trail. The first site after Boston Common is the Massachusetts State House. It is a really unique building with a giant golden globe. We read that the inside of the dome was just as beautiful so we went inside and we were not disappointed. The next few sites were all in the heart of the city. There were a number of churches, graveyards, and even the first public school. This part of the trail went really fast. The sites were all close together and there wasn’t a ton to see until we got to the Old State House.

The Old State House was the center of Colonial Boston – economically, politically, and physically. We spent some time going through the museum and reviewing the events that led up revolutionary war. One of the things I loved about this building was the balcony on the east side of the building. The Royal Governor exclusively this balcony for announcements until July of 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was read from this balcony. After the Declaration was read Boston went crazy. Citizens stormed the streets and had huge bonfires fueled by anything they could find that reminded them of the King. Some citizens even climbed up on the roof of the Old State House and tore off the statues of the lion and unicorn to fuel a bonfire. Afterward, the building went from being a symbol of royal control to a symbol of the revolution. Today replicas of the lion and unicorn statues have been added to the renovated building. We also went on a tour about the Boston massacre at the Old State House. The tour centered on a famous engraving made by Paul Revere. We learned about the background of the massacre and the events of that night. It was interesting to find out how many first-hand accounts contradict each other. Even the people who were there really couldn't tell you exactly what happened. What we do know is that five colonists ended up dead and in future conflicts with the British the colonists remembered the events of the Boston Massacre. 

After the Old State House, the trail stopped by Faneuil hall. We planned to come back later tonight so we walked through quickly and followed the trail into the north end. The north end of Boston is the old Italian neighborhood. On our way to the north end, we stepped briefly off the trail to see a holocaust memorial. The memorial is located in a park and consists of a number of glass pillars etched with the numbers that were assigned to Jews at concentration camps. We walked slowly through the memorial reading the quotes memorializing the courage and strength of holocaust victims.  It made me grateful for the freedoms we have in this country and reminded me how important it is to always protect those freedoms because when you take people's freedoms tragedy will occur. It is so important to remember the value of our freedoms. 

At this point we were hungry and we started looking for a good place to stop for lunch. While we were looking for a restaurant I saw a park I visited seven years ago on the national jamboree. It was fun to see somewhere I remembered so clearly and to share that with Alison. The bad news is we were so distracted by the park and looking for a restaurant that we walked right past Paul Revere’s house, but we would catch that later. We did find a nice little Italian place to eat. We were the only people there and the waiter worked hard to make sure we had a great experience. He was very passionate about the restaurant. The food did not disappoint. I ventured out and tried some lobster ravioli – it was amazing. Alison got the shrimp scampi and thoroughly enjoyed her meal. Italian in the north end is the best.   

Our next stop was the Old North Church. This is a really cool building. We walked through and read about Paul Revere. We learned about the two men who may have hung the lanterns in the steeple (they think it was probably both of them because it is nearly impossible to climb to the steeple carrying two lanterns). We also decided to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Old North Church. With the tour we got to climb partway up the steeple – we went up two really steep sets of stairs to a room right under the bells. The old north church has some of the first bells that were brought to the colonies. The bells were so expensive that the Rector couldn’t afford to pay a trained bell ringer so he arranged to have some of the local teenage boys ring the bells. One of the boys who agreed to ring the bells was a 15-year-old Paul Revere. This story was cool because it was Paul Revere’s only connection to the church – he attended a different church. He would have been very familiar with the steeple though from ringing the bells as a teenager. After going up the tower our tour took us down into the crypt. It was creepy to be among the tombs down there. We learned that unfortunately, the Old North Church didn’t take very good care of the dead who were buried there. We saw a few tombs of soldiers from the revolutionary war from both sides, which were interesting. Despite Paul Revere’s decision to use the church as a signal, the church leaned loyalist and one of the highest-ranking British officers from Bunker Hill is buried under the Old North Church.

After the Old North Church, we continued along the trail. Unfortunately today the Government is still shut down so we could see the USS Constitution and we got up to the complex gate, but it was closed so we weren’t able to do much in that area. We then hiked up to the Bunker Hill memorial. We walked around the memorial and read about how terrible this battle was and all the death that occurred in this area. The Patriots lost this particular battle, but it was significant because the British suffered heavy losses and it showed the patriots would and could stand up against the British army.

Next, we retraced our steps and enjoyed a beautiful fall night in Boston. The weather was perfect all day and it felt good to be outside. This time around we found Paul Revere's house and stopped to take a couple of pictures. Eventually, we ended up at Faneuil Hall where we did some shopping and had dinner. Today we had a good day. We walked the freedom trail forward and backward. We saw where our founding fathers talked,  walked, and fought for this nation. These places are reminders to me of the cost of freedom. I am so grateful for the sacrifices they made for the freedoms I enjoy today.