The Freedom Trail Part One

Happy Summer Break, history students! True to form, I spent my first full day in Boston exploring all the corners of revolutionary American history! Follow me on my journey along The Freedom Trail!

Now, my journey was a bit more meandering than just The Freedom Trail. My guide book offered a number of walks to see other points of interest in the city while sticking to most of the trail -- this is precisely what I did!

I started from my hotel, the Boston Mariott Copley Place, a nice spot situated between a number of good sites. I headed east to the beginning of my walking trail: Boston Common. Boston Common is a beautiful, open park, much like New York City's Central Park, though not nearly so large. It was once used as a community grazing field as well as practice grounds for militias. In its more grisly history, the park was also used for public hangings from its ancient elm trees. As I walked along the edge of the park, searching for the red bricks to mark the beginning of my journey, I passed an old graveyard, the first of many I would encounter during the day.

At the Southeast corner of the park, I meandered past the Central Burying Ground, where many British who parished in the Battle of Bunker Hill were buried, the Parkman Bandstand, and up Telegraph Hill to see the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. I must admit I had confused myself when reading about Telegraph Hill, until I remembered there is also a like-named hill in San Francisco, where Mark Twain once lived, and upon which Coit Tower stands, a commemoration to fire fighters. In any case, they are not the same hill!

Along the base of Telegraph Hill is Frog Pond, a dismal memory of what was once a fun summertime location. As my guide book says, "In colonial times, sheep and cows slaked their thirst at this watering hole. Later, Bostonians fished in it for minnows in the summer and ice-skated on it in the winter." Today it is lined with concrete, filled with a murky green water, the signs posted along it forbid wading in or drinking from the water, and the only frogs to note are golden statues at the end of the pond. Even they loom depressed.

After exiting the Common, I continued north on Tremont Street, passing Park Street Church, where William Lloyd Garrison would denounce slavey in the mid-1800s. Just beyond the church, where I passed a school tour group being led by a man dressed in colonial garb, I entered the Old Granary Burying Ground, extremely hallowed ground in American history, as many of our revolutionary figures were buried here, including John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere.

Fun fact to note: John Hancock is famous for his large signature on the Declaration of Independence. People often refer to a signature as a "John Hancock." Well, get this -- John Hancock forgot to put his John Hancock on his own will! According to the colonial tour guide I was eavesdropping on, this quite upset Mrs. Hancock, as she was left without any entitlement to his estate.

Here are the photos of Paul Revere's original tomb, monument, and the fun colonial tour guide.

Stay tuned for more Freedom Trail fun!d

Click here for Part Two!

Click here to read about the book I used for my tours and information.