We took the "T" (the subway) in to Boston this morning and walked a block to the Boston Commons where the Freedom Trail starts. This is a 2.5 mile walk winding through Boston past a whole bunch of interesting historical sites. You can follow it easily, because there are bricks laid in the pavement....you just follow the yellow brick road, except it's red not yellow.
Boston Common is like Central Park but not as big. It's right in the middle of downtown Boston, and it is America's oldest public park, purchased in 1634 to be used as a common area for feeding cattle.
Right next to the Commons is the Massachusetts State House (state capitol building), completed in 1798 at a cost of $133,000 (more than 5 times the budget). This is the oldest building on Beacon Hill. The dome was originally wood, covered with copper in 1802 by Paul Revere, and gilded with 23 carat gold leaf in 1874.
The Park Street Church was also knows as Brimstone Corner, both because of the fire and brimstone sermons and because gunpowder was stored in the crypt during the War of 1812.
The Granary Burying Ground is the third oldest cemetary in Boston and the final resting place of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Ben Franklin's parents.
Next was not part of the tour, but we walked past the Tremont Temple building. It looked Mid-Eastern, but when we got close, we saw signs that said Tremont Temple Baptist Center. I didn't know Baptists had temples.
Again not part of the tour - The Boston Five Cent Savings Bank Building. There must be a good story connected with that! Research Department??
The Old South Meeting House, built in 1729, is the second oldest church in Boston. Over 5000 people gathered here in 1773 to protest the tax on tea.
The Old State House is Boston's oldest surviving public building and was the center of commercial and political life. It was the site of the Boston Massacre in 1770.
Faneuil Hall was a meeting place and open air market. It still has shops inside. Behind it are three big market buildings - Quincy Market and North and South Markets on either side - big long buildings filled with restaurants and shops. Some really good seafood there but too early for lunch.
Paul Revere's house, built around 1680, is Boston's oldest private building downtown. We toured it - he and his first wife had 8 kids, then she died and he remarried and had 8 more! He was not only a silversmith but a part time dentist and engraver. We stopped in a printing museum around the corner where a guy was coloring a copper engraved print of the Boston Massacre. He said that another artist had engraved the original, but Paul Revere copied it and got it published first.
The Old North Church "The British are coming, the British are coming"...."one if by land and two if by sea".... Sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns on the steeple on April 18, 1775 to signal the beginning of Paul Revere's ride. We tend to sit in the same pew every Sunday and sometimes the priest reminds us that we don't own the pew and if someone else sits in "our" place we should just find another place and not be mad. Well, in this church people DID own the pews, with walls and a door to keep out strangers! Most of them just had wooden benches, but one, owned by weathly shipping people, had cushy red velvet seats.
From there we started to cross the Charles River to Bunker Hill, but decided we wouldn't go there. The Bunker Hill monument and Old Ironsides are there.
We walked around toward the wharves, but at first came to the Coast Guard area, no restaurants there, so Armando wanted to go back up the hill. That area is Boston's North End where the Italians settled and where there are a ton of Italian restaurants. I wanted seafood on the waterfront, but at that point we had been walking for 3 hours non-stop and what I wanted more than anything was a chair. So we had Italian.
Then we walked to Long Wharf. It had been a little warm walking around, but when we got there the wind picked up and it was cold! So we headed back toward Boston Common, thinking away from the water would be warmer but it wasn't. A cold front must have come thru right at that moment. Late afternoon it was only about 60.
Here are some other photos of Boston. It's a neat place, reminds me a little of London with twisty streets, little alleys with pubs here and there, ethnic neighborhoods.
Day 11 - Beantown
Monday, May 11, 2015
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Comments

2025-02-13
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Research Department
2015-05-12
Forget cheap nickel buildings. You've gotta have a meal at Durgin-Park. Go back to the wharf! Look it up on Wikipedia. You sit with strangers, the waitstaff will tease you relentlessly, and the food is great. Unique experience. Go early because I remeober long lines.
Marge N
2015-05-12
Seems "Five Cents Bank" was a popular business name in MA. Found several different ones prefixed by the name of the city they were located in. As to the name itself, not much was found. The one in Boston started life in 1925 as a state savings bank according to the National Information Center. It became a federal savings bank in 1983, then was acquired by Citizens Bank company in 1993 with a change in name (to Citizen) at the same time. Seems the bank building itself is now multipurpose, but retains the name of the business that was likely its first tenant.
Marvin Nordwall
2015-05-12
The path is not any longer, the hill is not any steeper or higher, the road is not any harder - it must be the body - oh to be young and vibrant again.
Romy
2015-05-12
I still say you should have rested your feet while riding the swan boats!!
Romy
2015-05-12
Margie is correct. Not a lot of info regarding the Boston Five Cents Bank Building. Five Cent banks were prevalent at the time they were started. You only needed a nickel to make a deposit. Thus the name Five Cents Bank. This particular building has apparently been many things including Borders bookstore and Walgreens.