Did you know that you could visit where the planning of the Boston Tea Party took place? How about the church where the lanterns were hung to signal Paul Revere how the British were coming? Well you can visit both of these things and more on your walk of the Freedom Trail. If you are coming into Boston for the weekend or if you have lived here your whole life and looking for something fun to do in the city this weekend you should check this out. The Freedom Trail is a walk in and around downtown Boston. The sites on the walk are many historical sites that had great influence in the founding and shaping of our country. The walk is 2.5 miles and could only take a few hours or the whole day depending on how long you spend at each site.
1. Boston Common
Location/Address: Boylston MBTA Station
Rating: ****/****
The Boston Common marks the start of the Freedom Trail. On a sunny day the park is filled with people reading books, laying out in the sun, dogs playing fetch and children running around enjoying the playground and carousel. In the winter months, people make the trip to the heart of the Common to skate on frog pond and around Christmas all the park trees are decorated with lights and Santa comes to light the Christmas tree. The Boston Common has been a public park longer than any other park in the country. It was established in 1634, before it was a park it was used as a communal grazing place for the livestock of Boston’s residents.
2. Massachusetts State House
Location/Address: 24 Beacon Street
Rating: ****/****
Visitors can’t miss the State House perched on the edge of the Boston Common. At the top of Beacon Hill overlooking the common below the State House stands. Under the gold dome glinting in the afternoon sun, state senators, state representatives and Governor Charlie Baker are hard at work making sure that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts runs smoothly. The gold dome, the most striking characteristic of the building, used to be wood and was plated over in 1874 by Paul Revere (the same Paul Revere who made the midnight ride to Lexington and Concord, see below for more on Revere), according to the Freedom Trail website.
3. Park Street Church
Location/Address: 1 Park Street
Rating: **/****
The brick church sits on the corner of Park and Tremont Streets in downtown Boston. The church was known for supporting the abolitionist movement back in the the early 1800s. William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist, gave his first major speech on the steps of the church on July 4, 1829, according to the the Freedom Trail website. The church is still in operation and holds evangelical congregational services on Sundays. According to the church’s website they hold two services on Sunday morning and one on Sunday evening. According to the Freedom Trail website, the Park Street Church, located right in the heart of downtown, had once one of the tallest steeples in the city making it one of the first things travelers sailing into port at the waterfront would see.
4. Granary Burying Ground
Location/Address: Tremont Street
Rating: ****/****
The Granary Burying Ground located on Tremont Street is the final resting place for many famous people who were an integral part of the founding of this country. Among the residents who lay entombed at this burial ground there are signers of the Declaration of Independence and people who were a major force in the American revolution. John Hancock, known for having the largest signature on the Declaration of Independence, rightly has the most elaborate grave marker in the whole burying ground. According to the Freedom Trail’s website, “there are over 5,000 Bostonians” who are buried there. Other notable residents are: Benjamin Franklin’s parents, Paul Revere and Sam Adams.
5. King's Chapel and Burying Ground
Location/Address: Corner of Tremont and School Streets
Rating: **/****
King’s Chapel and Burying Ground is located in the heart of the city. The chapel and burial site are nestled in between the tall buildings of downtown. According to the Freedom Trail website, the chapel was a non-Puritan place of worship. The Royal Governor in 1688 commissioned the church to be built as a place for wealthy merchants and their families to worship. The burying ground was the first burial site in Boston proper, according to the website. Many of Boston’s famous residents find their final resting place in this burial ground. Some of the residents are: the first governor of Massachusetts John Winthrop and the first woman to leave the Mayflower and step foot in the new world, Mary Chilton.
6. Benjamin Franklin Statue
Location/Address: 45 School Street
Rating: **/****
The Benjamin Franklin Statue sits at the original site of the Boston Latin School. Boston Latin School or BLS, is the oldest public school in America opening in 1635. The school originally was just for boys but expanded to allowing girls to attend as well in 1972. The school is still in operation and is now located in the Fenway neighborhood. BLS has had many famous students over the years, including five signers of the Declaration of Independence. The most famous drop out though was Benjamin Franklin and it is his statue that marks the site of the original school.
7. Old Corner Bookstore
Location/Address: Corner of School and Washington Streets
Rating: **/****
The Old Corner Bookstore was built in 1718 and is the oldest commercial building in Boston, according to the Freedom Trail website. The bookstore used to be a publishing house and has printed many American classics. Some famous authors who had their works published were Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Nathaniel Hawthorne to name a few.
“I’ve got the key to my castle in the air, but whether I can unlock the door remains to be seen.” - Little Women
8. Old South Meeting House
Location/Address: 310 Washington Street
Rating: ****/****
The Old South Meeting House, located on Washington Street, was an integral part of the American revolution. It was inside this building where many acts of the revolution were devised and planned. It was the largest building in colonial Boston, according to the Freedom Trail website, so naturally it was the perfect place to plan attacks against the British. The most famous of the act of the revolution planned here was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773. The colonists were upset that the British Parliament was heavily taxing tea coming to the colonies. There was three ships in the harbor off of Griffin’s wharf holding more than 30 tons of tea. So a group of colonists, called the Sons of Liberty, disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped the tea overboard destroying 340 crates of tea, now known as the Boston Tea Party.
