Then it was time to start the Freedom Trail! The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path that leads through downtown Boston and stops at 16 historically significant places.
It's advised to do it over a full day, but since we had limited sightseeing time in Boston, we squeezed it into one afternoon. That may have been a bit much... Adam was not a fan, but I thought it was really interesting. It was a lot of walking though (2.5 miles), especially for a warm day. Again, I didn't think it was bad, but Adam did. I wore comfortable shoes, and never got sore or tired.
The start of the Freedom Trail at Boston Commons was just a short 2 block walk from our hotel. Convenient!
I grabbed a map at the Visitor's Center (pictured behind Adam), and we were off.
The first stop was the Massachusetts State House. It was built 1795-98 and added on to a few times. Unfortunately, it's not open on weekends so we couldn't go in. So we took a look outside, and then continued on.
The Park Street Church was built in 1810.
Adjoining it are the Granary Burying Grounds which were established in 1660. The grounds were actually very interesting, but very crowded.
It is the final resting place of Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, five victims of the Boston Massacre and other patriots.
I thought all the old grave stones were fascinating, but they were very worn and hard to read.
Next up was King's Chapel. The current structure was built in 1749, but the parish was the first Anglican one in New England.
Adjoining it was the King's Chapel Burying Ground. It is the oldest cemetery in Boston. It dates from 1630!
On our way to the next stop, we walked by the Benjamin Franklin statue and site of the first public school in Boston.
I think this is the point when Adam's patience started to wear thin!
Our next stop was at the Old South Meeting House. To go in here, you had to pay, so we went for the 3 museum pass (much to Adam's chagrin) that covered Old South, Old State, and
Built in 1729, the Old South Meeting House was the meeting place for the Boston Tea Party in 1773. It was kind of a rip off ($6 on it's own per person) considering it was just a few displays in the main level of the meeting house. But I'm glad we went in and saw it.
Following that brief museum display, we went to the Old State House and Museum.
The Old State House was built in 1713 and housed various governments through it's history. It started out as the seat of the colony government, followed by the state government, and then the city government before briefly becoming a commercial property and then the museum it is presently in 1881.
The museum here was actually really well done and on 2 floors. I thought the artifacts were fascinating.
Like John Hancock's clothes!
Right before lunch, we briefly walked through Faneuil Hall marketplace and onto Quincy Marketplace. There we had lunch in the food hall at the "bar" of a seafood stall.
Adam had a lobster roll and oysters.
While I enjoyed the clam chowda and steamed mussels. Yum!
With full bellies, we explored Faneuil Hall. Faneuil Hall has been a meeting hall and marketplace since 1742! Here Sam Adams gave speeches encouraging independence from Great Britain.
We listened to some of the speech on the second floor.
Next up was my favorite stop, Paul Revere's home. It was built in 1680 and owned by the Revere family from 1770-1800.
Sadly, you couldn't take photos inside, but that was okay, because it was packed with people anyway. Here I am in the courtyard.
Adam was not impressed...
We continued following the trail to the Old North Church of "One if by land, two if by sea" fame. It was here that the militia was warned via lantern of the movements of the British.
Leading up to the church, there is a lovely plaza with a Paul Revere statue and fountains.
Inside the church, we sat in one of the stalls and listened to a brief history of the church.
Then it was an uphill walk to Copp's Burying Ground. We weren't terribly interested in it as it was our third cemetery of the day. I was more interested in the narrowest house in Boston which was right across the street.
Then it was a long walk across the Charlestown Bridge to Charlestown. Walking across the bridge, you can see the Bunker Hill Monument on the left.
By the time we crossed, it was getting late in the day, and Adam had about reached his limit, so we skipped the Bunker Hill Monument. It was an uphill walk to the tower, and then lots of stairs to climb up it. There was just no way it was happening.
So we went straight to the USS Constitution AKA "Old Ironsides." There is a museum there but we didn't have time to look around so we skipped right to the ship. The USS Constitution is is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. She was launched in 1797 and is famous for her role in the War of 1812.
To get on board, we had to go through screening like at an airport (show ID's, go through a metal detector and put our stuff through x-ray). It was a little crazy!
The USS Constitution was the last stop on the Freedom Trail. With that under our belts, we walked over to the water shuttle and took it back to Downtown Boston.
From there we took the T to our hotel. Adam wasn't feeling well, so we had just enough time to pick up some medicine and briefly relax in the room before it was time to head to Fenway for the Twins game! More to come on that soon!
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