Freedom is Not Free, but Most of the Freedom Trail Is

This morning, I woke up in Boston, and it was pretty cool. It's fun to be in a new town, to be somewhere completely unknown. Especially when on my morning jaunt to entertain Vaughn while Stacie gets ready, I get to see this site just outside of my hotel:



If you follow me on Twitter, then you've seen most of the photos that I have access to already, but I like to put them on here anyway to spruce up the place. Plus I can go into a little more detail about them as well. As for this one, it was just a beautiful morning that needed to be captured.

We're staying in the North End neighborhood of Boston and it's turned out to be pretty perfect. We're right off a T stop, and there are sightseeing tours available right out of our hotel door not to mention plenty of restaurants nearby. It's definitely touristy, but we're definitely tourists so it works out.

After Stacie got ready to go, we headed out to get some coffee and a pastry for breakfast. We've found that we generally have to eat breakfast on the move to get much in before Vaughn has to eat again. Plus by the time we're moving out, it's basically her nap time, so Stacie wears her in the Ergo and she sleeps if she's not too distracted by the newness of all she's experiencing.

I decided that we should hit up the Freedom Trail because I really wanted to see as much of it as possible while we're here, plus it seemed like a good way to walk a lot of the city. In case you're unfamiliar, here is a map of the trail:



It's the red line that runs through the city and off the page to the north. For reference, we're staying next to Christopher Columbus Park and the Aquarium on the eastern side of this map, near the middle.

We headed out walking and made our way up to the Old North Church. I definitely wanted to see this famous site of the American Revolution, so the plan was to start there, and then walk south on the trail. On the way though, we walked up Salem Street which was an amazing little street filled with Italian restaurants, shops and bakeries. We loved the street, but ultimately were saddened when we realized that it would not be possible for us to eat at every restaurant and bakery.

Despite our disappointing realization, we trudged onward.

Soon, we found ourselves standing outside of the Old North Church, guarded by a man dressed in American  colonial garb. I asked the man what we had to do to go inside and he said, "Just go inside." That's it? No ticket, no line, nothing? Not bad.

We walked inside and found ourselves in a mostly white church building that looked like many old church buildings you've probably seen except the pews weren't really pews. There were individual, cubicle-like pews which we learned had to be purchased by early members of the church. They had high walls and since families owned them, they would often decorate them to suit their personal worshipping needs. The reason for this set up was due to the fact that it was impossible to heat a building of that size in those days and the high walled cubicles allowed families to bring in their own coal filled heating boxes and most of the heat would not escape the high walls during the service.

After we walked around for just a couple of moments, a young woman got up in front of the church and began to give us all the history lesson of the Old North Church. As she was speaking I found myself looking around and feeling in awe that I was standing where men had risked their lives by committing treason in order to provide what they hoped to be a better life to their heirs. The town was under command of the British army at this time, and the town was under a curfew. Merely being out at night meant Paul Revere was risking his life, as were the men who hung the lanterns in the church. They hung them only briefly - most likely less than minute - but that was all that was needed. The steeple of the Old North Church was the tallest building in that part of Boston and the lanterns were easily seen. Revere rode through the night to warn that the British army was crossing by sea and would be arriving shortly. The purpose of the British march was to capture ammunition that was being stockpiled by Colonial militias. Losing the element of surprise, the British instead found armed militias awaiting them and the first shot of the American Revolution was fired at Lexington, MA.

I looked up right as the guide was wrapping up and there I saw the Betsy Ross flag, the earliest version of the Stars and Stripes, and I got goosebumps - really got them. I just felt the weight of history in that place and it sent chills up and down my spine. It was awesome.



Next we followed the trail to Paul Revere's house. It's the oldest house in Boston, and it was once again amazing to be standing where such a great figure in our nation's history spent most of his days. It cost us $3.50 each to get in. That was the one and only place that cost us money to visit on the Freedom Trail - so far anyway.

After Revere's house, we had to head back to the hotel for a bit, but soon enough we were back on the trail. We knew we needed to get some lunch, so we headed over towards the Market area which also happened to be where our next stop was - Faneuil Hall - known as the birthplace of American freedom of speech. We ducked into a place called Anthem to eat, and it was very good. I got some chowder again because, well, I'm here so I feel like I should. It was good, but if I were ranking my chowder so far, River House would be first followed by Anthem's.

After proclaiming that the chowder I had in New Hampshire was superior to the chowder I had in Massachusetts, I found myself in a predicament.



I see why the Colonials were so anxious to get the British soldiers out of their city.

Following lunch and my escape from the clutches of the dirty redcoats, Vaughn napped, snuggled safely into the Ergo as Stacie and I continued down the Freedom Trail. We visited the site of the Boston Massacre that was used to stir up Colonial anger to the Crown; we saw the Old State House and then the Old South Meeting House, where Samuel Adams led a meeting that preceded the Boston Tea Party. Adams' secret phrase that set the act of rebellion in motion was "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country!"

We got off the trail for a moment to walk down Washington Street and pop into a couple of shops.One place we stopped at was an amazing old book store that looked exactly what an amazing old book store should look like - right up to the big orange cat curled up on a chair, napping the afternoon away.

After browsing through old books and maps, we cut over to Boston Common which is a beautiful park that sits below the current Massachusetts State House.  Thankfully we're used to walking around a city, but even so we decided that we could use a break and a park bench looking up at the State House was a good place to do that. As we sat, Vaughn woke up and naturally started to make friends with everyone walking by. After our rest, we headed up the steep hill to the State House.

You could only look at the State House, at least from what we could tell, but we weren't too interested in going inside anyway, so after snapping a few pics, we headed back down the hill to the Granury Cemetery. Buried here are Benjamin Franklin's parents, Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. It was an honor to pay our respects to these legendary figures.

Vaughn was done with the Ergo at this point, and hungry and since her last nap was so short, she was still in need of a good afternoon nap. So, I gathered her in my arms and we began the long haul back to our hotel. We passed a great statue of Benjamin Franklin on the way that was just outside the Old City Hall, so naturally we stopped to get some pictures. Then we turned east and promptly headed for the hotel.

After letting Vaughn eat and nap and getting some work done ourselves, we got on the T and took it to a nice shopping district. We spent the evening walking Newbury Street, ducking in and out of stores and eating cupcakes and drinking coffee. As the sun set, stores started closing, so we decided we should head back and grab dinner.

Our plan was to head back to Salem Street and enjoy some delicious Italian food, but when we got off the T near our hotel, rain had begun to fall, so we opted for staying closer to the hotel. We ate at a place called Granury Tavern. Stacie talked me out of the chowder - she's probably right when she says I should pace myself. So, I did. We both got a nice cold beer, shared a flat bread and a salad and then took our tired baby back to the room.

Sadly, it was 8:30 by this time and our room still had not received housekeeping service despite requesting it on our way out last time. We finally managed to get some clean towels and the trash taken out and Vaughn bathed and put down in the crib.

Now that I come to the end of our first full day in Boston I realize how much we packed in, and I'll be amazed if any of you actually read this whole thing, but the point is to document our trip so we can look back on it and enjoy it again. Hopefully, my two readers enjoy it as well, but if I'm longwinded and you don't find that enjoyable, I apologize.

Boston is turning out to be a city that gets my writing juices flowing.

Boston on Dwellable