One afternoon in Boston, we took the public transport ferry (included with our “best deal in town” weekly subway pass) over to Charlestown to finish the Freedom Trail.
This is a nice view of the Old North Church (you know, “one if by land, two if by sea”) from the ferry. One really interesting thing about Boston is how all the historic sights are right in with modern buildings. It made me wonder what used to be next to each of these famous sights.
After making our way through security with approximately 50 noisy 8th graders (it was the last week of school for Boston area students so we were with 50 noisy 8th graders or 5th graders wherever we went), we were onto the famous “Old Ironsides” ship. It was really impressive to see this floating piece of history.
As we waited in the line for security, a number of rules were posted. One of which was “Do Not Ring Bell”. I’m assuming this tempting bell is what they meant. The docents are the ship are active duty Navy people and they did a great job explaining the history of the ship and describing various aspects of the vessel.
The Freedom Trail really lends itself to seeing sights in a particular order so we walked briskly and ended up at the Bunker Hill Monument before the 8th graders.
We happened to be here at the 238th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill – you know, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" and all that.
We climbed the 293 steps (they are numbered so we didn’t have to count) for views from the top. If this reminds you of the Washington Monument, you would be correct. They were built around the same time – in the 1840s.
I couldn’t stop thinking this would be a great setting for the next Dan Brown novel. After all, masonry, mysterious urns in historic monuments… it’s perfect for The Lost Symbol, part 2.
The views from the top were beautiful.
On our way down, we met some of our 8th grade ‘friends’ heading up the monument. It pays to be brisk walkers!
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