Boston's Freedom Trail

No trip to Boston is complete without walking its famous historical footpath which winds up and down the city’s contoured streets taking you on a very deliberate, but indirect, course past the city’s16 revolutionary and colonial era monuments, sites, and structures. The total length of the footpath is 2.5 miles. Allow at least a half day for this remarkable city-walk as Boston is best seen on foot. Many of the sites along the trail are part of the Boston National Historical Park.

Start. The footpath marked on the pavement starts at the Boston Common, a city park in downtown Boston. Orient yourself at the Visitor Center in the park where you will see the red brick and paint sidewalk that marks the “trail”. You are already standing on historical ground as the Boston Common (1) is a 50 acre city park that’s been around since 1634 and was original used as a common pasture for livestock, a practice established in feudal Europe. The trail heads uphill from the Commons towards the gold-domed Massachusetts State House (2). Completed in 1798 this Federal style building was designed by Charles Bulfinch. Follow the trail downhill along Park Street and you will be looking directly at the needle-like steeple of the Park Street Church (3), which is 217 feet tall. Built in 1810 the church still houses an active Congregational parish and its design is said to be a replica of a London church built by Sir Christopher Wren. After leaving the Park Street Church the trail turn northeast along Tremont Street and passes by the Granary Burying Ground (4) on the left, a classic New England cemetery with sunken slate headstones, which dates to 1660 – the third oldest in Boston. Among those interred here are Paul Revere, a number of signers of the Declaration of Independence (Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine), victims of the Boston Massacre, and a number of Benjamin Franklin’s kin (Franklin, however, is buried in Philadelphia). The trail takes a right hand turn at School Street but not before making a significant detour to the King’s Chapel and Burying Ground (5). The King’s Chapel, an austere-looking church with an eclectic style was originally founded in 1686 by Edmund Andros, the Governor of New England, who established it as the first Anglican church in the crown colony. Today it is an independent Christian Unitarian church. The original building was wood and was replaced between 1749-1754 with the current Georgian stone structure. Adjacent to the Church is the city’s oldest burial ground, founded in 1630. John Cotton and John Winthrop are among the many well-known who are buried here. Head down School Street. On the right you will see the Site of the FirstPublic School and a statue of Franklin before reaching the Old Corner Bookstore (6) at the junction of School and Washington Streets. The distinctive colonial revival building dates from 1712 and has housed a number of shops and hosted an number of literary giants in the Anglo-American lexicon including Longfellow, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Dickens who all met or visited. Across the way, along Washington Street, is the Old South Meeting House (7), which is actually a church dating to 1729. At one time it was the largest building in Boston so it’s no surprise it served as a meeting point for organizers of the Boston Tea Party. It was also a Congregationalist church from 1729 until 1872. The steeple is 183 feet tall. Follow Washington Street northward until you reach the National Park Visitor Center opposite the Old State House (8). The Old State House, the former capitol building, is the oldest public building in the city dating to 1713. This classic colonial style building has undergone many restorations so its original appearance is somewhat of an unknown. Located in the heart of Boston’s financial district it is dwarfed by skyscrapers, yet its survival makes it oddly enough the most recognizable, eye-catching building. The location of the Boston Massacre (9) took place right outside the Old State House and is marked by a cobblestone circle. Also known as the Boston riot, five people were killed in 1770 when colonists protested the Townsend Acts. It was one of the defining acts which eventually led to the War of Independence. The defense lawyer for the British soldiers who fired on the rioters was none other than a leading patriot, John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and later the second President of the United States. Continue up Congress Street towards Dock Square. The Georgian-style Faneuil Hall (10), built in 1742 by John Smibert and Charles Bulfinch, overlooks Quincy Market. Known as the “Cradle of Liberty” Faneuil Hall was a public meeting house which often hosted colonists who spoke out against British policy in the colonies. Follow the Freedom Trail under the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway (in case you are wondering, John F. Fitzgerald was JFK’s maternal grandfather and two-term mayor of Boston in the early 20^th century). Once under the underpass you will approach Boston’s North End, which is also the heart of Boston’s Italian-American community, known as Little Italy. The next major site is the Paul Revere House (11) on North Street. Paul Revere needs no special introduction. The rebuilt house, much like the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, is more shrine-like than an original organic domicile that, just by pure chance, happened to survive the ages. Nevertheless its rather deliberate timbered roof, a throwback of medieval Europe as much as early colonial, was built in 1680, and sits alongside other buildings that are more contemporary giving one the impression that the house is less than original. Ninety percent of the construction is said to be original despite its much altered appearance through the five centuries of its existence. In that respect it is unique. The trail continues through the North End where it takes a ninety degree turn at St. Stephen’s Church (built in 1804 by Charles Bulfinch; originally Unitarian, now Roman Catholic) and heads towards the Old North Church (12), probably the best known site on the trail. The church was the origin of Paul Revere’s midnight ride and “one if by land, two if by sea” – a beacon for warning colonists of the approaching British expeditionary force in April 1775. The church was built in 1723 and is part of the Episcopal Church. The 175 foot steeple is topped by the original weathervane. Just when you are getting cemetery-fatigue, the Copp’s Hill Burying Ground (13) along Hull Street has existed for its current purpose since 1659. Well-known deceased within its grounds are Increase and Cotton Mather, famous Puritan ministers. After taking another ninety degree turn to the southwest, the trail crosses the CharlestownBridge and heads toward the Charlestown Navy Yard (14). Also called the Boston Navy Yard and Boston Naval Shipyard at different times, the facility was a major shipbuilding site from 1801 until 1974 when it was closed as an active navy base. One of the most popular sites in Boston is located here, the U.S.S. Constitution (15), or ‘Old Ironsides’, which remains the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy. The U.S.S. Constitution is a three-masted frigate built in 1797 which saw action in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812. Its engagement with the H.M.S. Guerriere on August 19, 1812 is where it earned its namesake. Tours are offered of the ship but plan ahead as it is a popular attraction. Overlooking the shipyard is Breed’s Hill upon which sits the Bunker Hill Monument (16) a stark, no-frills granite obelisk standing 221 feet tall which commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, a major engagement between the British redcoats and American colonists in June 1775 where the British eventually overran a fortified hilltop position held by the colonists but at such as costs in lives that it’s unanimously considered an American victory in the War of Independence, or at the very least, a Pyrrhic victory from the British viewpoint. The battle monument was built between 1825 and 1843 and is unique in that it was possibly the first of its kind. The resemblance between it and the Washington Monument does not go unnoticed. The quickest way to get there from the trail is to take Constitution Road and then a left on Adams Street. Views from the top are good, especially of the city. The Bunker Hill Monument is the north anchor of the trail and the end of the Freedom Trail if you stared at Boston Common.