Boston, MA – The Freedom Trail – Sharing the View from Here

July 31, 2021

I don’t know about you, but when I travel I like to imagine how the area looked and what the people who settled the area did and even what they would think of the world as we see it today. Boston is a great place for the imagination, and while Boston is a thoroughly modern city, touted as the “Best city in the world” by some , there are plenty of historical sites to check out as well.

We had one day to spend in Boston and wanted to learn as much as possible, so we opted to take the Freedom Tour which is led by a local historian dressed in period clothing. On our way to Boston Commons, we walked through the well known brownstone area known as Beacon Hill, where past Presidential candidate, John Kerry lives.

Boston Commons is America’s oldest park and was purchased by the Puritans for around 30 shillings. It was used for grazing land, a Puritanical place of punishment from stocks to whipping posts to hangings on the Great Elm tree (no longer there). Mary Dyer being one of the more famous, hung for her beliefs.

We visited the historic cemetery where Paul Revere and Samuel Adams are buried, as well as many others. Interesting point – when people were buried here years ago, they were placed in the ground and few (if any) had markers. The church kept records of who was buried in the graveyard. In recent years, it was decided that there should be markers especially of the more important people in our history. You will notice in the photos that the headstones are not really placed in any particular order. That is because after 200 years, no one knows where the bodies were placed! So they laid it out as best they could and the result is what you see.

Another place of note is the Old Courthouse (John Adams Courthouse – red brick) and the new, as well as where the first subway system was started. We visited Faneuil Hall and the Old North Church and had lunch is the oldest operating tavern in the United States, The Bell in Hand” which has operated continually since 1795.

We ended our long day with a walk along the wharf on the way to the train station that would take us back to our campground for some much needed rest.