9. Old State House
Location/Address: 206 Washington Street
Rating: ****/****
Tucked in between the tall buildings of downtown, the Old State House is a taste of colonial history in a sea of new. The Old State House was where Bostonians heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud of the first time. It was read aloud from the balcony in 1776, according to the Freedom Trail website. After the American Revolution the Old State House became the home of the brand new government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Today the Old State House functions as a museum providing visitors with guided tours and interactive exhibits.
10. Site of the Boston Massacre
Location/Address: 206 Washington Street
Rating: **/****
Across the street from the Old State House is a ring of stones on the ground. The stones mark the site of the first bloodshed of the American Revolution - before the actual revolution started. The Boston Massacre was on March 5, 1770. The colonists were rioting and the British sent in the red coats to occupy the city of Boston to calm the riots however on this snowy March day tempers flared and there was a shootout between colonists and the Red Coats. When all was said and done five people were dead, the most famous of which was named Crispus Attucks who after his death and during the abolitionist movement was seen as a African-American hero.
11. Faneuil Hall
Location/Address: 1 Faneuil Hall Square
Rating: ****/****
The Faneuil Hall of the time of the colonists is little like Faneuil Hall of today. Today you go to Faneuil Hall and find tons of shopping, many restaurants and street performers dancing in the streets. At Christmas time, Faneuil Hall is dominated by a massive Christmas tree lit up around Thanksgiving. Faneuil Hall in it’s heyday was a meeting hall to provide a place for debate on the issues facing the day, according to the Freedom Trail website. In 1764, only a few years after it’s opening, Americans first protested acts that were being placed on the colonists by the British parliament leading to the most famous catchphrase of the revolution, “No Taxation Without Representation.”
12. Paul Revere House
Location/Address: 19 North Square
Rating: **/****
Paul Revere is one of the most famous colonists of the American revolution. Paul Revere, a silversmith in the colonies, was instrumental in the planning of the many acts of the American Revolution. Most famously, Revere is known for warning the minutemen of Middlesex county that the British were coming. Revere’s house is the only house on the Freedom Trail. While the house was built in 1680, Revere didn’t purchase and move into the house until 1770. He lived there with his mother and nine children, according to the Freedom Trail website.
13. Old North Church
Location/Address: 193 Salem Street
Rating: ****/****
Old North Church is the oldest church building in Boston which opened in December 1723, according to the Freedom Trail website. The steeple is the tallest in Boston which led to its role in the American revolution. American children know the story that was immortalized in the poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” While on Patriots Day, the city of Boston turns it’s attention to the runners running in the Boston Marathon. Patriots Day, actually celebrates the events of April 18th and April 19th which is known at the start of the American Revolution. On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere was stationed across the river waiting for the signal. At the Old North Church, Robert Newman climbed the bell tower and hung one lantern if the British were coming by land or two lanterns if the British were coming by sea.
"Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere" - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"
14. Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Location/Address: 45 Hull Street
Rating: */****
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground located on Hull Street in the North End, was at one point the largest burying ground in Boston. Most of the people buried here are artists, merchants and craft people who called North End home. There are also preachers buried here - including ministers who were heavily involved in the Salem Witch Trials, according to the Freedom Trail website. Copp’s Hill was also used for than just a burying ground. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, the british soldiers used the vantage point from the hill to point their cannons.
15. Bunker Hill Monument
Location/Address: Monument Square, Charlestown, MA
Rating: **/****
Across the water from Boston Proper in Charlestown, sits the Bunker Hill Monument. The monument honors the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the first major battle of the American Revolution. The colonists lost the battle however they showed the British that they were not kidding around because they really held their own before they were forced to retreat. This battle is famous for the quote from Colonel William Prescott, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” The cornerstone of the monument was laid in 1825 by Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was a frenchman who came to America to fight in the American Revolution.
"Oui oui, mon ami, je m'appelle Lafayette! The Lancelot of the revolutionary set! I came from afar to say bonsoir! Tell the King “casse toi! Who’s the best? C’est moi!" - "Aaron Burr, Sir" lyrics
Only a year ago Lafayette was just a name in AP History textbooks however his name is garnering more attention thanks to a little musical on Broadway. Lafayette is a character in Lin Manuel Miranda’s smash hit musical, Hamilton. Daveed Diggs is playing the character of Marquis de Lafayette on Broadway.
16. USS Constitution
Location/Address: Charlestown Navy Yard
Rating: ****/****
USS Constitution, or “Old Ironsides” as she is affectionately known finds her home at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The USS Constitution is the oldest warship still afloat, she was commissioned in 1797. During the War of 1812, she got her nickname “Old Ironsides” because the cannon balls shot at her simply bounced off her sides. Usually she is afloat, however, right now she has been drydocked until next fall for renovations and repairs, according to the USS Constitution website. This is the first time the USS Constitution has been out of water for the first time in 20 years. You can still visit her in her drydock and get a unique view of her out of water. When you are visiting the ship, however, you can visit the USS Constitution museum as well.
Note: The time lapse video at the beginning is from YouTube user Julian Tryba.
