Boston

Last weekend we decided to celebrate President’s Day properly, and as everyone knows, one can only appropriately observe President’s Day by exploring one of the major cities that sparked the Revolution. And since we have friends in Boston, that is where we went.
Actually, we’d wanted to visit Rochelle and Jeremy since we came out here, and since they live in Boston – which is one our list of places to visit while we live on the east coast – it was a perfect fit!
Heather and I always knew that we would enjoy Boston, and in this we were not disappointed. Boston was amazing! We arrived in Boston late Friday night after driving nine hours. The first thing we noticed was the cold. It was very, very cold. Fortunately, I had forgotten my coat, so I got to fully experience the chilly weather.
Saturday we spent most of our time touring the Freedom Trail, which is a trail through the middle of downtown Boston that hits almost all of the important sites during the lead-up to the Revolutionary War. Here are some pictures we took of it. Get ready for the history lesson ...

The Trail begins at Boston Common in the heart of downtown, right next to the State House and the Frog Pond (good for ice skating in the winter and splashing around in the summer). The British forces were encamped here during the city’s occupation of 1775.

This is the Park Street Church, where “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time. It was also in this church that slavery was first publicly condemned (William Lloyd Garrison gave the speech in 1829). Apparently, the solemn graveyard right beside the church is nicknamed America’s Westminster Abbey because so many famous patriots are buried there (like John Hancock and Paul Revere).

Here is Samuel Adam’s gravestone.

The inside of King's Chapel.

Here is the Boston Latin School, whose grounds hold a statue dedicated to its most famous student, Benjamin Franklin. Here is also the place of the renowned Bronze Donkey of Boston (we actually have no idea why this statue is in such a prominent place).

Next on the tour was the Old South Meeting House. This is where the Samuel Adams gave a speech that sparked the Boston Tea Party.

Here is the Old State House, which was the seat of the British government during the Revolution. It was in the area just outside this building where the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770, and it was from a balcony on this building in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston. This is the oldest surviving building in Boston.

Faneuil Sqare:

America’s first Town Meeting was held in this building, Faneuil Hall. The Sons of Liberty (the group that helped spur the Revolution) proclaimed their opposition to the Royal Crown here. Lots of important political debates and speeches took place here, and still do today!

The Green Dragon Tavern: the “Headquarters of the Revolution.” The Boston Tea Party was planned here, the Sons of Liberty met here frequently, and Paul Revere rode out from here to Lexington on his famous midnight ride.

This is Paul Revere’s house. A tight fit for his 16 kids.

Here’s the Old North Church, which is where Robert Newman climbed the high steeple and hung two lanterns to signal to Paul Revere how the Red Coats were traveling to Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere, and many other riders, then passed the news onto others all night long. It was the following day when the Red Coats showed up to Lexington and Concord to seize their stores of ammunitions and to arrest prominent Patriots John Hancock and Samuel Adams that events escalated into igniting the American Revolution.

Todd getting fresh with the local fish.

And finally, the end of the trail… Bunker Hill. We climbed all 291 steps up to the top and got a fantastic view of Boston. The Freedom Trail is a little over 3 miles long, and so ending it by climbing this hill and then trudging up 291 steps did wonders for our energy level. But it was worth it! And for those who don’t know, the Battle of Bunker Hill marks the first time that US troops (colonial forces) really pounded the much better trained and equipped British Army. In fact, at that time, Britain had the best army in the world, so the fact that these raga-muffin farmers did such damage to the British forces, even though they eventually lost the battle, was a massive moral boost for the Revolutionary forces.

So after the Trail, we went back down to North Side, found a really nice little Italian restaurant, ate some delicious food, and then promptly went home and crashed. (I forgot to mention we also walked through Harvard University at night and had some amazingly rich hot chocolate.)

On Sunday we drove out to the countryside and saw Walden’s Pond (complete with a replica of Henry David Thoreau’s shanty), the house of Louisa May Alcott (who wrote Little Women, and whose house and life was the basis of the story), and the site of the Battle of Old North Bridge (which is where some of the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired). We also got a moving tour of MIT campus, where Jeremy currently attends.

But the best part of Boston was, without a doubt, hanging out with Rochelle and Jeremy. It was great just catching up, playing games, and joking around. I learned all sorts of new things about Jeremy this trip, too, which was great. He’s a fantastic cook, an aggressive Wii Mario Kart driver, an even more aggressive driver in real life, and wears clothes slightly too large for me (I had borrowed his coat several times on this trip since I had forgotten mine). But his tooth brush sure worked fine (just kidding, Jeremy)! Oh, and Rochelle is amazing at doing Valentine’s Day morning treasure hunts. Seriously, Heather and I are still amazed, Ro. Nice work.