Wednesday, September 17, 2014

boston's freedom trail

one of the things i was most looking forward to about boston
was doing the freedom trail with chase. he had never been,
and knowing his love and fascination for history -- i knew it
would be a hit. i loved biking around following that little
brick-lined trail with him and stopping at each site to read
 about it, talk about it, + look around. the freedom trail is 
like boston's own big historical scavenger hunt and it's so
fun to follow it. here is a little synopsis of the stops:
{we used the freedom trail iphone app and guided our own tour!}
and here we go!! 

1. boston common:
the oldest city park in the USA. 
it has seen so many events throughout
boston's history and now it's a gorgeous
park surrounded by some of the main streets.

2. massachusets state house:
the gorgeous state capitol of massachusets-
i remember loving that gold dome when
i first visited boston and saw it in the
sunlight at dusk. it's a beauty in any light!

3. park street church:
symbolic of religious freedom and 
one of the oldest churches in the city.

4. granary burying ground:
this is one of the most amazing stops,
right next to park street church. so many
incredible people are buried here and so it
feels like hallowed ground. chase was most
excited to see paul revere's grave along with 3
other signers of the declaration of independence.

5. king's chapel & grounds:
this is where the british monarchy tried
to establish the church of england and show
they still had influence in america.

6. old south meeting house:
lots of important debates, meetings, and
events happened here..one notably being 
the boston tea party meeting, where plans
were made for it! we sat in here and read
about all that happened here & pictured it. 

 7. old state house:
inside of this building, the writers of the
declaration of independence made plans
leading up to the revolution. it's so worth going
 into, you can feel the energy that was there!

8. boston massacre sight:
right outside of the old state house 
you can see the sight of the boston 
massacre- some of the first casualties
in the entire revolutionary war. it's so
crazy to think that all of that began here!

9. fanueil hall:
i obviously love this place because it has the best
food, but i love thinking of it as an actual
 marketplace back in the day where everyone came
for meetings & to get the freshest food at the market.

10. paul revere house:
one of the best stops! you can go into paul
revere's house for a few dollars and see some of
the rooms. it is on a cobblestone street and you
really feel like you're back in time. chase thinks
paul revere is the coolest, so he loved this stop.

11. old north church:
i think this is my favorite stop, because i love
the story associated with it so much. on the night
that paul revere warned that the british were coming,
this church actually set everything in motion. they had 
a lot of back-up plans in case revere didn't make it,
and a lot of people to inform. so, 2 brave men went out
past curfew and hung lights in the top of the church--
if you've heard the phrase "one if by land, and two if
by sea," it was based off this symbol. when the spies
saw the british loading their boats into the charles
river, they hung two lanterns in the church to quickly
spread the word across town that the british were 
coming...by sea. i am fascinated by this story and church!!

12. copp's hill burial ground:
anoth famous, very old burial ground.

13. bunker hill monument:
built in honor of the battle of bunker hill.

14. USS constitution:
this final stop was a true highlight for us, since
a) chase was already very excited to see it, and 
b) we found out when we got there that we had
chosen the one day in 10 years that it was setting 
sail! we got to see it leave the port and sail the
harbor. there were news crews, locals, and tourists
taking in this historic ship in motion. amazing!
///
here are some more pictures from 
our freedom trail adventure:








our nice road bikes from back bay bicycles
helped us do the trail even faster!
















who knew he loved ships so much? 
the combination of all the history on 
these ships had him so enthralled.

and we even saw some beginnings 
of new england's fall -- swoon.

i remember running the freedom trail with my mom on my
first trip to boston when i was in high school. we did the entire east coast, & she woke me up early our first morning,
we put our running clothes on and jogged along the
entire trail, stopping for brunch and treats along the way :)
i loved this trip because it made me reminisce about that
trip with my mom, and i got to show it all to chase!
whether you bike it or run it, you'll love it!

xo

9 comments:

  1. This is so much fun. We did this when we were in Boston in March 2013 but it was so dang cold! It is funny how 55 degrees feels so cold on the east coast. I was in double layered everything. Glad you had fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh my gosh i've only done it twice during the summer, {sweltering!} i can't imagine doing it in the cold since i've been sooo hot both times haha. the east coast really does get FREEZING with that humidity in the air!

      Delete
  2. So I've lived in Boston for 5 years and I've never done the full freedom trail - you've seen parts that I've actually never seen!! I've never been inside Old North Church and now I need to go!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ahhh! time to go!!! :) make sure to have the guide tell you the story of the old north church and all the little details. i was enthralled! we love your city!

      Delete
  3. This looks like so much fun! Loving all your trip pics!

    ReplyDelete
  4. These pictures are gorgeous. I've never been to Boston, but the idea of a New England fall sounds amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Loved seeing you doing this together. Your pictures look like postcards and the day was picture perfect...and saw are both of you! Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i loved doing it most with you but this was a close second!! :)

      Delete

leave us some love! ♥♥