Today we finished visiting the sites on Boston’s Freedom Trail. That’s 14 sites, y’all. 🥵🥵 I think we might be a bit insane. 🤪🤪🤪
We started at the traditional beginning of the trail, the Boston Common. And because Jonathan hasn’t actually visited the Common or the area around the Common yet, we decided to do a quick circuit of the Public Garden…
… and of Acorn street and the Beacon Hill neighborhood. Cause I just love it and Jonathan needed to experience it.
As we were making our way back to the Boston Common, we stopped at a little bodega-type place and picked up some lunch. We then made our way back over to the Public Garden ate our provisions.
Also, the weather was glorious the entire day, in the mid-upper 70s, which made for excellent adventuring weather all the day long. We walked a lot but we never got overheated.
After we finished our lunch in the garden, we made our way over to the Freedom Trail visitor center which is located on Boston Common, and picked up some maps and souvenirs.
- Boston Common- Visitor Center
Established in 1634, Boston Common is America’s oldest public park. And it has played host to a lot of different activities and events:
* a pasture for the grazing of livestock
* a site for Puritans to carry out punishments (whipping post, stocks, gallows, etc.)
* a “trayning field,” where British soldiers made camp during their occupation of Boston in 1775.
* a rally led by Martin Luther King Jr.
* etc.
2. Massachusetts State House
This is the ‘new’ and current State House which has served as the seat of Massachusetts government since its opening in 1798.
(You can do a free tour of the inside, to see the collections of art and historic memorabilia, but we opted to continue on)
3. Park Street Church
At one point, the church’s 227 foot steeple was the first thing that people saw when they were coming into Boston, although it is now rather dwarfed by other buildings. A number of “firsts” promoting American freedom and human rights took place here.
Again, we moved on pretty quickly from this spot.
3. Granary Burying Ground
We spent a little more time here. The Granary Burying Ground is one of Boston’s earliest historic sites, dating from 1660, it contains the graves of Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and all five of the Boston Massacre victims.
Some of the gravestones were completely unreadable because they were so old and weathered.
This was really a lovely spot, despite all those darn tourists 😉
Somehow we didn’t get a picture of Paul Revere’s grave. Probably cause we were too busy preventing the twins from climbing on the gravestones…
5. King’s Chapel
The King’s chapel was the first state (aka England)-sanctioned , non-Puritan church in Boston. The chapel is built on part of a Puritan graveyard (I can’t imagine that that helped foster positive feelings). That graveyard is now called King’s Chapel Burying Ground and part of it remains intact)
6. Boston Latin, Old City Hall, Benjamin Franklin
Right around the corner, was kind of a three-for one:
- Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, is the oldest public school in America. It offered free education to all boys, whether they were rich or poor. 5 signers of the Declaration of Independence attended school here including Benjamin Franklin. The original schoolhouse was torn down in 1745 to make more space for an expanded “King’s Chapel”. The school itself moved to a different location.
- The Old City Hall was an important meeting place for over 120 years. It is now an office and retail space and houses, among other things, a Ruth’s Chris steakhouse.
- An 8 foot statue of Benjamin Franklin stands right in front of the Old City Hall. It was the first public statue of a person to be erected in Boston and has been in place since 1856.
7. Old Corner Book Store
The building itself was constructed in 1718. And later housed a number of booksellers and publishers; many great American writers were published here including: Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Nathanial Hawthorn, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emerson, Longfellow, etc. The first American editions of Charles Dickens’ works were issued from here.
It is now a Chipotle. 😂😂 (At one point, it was slated for demolition, to make way for a parking garage but was saved by interested citizens!)
Right across the street is a site that is not on the official itinerary of the Freedom Trail, but is an important part of the history of this area all the same: The Irish Famine Memorial. It is made up of two statues each featuring the same three figures, as kind of a before and after.
Also in the same little square was the site that our children enjoyed more than any other the entire day: A Little Free Library. To the kids delight, there happened to be four Minecraft books. We grabbed them (plus another book for Clara) and the kids plunked down and started reading. Even the twins.
We sat in that little square for at least 45 minutes. It was a lovely little break and a nice spot to stop.
8. Old South Meeting house
Right across the street from our reading spot was the Old South Meeting House.
This building was location for some of the most important events leading up to the American Revolution. On December 16, 1773 over 5,000 men met in the meeting house to debate controversial tea tax. When compromise failed, the signal was given and the men went and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor.
