Boston Freedom Trail

Today, we walked the Freedom Trail, all 2.5 miles of it.

We trained in to the start, at Boston Common, coming out at the Park Street Station which was the first subway and is now the oldest in the USA.  Boston Common is the oldest public park in the USA, and is where we saw some squirrels (we did see some in LA as well).

We headed off to the Massachsetts State House, and were able to tag on to a tour (free).  The oldest part of it was completed in 1798, and was designed by Charles Bulfinch (a prominent Boston architect).  Lots of tiled, mosaic floors, large murals and paintings, marble, flags (there is a collection of over 400 flags carried to battle by Massachusetts men from the Civil War to the Vietnam War).  After the iron on the main staircase was cast, the moulds were broken to ensure that the railings would be unique.  We got to see the House of Representatives in between sessions.  It was all very flash.

Then, past the Park Street Church and some time looking at headstones in the Granary Burying Ground (including that of Samuel Adams who signed the Declaration of Independence).  We looked inside the King's Chapel which is Boston's first Anglican Church founded in 1686.  It was originally a wooden church, and the stone church was built over the top of it then the wooden one was removed and was used to build a new church elsewhere.  It is also America's first Unitarian Church and the first church in the USA with a pipe organ.  Families used to buy private pews (sort of like a box, which could be decorated as they wished, and also kept them somewhat warm during services) which are still there.

From there, we walked past the site of the first public school in Boston, the old Corner Bookstore, the Old South Meeting House (which saw the start of the Boston Tea Party) and the Old State House which was the scene of the city's first reading of the Declaration of Independence.  There is a ring of cobblestones outside which marks the site of the Boston Massacre, an uprising that fuelled the revolution.  Faneuil Hall was undergoing renovations, so we continued walking past the Paul Revere House and on past the Clough House to the Old North Church (older than King's, and where Paul Revere shone 2 lamps from to tell the Pacifists that the British were on their way to Concord, the War of Independence).  Again, there were privately owned boxes with pews.

Past the Copp's Hill Burying Ground and across the Charlestown Bridge to the Bunker Hill Monument, the Training Ground and then to the USS Constitution.  The Constitution was the 1st US Navy ship, built in Boston, 48 sails, nicknamed Old Ironside as cannonballs from opposing ships bounced off the sides of its hull.  Next to it is the 1st dry dock in America, which is now a National Treasure.

Then, back on a train to our rental, with a stop for dinner on the way.

Weather today was rather chilly (about 4 degrees Celsius) but there was only light drizzle early in the day - we obviously missed anything else.  It was all quite bearable, although we did put gloves and scarves on later in the day.