We both slept remarkably well considering we were shattered and in bed by 8.30 although I did try my best to stay awake until 9pm! But after what is probably the worlds weakest shower we set off in search of breakfast. We decided that we probably couldn’t eat enough to do the buffet justice so just ordered off the menu. After this and a consultation of the weather forecast we set off to Boston common to find visitor information and the start of the Freedom trail. This historically, was a selection of safe houses, churches and businesses along the route that slaves from the south took to gain freedom but a lot of that has been lost and it is now a good way to see the majority of historic buildings in Boston. Boston common was as the name suggest common land for pasture, military drill and gallows. At the top end of the common is the Shaw Memorial dedicated to the Civil War’s 54th regiment of Massachusetts Infantry, this was the first free black regiment and a number of the soldiers enlisted but were not paid for 18 months! Opposite this memorial is the Massachusetts State house which unfortunately you can only visit if you have booked by phoning in advance which we didn’t do as it wasn’t open when we arrived yesterday and we had already left the hotel by the time it opened this morning! So we had to satisfy ourselves with just looking at it from the outside. It has a magnificent golden dome which was actually added in 1874, it was originally wood and covered in cooper in 1802 to prevent water leakage, then in 1874 they decided to cover it in 23 carat gold leaf! From here we followed the trail past the Park Street Church and Granary Burying Ground. This was near Boston’s first granary which is why it was called that and is famous as the final resting place of Samuel Adams (one of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence – it was his father that started the brewing empire!), the five victims of the Boston Massacre and Benjamin Franklin’s parents. We passed King’s Chapel and site of the first public school (now a hotel) and the Old Corner Bookstore (now a Mexican restaurant), the Old South Meeting house and finally to the Old State House. Unfortunately very little of the original interior remains but the information panels provides details of the circumstances leading up to the Boston Tea party. It was the seat of government in colonial Massachusetts and was where on 16th December 1773 over 5000 people gathered to protest the tax on tea. Outside the state house under the balcony is where the five men were killed in the clash between Colonists and British troops. Across the road is Faneuil Hall which was a gift from a wealthy merchant in 1742. It served as a meeting place and open air market, downstairs was divided into ‘stalls’ which were leased for meat, vegetables and diary products, leases were let on a daily basis. Upstairs was a large meeting room which became Boston’s official town hall, it is still used for naturalisation ceremonies. Not far from here is Paul Revere’s House which is the oldest remaining house in Boston, this house was built around 1680 and was purchased around 1906 by some of his descendants to try and preserve it for the nation. He married twice and had 16 children although they think that because of the age differences only about 5 or 6 lived in the house at any one time.Paul Revere is most famous for the ‘midnight ride’ when he set off to Lexington to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming to arrest them! After this it was time to visit Coop’s Hill Burying Ground which is where the British stationed themselves to aim cannons on Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill, we then crossed the river and followed the trail up toward Navy Yard where the USS Constitution is moored. Launched in 1797 she is the oldest commissioned warship afloat, and is run by US Navy crew who are stationed in the Charlestown Navy Yard, it was interesting looking round as the layout is very similar to the Victory but I think this might be a little bit bigger we were also able to visit the USS Cassie Young which is a destroyer used during WWII, it was decommissioned in 1960. What struck us both was how narrow it is, unfortunately this information leaflets don’t say just how narrow but far smaller than we expected. By the time we had finished walking round we decided to head back to the hotel as the rain was coming in again, we haven’t quite finished the Freedom trail but have done most of it and the 2.5 miles each way (5 miles total) had somehow expanded to about 8 miles so it was just a case of heading back to the room and relaxing before going and doing it all again tomorrow.