9. Old State House
Built in 1713, the Old State House served as the seat of Massachusetts government until it was later replaced by the “New” State House. It is the the oldest surviving public building in Boston.
It was also the location of the Boston Massacre, which occurred just outside its doors.
Let’s be honest, the kids were mostly excited that there was a silver and gold unicorn on the roof.
10. Boston Massacre Site
The Boston Massacre site is commemorated just outside the Old State House.
Tensions had been mounting for months in Boston, on March 5, 1770, Bostonians and British soliders Redcoats clashed just in front of the Old State House. 5 colonists were killed by gunfire. This event led to the rallying of Bostonians against the Crown and the evacuation of the troops in Boston.
11. Fanueil Hall (Fan-YOU-ul I asked a park ranger how to pronounce this)
Originally intended as a center of commerce, it became known as ‘the home of free speech’. This is where the Sons of Liberty, where debates on the most important issues of the day occurred, Protests against the Sugar, Stamp, Townshend acts occurred here. The idea of “no taxation without representation” found its roots here.
Today, it is a venue for shopping, and dining. We briefly wandered through, but didn’t linger for too long.
Also, Isaac fell asleep in the stroller OH HAPPY DAY!!
Union Oyster House/ Walking the north end
To get to our next destination, we made our way through the North End of Boston. And that is a seriously cool area. Lots of beautiful old buildings. And cool restaurants. It is very trendy.
And also, we walked by the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United Sates: Union Oyster House.
12. Paul Revere’s House
The next stop was the home of Paul Revere. It has been converted into a museum, but we were reaching the kids’ limit. They were tired of walking and were getting hungry again. Also, Evie also fell asleep in the stroller on the walk over (HALLELUJAH!) So, we opted to not go through the museum itself. We love you Paul Revere. We really do. But, we also love being sane.
We decided to divide and conquer. Clara and Jonathan went to get food. And I took the twins and the boys over to the Rose Kennedy Greenway to rest up and just hang out. There are lots of places to do that on the greenway. We found ourselves a nice place and we ‘set up camp.’
Once again, the Minecraft books came in handy. The boys were very happy to have them and frankly so was I. I got to completely relax while my children read and slept. That was heavenly.
Also. Jonas is so funny to watch when he reads. Like,seriously. He moves around SOOOOO MUCH! He stayed in each position between 10-60 seconds before moving on. All while his eyes are glued to his book. It’s like a combination of yoga and reading.
With no further ado, I present to you my first art collection: ‘The Reader’– a series of photos of a reader.
Jonathan and Clara came back with the butternut squash ravioli from Giacomo’s for themselves and me (we went there for a date night a little while ago, and it was practically a religious experience. That blog post is here) and pizza for the four young ‘uns.
We ate on the greenway and it was just lovely.
We didn’t think that it was the best idea to take the entire party to see the rest of the Freedom trail. And so we decided that I would go (I’m such a completionist) with any of the kids who also wanted to. And so, in the end, I went on my own while Jonathan and the kids hung out on the greenway.
I walked through the Paul Revere Mall and walked by the Clough house (built in 1712).
13. Old North Church
Boston’s oldest church, built in 1723, is best known for its role in the start of the Revolutionary War. A secret signal was worked out between Revere and his compatriots to indicate whether the British forces were moving to Concord by land or by sea. One lantern placed in the church’s window meant one thing, two lanterns meant another: “One if by land, two if by sea”
14. Copp’s Hill Burying ground
The final destination for today. It was closed when I arrived (it was after 4 pm), but honestly, that was probably just as well, cause I didn’t want my family to be sitting and waiting for me for too long.
There are a few notable individuals buried here including the man, Robert Newman, who hung the lanterns in the church on the night of Paul Revere’s midnight ride.
This spot is also notable because of its height. This was the point from which the British trained their canons on Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Did I mention that this area is so pretty!?!?!?!
Eventually I made it back to the Greenway. At this point, the car was about 2 miles away. So, Jonathan and Clara hopped onto some blue bikes and biked down toward the Common where our car was parked. It was still a lovely evening and the younger kids and I had a great time hanging out on the greenway.
A little while later, I got a phone call from Jonathan.
He had forgotten the car keys. Again.
I decided that we would just start walking. I still had the stroller for the twins and Jonas and Logan had benefitted from a 2 hour resting period. And since we wouldn’t be following the actual Freedom Trail, it would be a bit shorter.
Off we went and Jonathan and Clara met us part of the way.
What a day. We went home and fell into bed.
