Day 53 Boston

We arrived in Boston to overcast, drizzly weather. Disembarkation went smoothly. We had filled in yet another immigration form and had ticked that we did have some seeds (Vince had 2 packs of seeds from the Halifax Citadel). As we walked off the ship a border patrol officer took our form without looking at it and we just kept walking (we are not sure why we needed to fill in a form if no one was looking at it!)

With the drizzling rain we were quickly ushered into a taxi for the short ride to the hostel where we were staying in Boston. Once again it was a quick off load of our gear so we could get inside and the taxi driver could get back in his vehicle. It was not until we were inside the building that we realised our overnight carryon bag was still in the taxi. We managed to get the number of the taxi companies in Boston and as Vince was about to ring the last number the driver appeared with our bag.

As it was too early to check in, we put our bags in storage at the hostel and we then headed out for our day of walking the Freedom Trail. The start of this is at the Boston Common which was about 1Km from the hostel.

Crossing the Common we came to the Massachusetts State House with its copper domed roof. Next stop on the trail was the Granary Burial Ground. Here many famous names from the Revolution were buried - John Adams, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's parents and Samuel Adams.

Stop 4 - Kings Chapel and burial ground. The interior of the church is very interesting. There are not rows of pews but separate cubicle which families would purchase and then pay a yearly pew fee. The reason for the cubicles was for shelter from the cold in winter. Parishioners could have a foot warmer in their cubicle during the winter months.

Behind the chapel was a statue honouring Ben Franklin and a mosaic in the pathway to mark the first public school in America.

Next on the trail was the Old South Meeting Hall where it is said colonist met to plan the Boston Tea Party. A couple of minutes' walk and we were at the Old State House Museum. Here we learnt more of the background leading up to the start of the revolution. We had one gentlemen dressed in period costume who introduced himself as John Glove. His occupation was to document the name, profession, location from where they came, current address, etc of any new arrivals to the colony (sounds like a current day census).

Outside the meeting hall is the site of the Boston Massacre (where 3 people were killed in the lead up to the start of the revolution. Some massacre! A little bit of political propaganda on behalf of the Republican movement. Paul Revere created a famous illustration of the event promoting the propaganda.)

Fanueil Hall and markets were our next stop. The markets were not what we were expecting. No halls of lovely fresh produce. One hall was all fast food outlets (this was made worse as it was lunchtime when we were there and there was quite a crowd. You were shuffling your feet just to move forward. Needless to say we exited the building as soon as we could.) The other 2 halls were shopping outlets. Fanueil Hall itself has a visitor information and souvenir shops downstairs. Upstairs is still a public meeting hall that is use today. Anyone can call a public meeting. It cannot be used for private meetings. (Hilary and Donald made use of this in recent times).

A slight detour off the track to Cuppacoffee. This is an Australian owned coffee shop so we were able to purchase a decent flat white and an Anzac biscuit. I do not think they will make a fortune as it was in an out of the way location. However, the coffee was good.

Continuing on we came to Paul Revere's House. Unfortunately, a tour group arrived at the same time so we decided to walk onto the next stop which was Old North Church. At this point the trail takes you past an old church which has Paul Revere square (with statue of the gentleman on his horse) across the road. There is a plaque out the front that talks about how the church was once Protestant but with the influx of Irish immigrants during the Potato Famine in Ireland it became a Catholic Church and its name was changed to St Stephen's.

Crossing the road into the square we listened to one of the information guides talk on Paul Revere. He apparently went to Lexington 3 times on the night of 19th April 1775. He never called out the "British are coming" as all colonists were considered British. He would have been more likely to have called the "red coats" or "regulars" are coming. William Dawes was also a rider that night taking a different route in case one of them should be caught.

Both men made it to Lexington and warned Hancock and Adams (who were in hiding due to a warrant of Treason) of the coming soldiers. They then rode on for Concord. On the way they met up with Dr Prescott, returning home from a house call, who joined with them on the ride. Stopped by a group of soldiers, Prescott was able to continue on and warn those in Concord. His story of returning home after visiting a patient was believed by the soldiers.

Dawes veered off prior to being stopped and as he was being chased, he called to an empty barn to come to arms as the soldiers were in the area. This caused the soldiers to stop the chase and try and arrest the empty barn.

Revere was caught but when distant gunfire was heard he told the arresting soldiers that 500 militia were on their way so he was released but his horse was kept. This meant a walk back to Lexington.

After the talk we headed back to Paul Revere's house which now only had a small number of people entering. The house was purchased by Revere about 10 years prior to the revolution. It is set up downstairs in the style of the original owners and the upstairs is decorated as in the time of Revere's ownership. The house was renovated in 1908 as it had fallen into disrepair and opened for tourists.

Walking back through the Old North End area (we would have roamed the streets here longer if it had not been drizzly weather. This is now an area filled with Italian restaurants and grocery/deli stores). We came to the Old North Church where the two warning lanterns were hung in the steeple. The pews inside were of the same cubicle design as Kings Chapel.

Walking on and crossing the river we came to the USS Constitution which is currently in dry dock, having its regular maintenance overhaul. This happens every 20 years and it takes 3 years to complete. This meant that the cannons had been removed due to the excessive weight and we could only tour the top and second (gun deck) decks as the third deck was closed. The constitution is sailing ship that has the distinction of never being defeated in battle. It was retired after the war between the US and Canada in 1812. (Paul Revere's company supplied the steel for the ship's hull)

Bunker Hill Memorial is the last stop on the Freedom trail. This is where one of the most ferocious battles was held. Technically this battle was a win by the British troops. However, the British regulars had a high number of casualties in comparison to the rebels who withdrew rather than continue the battle. It was deemed a significant site, hence the monument was built. The monument is 67 metres tall and when open, you can climb the 294 stairs to the top. As this was the last stop for the day we arrived after it had closed so we did not get to test our fitness levels.

By the time we arrived home, after getting a few groceries for dinner, we had walked total of 11km.