A Guide To Travelling The Boston Freedom Trail

You can walkthe trail in two or threehours, but if you want to stop and lookinside someof the buildings or study someof the exhibits, allow yourself a full day... two if you'rereally curious.

BostonCommonis the starting point for the FreedomTrail. It'sthe oldestpark in the UnitedStates;. Britishtroopscamped on the BostonCommonpriorto the Revolution and left fromhere to facethe militiasat Lexington and Concordin 1775. MassachusettsStateHouseis your next stop. It was builtin 1798. This "new" StateHouseis on top of Beacon Hill acrossfromthe BostonCommon

Park Street Churchsitson the siteof the old towngranary. The GranaryBuryingGround,whichwas foundedin 1660,is acrossfromthisChurch. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buriedhere.....Samuel Adams,John Hancock and RobertTreat Paine.

King James II ordered King's Chapelbuiltso the Churchof England wouldhavea parishin Boston.It'son a corner of the oldestBuryingGround in Bostonproper. Many colonists are buriedhere includingJohn Winthrop, who was the Colony's governor,and Mary Chitonwho was the firstwoman to step off the Mayflower.

A statueof BenjaminFranklinoverlooks;the former siteof the First PublicSchool... the BostonLatin School. BenjaminFranklin, Samuel Adams,and John Hancock onceattended the school.

See the former siteof the Old CornerBookstore wheremany famous books werepublished including"TheScarlet Letter"and "Walden".

The Old South Meeting Houseis wherethe BostonTea Party began.Over 5,000 colonists gatheredhere in 1773 to protest the tax on tea. Debatewas getting them nowhere, so they stormed to the waterfront wherethey dumped threeshiploads of tea into BostonHarbor.

The Old StateHousewas occupiedby the Britishduring the Revolution. On July 18, 1776,the Declaration of Independence was readfromthe balcony. The citizens of Bostongatheredin the street for thisfirstpublicreading;in Massachusetts.

A circle of cobblestonesand a marker in front of the Old StateHousecommemorates the BostonMassacre Site.

Since 1742,Faneuil Hallhas been a marketplaceand meetinghallfor Boston.Samuel Adams and othersgave speechesin thishallthatfanned the colonists desire for independence.

The PaulRevere Houseis the oldestbuilding in downtownBoston.PaulRevere lived here from1770 to 1800.

The Old NorthChurchis Boston's oldestchurch... and it was on the church'ssteeple thatthe lanterns werehung to signalthe approach of the British..."One if by land, and two, if by sea...."Of course thisone has to be on the BostonFreedomTrail.

The USS Constitution - "Old Ironsides"- is the oldestcommissioned warshipafloat in the world.It'sin the CharlestownNavyYard whichwas one of the firstshipyards builtin the U.S. BunkerHill Monument marksthe siteof the firstmajorbattle of the American Revolution and the end of the FreedomTrail.

You can make thisa self-guided tour or you can take a guided tour. Several are available through the BostonCommonVisitors Center. If walkingis too hard, you can take one of the trolley tours thatare offered by different companies.. They take you to the sites;along the BostonFreedomTrailwithnarrationand let you hop on and off at selected stops to explore on your own.

Whether you walkor ride,the BostonFreedomTrailis a fun way to explore history.