The Freedom Trail

The majority of the scavenger hunt in Boston was centered around the Freedom Trail so I could see the sites.

We didn't make all of the stops on The Freedom Trail but we hit a bunch.



Faneuil Hall (commonly called Quincy Market)
Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first Town Meeting. Built by wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil in 1741, this imposing structure is the place where the Sons of Liberty proclaimed their dissent against Royal oppression. Faneuil Hall has served as an open forum meeting hall and marketplace for more than 250 years and has continued to provide a forum for debate on the most consequential issues of the day.


The first floor served as a marketplace for the local townspeople to sell their goods. The second floor housed the town meeting hall. Here, Bostonians protested the taxation policies of the British Empire and set the doctrine of "no taxation without representation." It was here on November 5, 1773, that John Hancock and other Bostonians held the first of the tea meetings to discuss the fate of that "baneful weed."


Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first Town Meeting. Built by wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil in 1741, this imposing structure is the place where the Sons of Liberty proclaimed their dissent against Royal oppression. Faneuil Hall has served as an open forum meeting hall and marketplace for more than 250 years and has continued to provide a forum for debate on the most consequential issues of the day.


The first floor served as a marketplace for the local townspeople to sell their goods. The second floor housed the town meeting hall. Here, Bostonians protested the taxation policies of the British Empire and set the doctrine of "no taxation without representation." It was here on November 5, 1773, that John Hancock and other Bostonians held the first of the tea meetings to discuss the fate of that "baneful weed."





Old State House
Old State was the seat of British Government during the Revolution. After the Revolution, it became the Commonwealth’s first state house and remained so until the new one was completed in 1798. The building's distinctive cupola was once the tallest and most impressive building in the town, sending the message that there was no higher authority than the king.


Some of the most significant events of the Revolution took place inside the walls of this tiny Georgian structure. It was inside the council chamber that a defiant James Otis railed against the writs of assistance in a fiery performance that ignited the colonists’ rebellion. “Then and there the child liberty was born,” John Adams later reported. Inside this building, James Otis and Samuel Adams wrote letters to other colonial assemblies, arousing their patriotic fervor. In an astonishing show of defiance, colonial legislators locked themselves inside the Chamber to resist the decrees of Royal Authority and to prevent the Royal Governor from dissolving the Assembly.

It was just outside these doors that the Boston Massacre unfolded in 1770, serving as the backdrop for the shooting that lead to the tragic deaths of Crispus Attucks and four others. Six years later, it was from this balcony that the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston. Abigail Adams was there that day and she watched as the exhilarated crowd tore down the golden lion and the silver unicorn, symbols of British rule. “Great attention was given to Colonel Graft’s every word,” she wrote to her husband John. “As soon has he ended, the cry from the balcony was ‘God Save Our American States’ and then three cheers rended the air…Thus ends royal authority in this state and all the people shall say, Amen.”

The lion and the unicorn have been restored, and now, Old State is the oldest surviving public building in Boston, housing as a museum of Boston history operated by the Bostonian Society.



The State House
Designed by Charles Bulfinch, the “new” State House was completed on January 11th, 1798, and widely acclaimed as one of the more magnificent and well-suited buildings in the country. Its golden dome was once made of wood, and later overlaid with copper by Paul Revere to prevent leaks.

It was covered with 23 karat gold leaf for the first time in 1874. The land for the State House was originally used as John Hancock's cow pasture. Today, the State House is the oldest building on Beacon Hill, and its grounds cover 6.7 acres of land. It is under the golden dome that senators, state representatives and the governor conduct the daily business of the Commonwealth.

A visit to the House Chamber inside the State House will be rewarded with a first-hand view of the infamous Sacred Cod. The life-size wood fish that hangs in the Chamber was created in 1784 as a reminder of the importance of the Cod fishing industry to the state’s economy. Why infamous? Because in 1933 it was “codnapped” by pranksters from the Harvard Lampoon. Business was suspended for several days until it was recovered. A gilded wooden pinecone adorns the top of the Golden Dome, as a symbol of the state’s reliance on logging in the 18th century. Happily, this icon has never been abducted.



