Boston - The Freedom Trail

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Well after a quite frankly painful flight on United Airlines for 15 hours, a 2 hour queue through US Immigration that made me miss my next flight, and then a second plane ride on a plane that was smaller than the flight we took to Zanzibar I finally arrived in Boston.

I was so exhausted by the time I got to Boston that even though it was only 1pm in the afternoon that I crawled into bed and didn't wake up again (except for a brief moment at 1am) until 4am! The company has put us all up at the Intercontinental, which I have to say is just lovely. I'm here for the Greenbuild conference and managed to mess up my flights so I arrived here a day early. Which has turned out to be rather good as it has given me today to have a bit of a look around Boston itself. To get a feel for the place I decided to do the Boston Freedom Trail (which is a walking tour through the city) this morning. This trail is 2.5 miles long, and I can tell you that it really is quite a walk.

The Freedom Trail begins at the Boston Common where cattle once grazed and British soldiers once camped. Established in 1634 by Puritan settlers it is the oldest park in the US. From here the trail takes you to Park Street Church. The church has stood on this corner since 1809 as an active congregational church. The hymn 'America' was first sung here. Next door to the church is the Granary Burying Ground, where apparently 'Moother Goose' is buried. However when you read the signs about the grave stones it turns out that this is a bit of an old wives tail and there is no evidence that Mother Goose is actually buried here. Following on from here the trail leads you on to the Old South Meeting House which was built in 1729 as a puritan house of worship. The house was the largest building in colonial Boston and in the days leading to the American Revolution citizens gathered to here to challenge British rule, protest the Boston massacre and the tax on tea. It was also at the Old South Meeting house that on December 16 1772 Samuel Adams launched the Boston tea party.

Across the road is the Old Corner Bookstore. This building was built as apothecary in 1718 and became a literary centre in the mid 1800s with many prominent authors bringing their manuscripts here to be published.

From here it was on to the old state house. This building was constructed in 1713 and served as the seat of colonial and state governments as well as a merchants exchange. In 1761 patriot James Otis opposed the Writs of Assistance inspiring John Adams to state "then and there the child of indepence was born". A cobblestone circle underneath the white balcony marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired in a crowd of Bostonians killing 5 people. Then it was onto Faneuil Hall. This was an old market building, first built in 1742 at the site of the old town dock. Many meeting were held here in protest against all the million so of things that the American felt the need to protest against the British about. This area is right beside Quincy Hall and houses a large number of market stalls filled with loads of tourist tack. It also houses the Cheers Bar (not the orginal one from the series I think).

The Paul Revere House is in the oldest residential neighbourhood in Boston and is the oldest building in downtown Boston. It was built aroundn 1680 and was owned and occupied by the Paul Revere family most of the time from 1770 to 1800. Paul Revere undertook a wild ride at the start of the revoluntionary war to warn that the British were coming.

Old North Church was the next stop on the tour and was built in 1723. It is Boston's oldest church and is still an active Episcopal church. Robert Newman, on April 18, 1775, climbed to the top of the Old North Chuch bell tower to light two lanterns to warn the folks in Charlestown that the British were coming. Robert Newman is buried in the Copps Hill burying ground that was the next stop on the trail.

From there I had to walk to the Bunker Hill Monument. This was up a lovely hill that was in a gorgeous neighbourhood. Boston is really quite lovely. The Bunker Hill monument is 221 foot high and has 294 steps. After all the miles that I had walked this morning, this climb nearly killed me. I actually had to stop to have a wee rest on the way up there. Once I got to the top of the monument I couldn't actually see anything of Boston because the whole monument was filled up with teenage american school children who were loud, noisy and really really annoying. The windows in the monument were very small as well and it was hard to see anything.

So I climbed back down the monument (another 294 stairs) and nearly died again as my legs and knees decided to give out on me. When I got to the bottom of the steps my right leg actually started to shake........... Luckily my final stop on the trail was the USS Constitution, or old iron sides as she is called. The USS Constitutionis the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and has an interesting story associated with her. The newly formed US Navy built the USS Constitution in 1783 to defend the country against corsairs in the Mediterrean (pirates).

I have to say that I found Boston really quite gorgeous. There are loads of beautiful old beautiful buildings all over the place. Tomorrow brings the start of the Greenbuild conference.

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Photos

Old State Hall
I think this is a gate named after a general in the army, rather than a general entrance for all hookers to use. But who knows, maybe rugby teams visit here often.

Cheers
Where everybody knows your name