Historic Boston!

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Boston during the last week of September. Although most of the trip consisted of sitting inside of a computer classroom for the majority of the day, I did have the opportunity to see some of the historic sites around Boston before the class began. We started out by taking the red-eye flight from Phoenix to Boston on JetBlue and landed at 7:30 AM. After getting our rental car we headed straight for downtown Boston and the Freedom Trail.

The Freedom Trail is a red brick/red paint trail through downtown Boston that goes through key historic sites. It begins at Boston Common, which was the first public park in the US. Along the way it goes by 3 different graveyards. This one is the Granary Burying Ground, and has the distinction of having some great gravestones and is the final resting place of many historic leaders.

Gravestones were certainly a lot more macabre back then.

John's Hancock's memorial

Paul Revere's headstone. Samuel Adams was also buried here but I didn't get a clear picture of his memorial.

Next, we headed along the trail to the Old South Church. This church holds the distinction of being the gathering place for what would become the Boston Tea Party. It was a grand old building, with the old-style box pews and a double balcony. Unfortunately I could not take any interior photographs. In the basement however was a bell that was cast by Paul Revere in 1801.

Fun fact: Although Paul Revere was known for his silver work, he turned to making bells and had a bell foundry near the end of his life.

After retracing part of the trail, we headed along over to Paul Revere's house. Although the outside is not entirely original, over 90% of the beams and 40% of the walls and floors in the interior were original. Again, we could not take interior photos, but it was interesting to see how an old colonial house was set up (and how small it really was).

One thing that really struck me was that Paul Revere bought this house when he was in his 30's and moved his family here. He was just an average guy with a family when he decided to support the Revolution.

We headed on to the Old North Church (of "one if by land, two if by sea" fame). This statue of Paul Revere makes for a pretty picture with the church in the background.

After that day, we were pretty tired, so after class the next day, we headed back down to finish the rest of the trail. First, we stopped by the Bunker Hill memorial. It was quite impressive.

After that, we walked over to the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) and saw it docked. Unfortunately, we go there right at closing time, so could not get up any closer.

After going out to dinner that night, we made one final stop, at the Boston Massachusetts Temple. Not the greatest picture, but I can't expect much from my point and shoot camera without a tripod. Although it was too late to go, we did have a chance later that week to attend.

After this trip I am even more grateful to our Founding Fathers for the sacrifices they made in establishing this nation. I can't wait to go back (will be there in 2 more weeks) because there are so many more things I want to see.