BOSTON, MA: EXPLORING THE FREEDOM TRAIL

Find yourself in Boston and are a major history-buff looking to get a good grip on all of the history the city holds combined with the outdoors?!?! Well then taking a walk on the Freedom Trail is the perfect activity for you!

For you bitches who don’t know what the Freedom Trail is, it’s a 2.5 mile route through the city that’s marked with a red-line for anyone to follow. The trail has 16 historical sites ranging from the site of the Boston Massacre to Paul Revere's House.

*All facts below is from the guide we received via The Freedom Trail.

• Boston Common – Established in 1634, Boston Common is America’s oldest public park.

• Massachusetts State House – Designed by Charles Bulfinch, the Massachusetts State House was completed on January 11, 1798, and is widely acclaimed as one of the more magnificent public buildings in the country. The land for the State House was originally used as John Hancock’s cow pasture.

• Park Street Church – The church was founded in 1809, at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets, atop the site of Boston’s town grain storage building, or granary. Designed by Peter Banner, the 217 ft. steeple of Park Street Church was once the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston; a building that Author Henry James called “the most interesting mass of bricks and mortar in America.”

• Granary Burying Ground – Established in 1660, some of America’s most notable citizens rest here. Named for the 12,000-bushel grain storage building that was once next door, the historic cemetery has 2,300 markers.

• King’s Chapel – In 1688, Royal Governor Andros directed that King’s Chapel be built on a town burying ground when no one in the city would sell the congregation desirable land on which to build a non-Puritan church.

• King’s Chapel Burying Ground – A fascinating historic cemetery, King’s Chapel Burying Ground is located next to King’s Chapel on Tremont Street. King’s Chapel Burying Ground was Boston Proper’s first burying ground.

• Benjamin Franklin Statue & Boston Latin School – Boston Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635, is the oldest public school in America. It offered free education to boys – rich or poor – while girls attended private schools at home.

• Old Corner Bookstore – The oldest commercial building in Boston, the Old Corner Bookstore was built in 1718 as an apothecary shop and home on property that once belonged to Puritan dissident Anne Hutchinson.

• Old South Meeting House – Built in 1729, Old South Meeting House was not a church, but rather a meeting house for the Puritans to worship. Old South Meeting House was the biggest building in all of colonial Boston and the stage for some of the most dramatic events leading up to the American Revolution, including the meeting that occurred on December 16, 1773

• Old State House – The Old State House has stood as an emblem of liberty in Boston for over 300 years! Built in 1713 to house the colony’s government, the Old State House was at the center of civic events that sparked the American Revolution.

• Site of the Boston Massacre – The violent clash on March 5, 1770 began when Private White, on guard at the Customs house on King Street (now State Street) struck young Edward Garrick in the face with the butt of his musket for insulting White’s commanding officer.

• Faneuil Hall – Often referred to as “the home of free speech” and the “Cradle of Liberty,” Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first Town Meeting.

• Paul Revere House – Built around 1680, the Paul Revere House is the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston and the only home on the Freedom Trail. Paul Revere purchased the former merchant’s dwelling in 1770, when he was 35 years old. He and his family lived here when Revere made his famous messenger ride to Lexington on the night of April 18-19, 1775 that would be immortalized by Longfellow’s famous poem Paul Revere’s Ride.

• Old North Church – Christ Church in the City of Boston, also known as Old North Church, is the oldest standing church building in Boston, having first opened its doors to worshippers on December 29, 1723. Its 191 foot steeple is the tallest in Boston and, because of its prominence, would play a dramatic role in the American Revolution and would be immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

• Copp’s Hill Burying Ground – Named after shoemaker William Copp, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is the final resting place and cemetery of merchants, artisans and craft people who lived in the North End.

• Bunker Hill Monument – The Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War and predicted the character and outcome of the rest of the war. It took a force of 3,000 Redcoats three assaults to dislodge the Colonial Militia from a hastily constructed redoubt atop Breed’s Hill in Charlestown. It was in this battle that, “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” is said to have been uttered by Colonel William Prescott and has come to immortalize the determination of the ill-equipped Colonists. While technically a British victory, the Battle of Bunker Hill proved that Colonial forces could fight effectively against the British.

1. USS Constitution – Launched in Boston in 1797, the oldest commissioned warship afloat earned her nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812 when she fought the British frigate HMS Guerriere. During this historic battle, cannonballs fired at USS Constitution appeared to bounce off, causing one of her crew to remark that her sides were made of iron.

XOXO, Cam