Old South Meeting House
Built in 1729, Old South Meeting House was a Puritan house of worship. Old South was Boston’s largest building during the time of the Revolution, and big things happened inside. This old church furnished Boston’s boisterous patriots with a stage for their impassioned protests. They even started the Boston Tea Party here after Samuel Adams delivered the coded message. “This meeting can do nothing more to save the country!” he pronounced to the assembly. Colonists, led by the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Native Americans left Old South and walked quietly and purposefully to the waterfront where they dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

British soldiers soon retaliated, turning this “sanctuary of freedom” into a place to drink liquor and exercises their horses.

Old South is now a museum but was almost lost forever when it was slated for demolition in 1876. Determined preservationists saved it within minutes of the wrecker’s ball’s first strike. Old South's reputation as a place for history-making oratory has continued through the generations. You can go inside to visit "Voices of Protest," a permanent exhibition that tells Old South's story over two centuries. It's a sometimes disturbing, often inspiring, frequently controversial, but always fascinating story of the people who have made history within these walls.







Park Street Church
This church was founded in 1809 in the midst of an exciting chapter in the nation's history. Ten people, including author Oliver Wendell Holmes, gathered in the mansion of William Thurston on Beacon Hill on February 27th, 1809, to discuss the organization of a church in this area. By mid-March, the committee had located a site at the corner of Park and Tremont Streets, and Park Street Church was founded.

The 217 ft. steeple of this church was once the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston. Its lofty architecture reflects an even loftier mission of human rights and social justice. Prison reform began in this church, women’s suffrage was strongly supported here, and some of the first and most impassioned protests against slavery were delivered inside these hallowed walls.

The site of Park Street Church is known as “Brimstone Corner” perhaps because the congregation once stored “brimstone,” or sulfur (a component of gun power) in its basement during the war of 1812. Or maybe it’s because old-school ministers delivered many a “hell-fire and brimstone” sermon here. The idea seems to have caught on. Even today, self-appointed prophets (not associated with Park Street) can be heard delivering their colorful and spirited pronouncements promising hellfire for the unrepentant to unsuspecting passers-by on Brimstone Corner. . The church was also where William Lloyd Garrison delivered his first major public abolitionist speech.

Park Street Church can also be remembered for a more peaceful event. "America" (My Country 'Tis of Thee), by Samuel Francis Smith, was first sung at the Park Street Church on July 4th, 1831



Granary Burying Ground
Called by some, “America’s Westminster Abby” the Granary Burying Ground’s tranquility and beautifully carved stone markers offer solace and a place for contemplation.

Some of America’s most notable citizens rest here. An elaborately embellished obelisk marks the site of John Hancock’s tomb. Nearby rests his servant Frank. Although Franks’ marker is humble, the fact that his resting place is marked at all is a sign that his employer held him in very high esteem. Other Revolutionary heroes buried here include Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, James Otis, all five of the Boston Massacre victims, Benjamin Franklin’s parents and Peter Faneuil.

Originally called South Burying Ground because of its location at the most southerly area of Boston settlement, it was then renamed Middle Burying Ground, as Boston sprawled toward the south. The current name is derived from the grain storage building, or granary, which stood on the site where the Park Street Church now stands.

Although the Granary contains only 2300 markers, it is estimated that more than 5000 people are buried here. Each tomb contained on average about 20 bodies. The Infant Tomb alone contains about 400 babies. Since headstones were expensive it was common to put several bodies of one family under one headstone with one name on it. There is discrepancy in the number of headstones and the number of people buried in the Granary. There may be several possible explanations as grounds keepers arranged the stones in neat rows to facilitate maintenance, shaped the grounds more into a mold of the new “trendy” garden-style cemetery, or wanted to encourage people to stroll in the site instead of having sheep grazing on the “unorganized,” old looking burying ground.












more tomorrow ...