Day 9: Boston's Freedom Trail

First of all, my apologies to any of our readers who are bored by early American history. I know many of the entries have revolved around historical sights, but such is New England and Joiner road trips. I'm trying to include the basics, so maybe it won't be too boring. More randomness in the coming days.

We got an early start this morning and drove from Quincy into Boston. We parked our car at the hotel, rode the hotel shuttle to the subway ("T") station, bought our passes, and rode the T into the city. Today's sightseeing consisted of one thing: The Freedom Trail. We began by taking an hour and a half walking tour of some of the city's major historic sites.

We saw Boston Common (America's oldest public park), the Massachusetts state capitol ("State House"), and the Park Street Church (birthplace of American Sunday School.) From there we walked to the 350 year-old Granary Burial Ground, the final resting place of many American Revolutionary heroes.

You could easily tell the place was old because of the appearance and number of headstones. They were all over the place. In the past rain has washed them into the streets, and they were replaced in convenient spots. James Otis, the man who said "Taxation without representation is tyranny," is buried there, as well as John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine (Declaration signers), Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's parents, Samuel Adams, and the five victims of the Boston Massacre.

We continued along the Freedom Trail throughout the city and saw the Tremont Temple Baptist Church (called "The Pulpit of America" by D.L. Moody) and the King's Chapel Anglican Church. King's Chapel was built on top of a Puritan burial ground because the Puritans would not give land to the Anglicans for their church. We saw Boston's Old City Hall, the Old Corner Bookstore ("Birthplace of Literary America"), and the site of America's oldest and first public school. We saw the Old South Meeting Hall (where the Boston Tea Party was planned) and the Old State House. When we arrived at Faneuil Hall, our guided tour ended and we went inside the Quincy Market for lunch. It was a big, open market with every food imaginable. We tried some New England seafood in the form of lobster bisque.


After eating lunch, we decided to continue the rest of the trail on our own and started walking toward the Old North Church. This is the famous site where the two lanterns were hung to warn the colonists that the British were coming, and by sea, to Lexington and Concord. We also saw a few other sights across the Charles River, including the Battle of Bunker Hill monument and Cobb Burial Ground.
Paul Revere's House

U.S.S. Constitution (War of 1812) and Navy Yard



Tomorrow we plan to go back to the Trail and go inside some of these historic buildings. Also on tomorrow's agenda is Harvard University and a Boston Red Sox game! The trip is over half-way done...