Along the Freedom Trail in Boston

Due to its size, Boston is a very accessible city, but it may be that its reputation as a walking city relies on the creation of one of America’s first historic walking tours, The Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail Foundation continues to work to preserve this perfect introduction to Colonial Revolutionary Boston. The Trail takes the visitor to 16 historical sites in the course of two or three hours and covers two and a half centuries of America’s most significant past. A red brick or painted line connects the sites on the Trail and serves as a guide. Since the past and the present live alongside the Trail, its visitors have the opportunity to see the City as it truly is. Many visitors prefer to linger and study the many exhibits, thus a full day or more can be devoted to browsing along the Trail.

One can take a self-guided tour or one of the many tours available through the National Park Service, which begin every half hour from the park visitor center at 15 State Street opposite the Old State House. Or if you prefer to ride, you can pay for one of the trolley tours, which are unofficial guided tours, but do take the rider to many of the sites along the Trail and allow one to disembark at selected stops.

 The starting point of the Freedom Trail is Boston Common. It is known to be one of the oldest public parks in the country. The park is almost 50 acres in size. Today, Boston Common is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that winds through many of Boston’s neighborhoods. The “Common” has been used for many different purposes throughout its long history. Until 1830, cattle grazed the Common, and until 1817, public hangings took place here. British troops camped on Boston Common prior to the Revolution and left from here to face colonial resistance at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775.

Location: Bound by Tremont, Beacon, Charles and Boylston Streets.

Built in 1798, the Massachusetts State House is located across from the Boston Common on the top of Beacon Hill. The land was once owned by Massachusetts first elected governor, John Hancock. Charles Bullfinch, the leading architect of the day, designed the building. The dome, originally made out of wood shingles, is now sheathed in copper and covered by 23 karat gold. In the House of Representatives chambers hangs a wooden codfish that signifies the importance of the fishing industry to the Commonwealth.

Location: Beacon Street at Park Street

 Park Street Church, the site of the old town granary where grain was kept before the Revolution, dates back to 1809. This Evangical Church of “firsts” is the location of the first Sunday school in 1818 and the first prison aid in 1824. On July 4, 1829, William Lloyd Garrison gave his first public anti-slavery speech here and two years later, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time by the church children’s choir. Location: Park and Tremont Streets.

 Founded in 1660, the Granary is the third oldest burying ground in Boston proper. In 1737, when grain was stored where the present Park Street Church stands, the burying ground was renamed the Granary. Along with Massachussetts Governors, Clergymen, and Mayors, three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here.

King’s Chapel Burying Ground is the oldest burying place in Boston proper. The Peter Harrison designed church was constructed on land taken from the burying ground. To insure the presence of the Church of England in America, King James II ordered an Anglican parish to be built in Boston. Since none of the colonists were interested in selling suitable land for the Church, the King ordered Governor Andros to seize a corner of the burying ground for the Church of England. The burying ground is the final resting place for many colonists, including John Winthrop, the Colony’s governor; Hezekiah Usher, the colony’s first printer; Mary Chilton, the first women to step off the Mayflower. Location: Tremont and School Streets

 The first public school in America was established by Puritan settlers in 1635 in the home of Schoolmaster Philemon Pormont and was later moved to School Street. A portrait statue of Benjamin Franklin overlooks the site of the oldest public school in America which Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock once attended. Franklin’s place of birth was just one block away on Milk Street, across from the Old South Meeting House. The Boston Latin School no longer stands in its once downtown location, but is now located in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.

Location: School Street

 Many famous books were published at the Old Corner Bookstore, including The Scarlet Letter, Walden, and the Atlantic Monthly magazine. The Bookstore was built in 1712 as an apothecary shop, office and home of Thomas Crease. It is one of Boston’s oldest surviving structures. Today, The Boston Globe Store which was founded by The Boston Globe newspaper occupies the building and specializes in New England and travel books and maps.

Location: On the corner of School and Washington Steets.

 The Old South Meeting House was built in 1729 as a Puritan house of worship. It was also the largest building in colonial Boston. The Old South Meeting House is best known for the site of where the Boston Tea Party began. In the winter of 1773, more than 5,000 colonists gathered at Old South in a meeting to protest the tax on tea. After many hours of debate, Samuel Adams announced, “This meeting can do nothing more to save the country!” Protestors stormed out of the Old South Meeting House to the waterfront where they dumped three shiploads of tea into the Boston harbor. They changed American history forever. Today, the Old South Meeting House is a museum where they recreate the tea party debates.

