Freedom Trail

 

Independence Day seems like a good day to post a few pictures from the Freedom Trail. 

For one thing, the Freedom Trail is an actual trail.  It’s usually red brick but where that isn’t possible, it is a red line painted on the sidewalk or road.  It’s probably a good thing the city of Boston decided to install this because some of the sights are a little out of the way.  Without the line, they would have lots of tourists wandering around with maps in hand, asking the locals the same questions. 

After a nice visit to the Massachusetts State house, we started on the outdoor portion of the trail.

We usually have cemeteries to ourselves when we visit them on vacation (yes, this isn’t the first cemetery we’ve gone to on vacation….) but there were plenty of people in the Granary Burying Ground. 

The most popular markers were those of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere. 

We popped into King’s Chapel which was founded in 1686 by King James II for the Church of England.  It is still a working church in the middle of Boston.

This is Old City Hall, another beautiful old building.  Outside the building is a great statue of Benjamin Franklin in a picturesque little garden.  Inside is the Boston home of Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse.  It smelled just like the one we smell in the skyway in Minneapolis but had a much more picturesque location.  Old Buildings, new uses…    

We learned if we stood at a historic spot in Boston in June long enough, a costumed “patriot”/actor would lead a group of students to the spot and tell them interesting stories of what happened there. 

Eavesdropping is how we learned that Queen Elizabeth spoke from the balcony of the beautiful Old State House (seen above) on July 4, 1976.  She apparently read the entire Declaration of Independence and then invited the country to rejoin the “mother country” if they were so inclined.  I can’t seem to find this information anywhere else but you can’t really dismiss the information reported by someone dressed as Martha Washington, can you?  

This is Paul Revere’s house.  We never would have found this without the handy red line running through the cobblestone street. 

We would, however, have found another delicious Italian restaurant in the North End which was just around the corner from Paul Revere’s house. We enjoyed a nice lunch there while watching the Germany-Portugal World Cup game.  We would have had a great view of a church garden if the man in the delivery truck wouldn’t have parked there and sat idling while he ate his lunch.  At least he knows where to go for a good meal! 

On our way to the Old North Church, we passed by the Paul Revere statue.  As this appears on most tourist brochures and books, it has to be one of the most photographed statues in Boston.

And here is the Old North Church where lanterns were hung to indicate to Paul Revere (as well as other riders who don’t get much credit and didn’t have a poem written about them) whether the British were coming by Land or Sea.  Another lovely, working church in the heart of a Boston neighborhood.      

The very helpful red line led across the Charles River and to the USS Constituion which we left for the next day.