… in, out, and around The Freedom Trail …

December 18, 2010 by rbs 3 Comments

Dear Friends, Here are the last of my Boston pix. While there were TONZ I could have posted, I’ll spare you. It was SUCH a great experience – UNFORGETTABLE.

C.'s Uncle Dave directed us step by step to 15 Hawthorne Street where Carolyn's grandfather served as a mission president back in the day. It was a tender moment for her. I couldn't help but be touched as well.

As stated in an earlier post, this mansion was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home, but I was SUPER thrilled to learn it was George Washington's headquarters during the Siege of Boston! Thanks, D. McCullough for bringing that era alive in his book 1776.

The State Capitol Building, as well as Carolyn and I, overlook Boston Commons where sheep once grazed, criminals hung from trees, and ne'r-do-wells TRIED to dodge rotten vegetables from their positions in the stocks. (People, not veggies were trapped in the stockades.)

The DEAD of winter may have been on the horizon, but we found many luminous autumn leaves to brighten our way along The Freedom Trail.

The Granary Burying Ground, a FAMOUS cemetery for famous dead people, looks like it is straight out of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Ichabod Crane may not rest here, but Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere do!

Remember Sam Adams before his beer was famous? He started by dumping tea into the Boston Harbor, along with a bunch of Patriots (NOT the football team) dressed as American Indians (NOT Cleveland's baseball players). Anyway, he rests HERE now.

We were hard-pressed to find cobble stones in the streets of Boston, but Carolyn's sleuthing led us to this GREAT street of row houses and lots of cobbles!

What is it about row houses that make them so charming? I tried to think of all the inside stairs I would have to climb on a daily basis if I lived in one, but even that did not detract from their loveliness!

This bookstore was owned by the publisher for these American authors: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott. (Mr. Dickens was NOT an American!) Many of the writers frequented the store - perhaps to see how their books were selling. 😉

This is somewhere close to more historically significant places, but I can't remember for the life of me what they are. No matter, it's a cool looking shot, huh?

The Old South Meeting house may not get as much press as the Old North Meeting House, but lots of revolutionary events were staged here. Citizens protested the tea tax; Sam Adams signaled patriots to dump 342 crates of tea into the harbor; and the Boston "incident" turned into the Boston "Massacre" when outraged colonists LOUDLY registered their objections!

"No TAXATION without REPRESENTATION" was first shouted from the 2nd floor of Faneuil Hall. Town meetings were born here 250+ years ago, and the hall continues to entertain "important issues of the day!"

Restaurants, Quincey Market, and our Republic's cradle all dwell here. A.MAZ.ING.

On July 16, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read from the East Balcony of the State House to officially inform King George that many colonists didn't want to play with him or his friends any more. Now the Declaration is read EVERY July 4th from this very spot to remind American citizens that what was started then continues!

Memorialized in bronze and words, Paul Revere's famous ride lives in the heart of Boston's North End.

The Old North Church was AND is EPISCOPALIAN/Anglican!! That meant that Patriots had to sneak into "enemy territory" to swing the lantern and signal the riders that "the regulars (not the British) were coming" by land! (Colonists considered themselves British at that time!)

Four of us attended services in the Old North Church. We were uncomfortably snuggled on hard benches inside one of the "pew cozies," as I called the cubicles that lined the aisles.

No, this isn't Martha Stewart's pew cozy, but it is an example of how wealthy colonists "warmed" up the cubicles with everything from brocades to foot stoves. Some even featured rocking chairs!

Closer look at the enclosed pews. Colonists "bought" these, and the richest families purchased the most central ones. They decided size by the number of members in their families. The pews were enclosed to keep Church-goers warmer in the UNheated sanctuary!

One if by land? I think this lantern needs to be hoisted higher to get the word out!

My last look at Old North Church. It lost its steeple in the 1950s when Hurricane Carol came ashore. I think that steeple has been rebuilt twice.

The North End is home to more than the Old North Church. It is also called "Little Italy," and this is where great restaurants fill the air with aromas SO intense that I gained weight by just inhaling!

Only ONE residential home from PRE-Revolutionary days exists, and that house once belonged to the night-rider, Paul Revere! Hard to believe the house was 90 years old when HE bought it!

It is also hard to believe this tiny dwelling could have housed 8 people, but that was an era of great deeds, not great greed - at least for Mr. Revere and his family.

Well, there you have it. A whirlwind week in a great city where we found great food, friendly people, educational sites, and unbelievable vitality. Boston, I LOVE YOU!