Location: 310 Washington Street, Corner of Milk and Washington Street.

 Old State House also known as Boston’s “Towne House”, the Old State House dates back to 1713. It was the center of all political life and debate in colonial Boston. On July 18, 1776, citizens gathered in the street to hear the Declaration of Independence read from the building’s balcony, the first public reading in Massachusetts. The Royal Governor presided here until the new State House was built on Beacon Hill in 1798. Today, the building is run by The Bostonian Society as a Boston history museum.

Location: Corner of State and Washington Streets.

 In front of the Old State House, a circle of cobblestones commemorates the Boston Massacre. At this site, tensions between the colonists and British soldiers erupted into violence on March 5, 1770. A minor dispute between a wigmaker’s young apprentice and a British sentry turned into a riot. The relief soldiers that came to the aid of the British were met by an angry crowd of colonists who hurled snowballs, rocks, clubs, and insults. The soldiers fired into the crowd and killed five colonists. Samuel Adams and other patriots called the event a “massacre”.

Location: Devonshire and State Street intersection.

Faneuil Hall has served as a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. Funding was provided by a wealthy merchant, Peter Faneuil, for the construction and local artisan to create the grasshopper weather vane that still perches on the building’s cupola. Inspiring speeches by Samuel Adams and other patriots were given that eventually led to independence from the British. Faneuil Hall was expanded in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch. When Boston became a city the use of Faneuil Hall as a government meeting place came to an end, but it was still regularly used. Today, the first floor is still used as a lively marketplace and the second floor is a meeting hall where many Boston City debates are held. The fourth floor is maintained by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.

 Built around 1680, Paul Revere House is the oldest building in downtown Boston, and served as the home of Paul Revere and his family from 1770 to 1800. Revere left here for his famous “midnight ride.” This site is owned and operated by The Paul Revere Memorial Association.

Location: 19 North Square, North End

Old North Church also known as “Christ Church in the City of Boston,” this Episcopal church was built in 1723 and is Boston’s oldest Church building. On the steeple of this church, Robert Newman signaled with lanterns the approach of the British regulars; “One if by land, and two, if by sea.: The steeple is 191 feet tall, making it the tallest steeple in Boston. It is also the first set of bells ever brought to America. Paul Revere was one of the neighborhood bellringers. The interior high box pews and brass chandeliers, as well as the Church’s first clock are all original.

Location: 193 Salem Street.

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is Boston’s second oldest burying ground. It was first founded in 1659 as Windmill Hill. The area got its name because a a shoemaker, William Copp, once owned the land. Thousands of artisans, craftspeople, and merchants are buried on the Hill. Additionally, thousands of blacks who lived in the “New Guinea” community at the base of Copp’s Hill are buried in unmarked graves on the Snowhill Street side. Also interred at Copp’s Hill are the Mather family of ministers; shipyard owner Edmund Hartt; Robert Newman, best know for placing the signal lanterns in the steeple of the “Old North” Church on the eve of the Battle of Lexington and Concord; Shem Drowne, the weathervane maker who crafted the grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall; and Prince Hall, the anti-slavery activist and founder of the Black Masonic Order.

USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. It was first launched in 1797. Constitution is one of six ships ordered for construction by George Washington to protect America’s growing maritime interests. The ships greatest glory came during the war of 1812 when she defeated four British frigates and earned her the nickname “Old Ironsides,” because cannon balls glanced off her thick hull. The ship was restored in 1927 with contributions from the nation’s school children.

The Charlestown Navy Yard was built on what was once Mouton’s or Morton’s Point, the landing place of the British army prior to the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was one of the first shipyards built in the United States. During its 174 year history, hundreds of ships were built, repaired and modernized, including the World War II destroyer USS Cassin Young. Today, thirty acres of the Navy Yard are preserved by the National Park Service as part of Boston National Historical Park

The Bunker Hill Monument stands tall at 221 feet. It stands on the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution, fought on Breed’s Hill, June 17, 1775. Important to the British occupation of Boston was control of the high ground near the harbor. When colonial forces chose to fortify Charlestown, they bypassed the more dominant “Bunker Hill” and dug in on Breed’s Hill which was lower and closer to the water. “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” is the legendary order attributed to Colonel William Prescott to make sure that each shot would count. The poorly trained and ill prepared colonial forces repelled two major assaults by the British Army before retreating. Almost half of the British soldiers were either killed or injured. Although the colonists lost the battle, their bravery and strong showing against the British encouraged them to fight on.

Location: Charlestown.

Courtesy of cityofboston