I’ll bet you think I’ve gone color blind and am telling Dorothy the wrong way to go. Nope, we’re in Boston and, by golly, here you follow the red brick road. Actually, Boston has made it easy for us tourists to walk around the Revolutionary part of the city and to see all of the famous sites by putting a red brick path into the sidewalks. See, here’s Gary on the Red Brick Road. You can’t miss it. You can’t get lost - ha, ha, ha.
We took the subway into Boston and, when we emerged, oops this is Boston and nothing is straight. New York City, it’s a grid pattern and easy to find where you want to go. Here it’s all what paved cow paths. You could begin to head north and soon, you’re heading south west. We spent the first 1/2 hour trying to find out where we were in relation to where we wanted to be. But - we had 2 people stop to help us and that would have worked but we wanted the NP Information and they gave us directions to other information booths. Very friendly and helpful.
OK, we have our maps, our list of sites to see, the red brick road is in front of us and we’re off. Funny thing, this used to be our back yard and we’ve been into Boston countless times. But that was in another life and oh so long ago. We all know that many of the events leading up to the Revolutionary War occurred in Boston. We all know John Adams, John Hancock, the Boston Massacre but it’s exciting to stand where they stood, close my eyes and imagine that I can hear them speak. (’Nancy, the ice cream shop is two blocks down on the right.’)
Because the subway deposited us into the middle of the Freedom Trail, we are going to head north first and south another day. Thus, we started at Faneuil Hall, the Cradle of Liberty’, where Sam Adams and others have spoken. In fact, here’s the man himself, boldly standing in front of the hall.
Today, it is the main VC of the National Park Service. Cute grasshopper weather vane on top, in fact, it is the only part of the building that is completely unmodified.
Next the Old State House, which used to be the seat of colonial government before the Revolution. Here the governor stood on the outside balcony and read the proclamations, announced that King George had been crowned and - read the new Stamp Act, the Townsend Acts, etc., all the ‘taxation without representation’ acts that the colonists protested. But Great Britain had to pay for the French and Indian War in which they protected the colonies from both the French and the Indians but which had been costly. If the war was to pay for the protection of the colonies, why shouldn’t they pay for it?
Inside is a beautiful wooden circular staircase which was actually built into the Old State House in the 1800 but which is pretty special. We heard a talk by a young woman on the building, the uses, the architectural changes and its history. She was very good. Outside is a pretty fancy gold unicorn, a symbol for the King, which the colonists torn down when news of the Declaration of Independence reached Boston in 1776.
In front of the building is a cobblestone circle commemorating the Boston Massacre where 5 colonists were killed by British soldiers. Self-defense? Massacre? Depends upon which side you were on. Angry over the British occupation of Boston, some local toughs gathered, taunted a sentry and threw stones and ice at him. Reinforcements arrived on both sides and it got ugly . The soldiers fired and 5 colonists died. Paul Revere called it a ‘massacre’ and the British called it a ‘unhappy disturbance in Boston.’ John Adams defended the soldiers and it was ruled ‘self-defense. Only 2 of them were judged guilty and had their thumbs branded. Who would have thought that such a patriot as John Adams would defend British soldiers? Because he believed in the rule of law.
But, onwards on the Red Brick Trail. Old South Church was next. Built in 1729 as a Puritan house of worship, it was the largest building in colonial Boston. Parishioners paid rent for their pews which were equipped with a writing arm. They could furnish their pew with comfortable pads for the benches or with furniture. but they had to pay rent each year or lose their pew.
Prior to the Revolution, citizens gathered here to speak and rally against the British. In the evening of December 16, 1773, 5000 angry Bostonians gathered to protest the tea tax. Sam Adams flashed the signal that led to the Boston Tea Party at the wharf a few hours later. 340 crates of tea were thrown overboard. Well, to retaliate, when the British held the city until Washington drove them out, they removed all the pews and used them for fires, covered the floor with dirt and used the building as a riding circle for the cavalry. That’ll teach those rabble-rousers.
On a corner nearby is the Omni-Parker Hotel, which is not exactly Revolutionary, since it was built in 1855 but it soon established the bar for luxurious living and lavish meals. 11-course menus prepared by French chefs AND Boston Creme Pie was born here. Reason enough to mention this hotel. But, and here’s the interesting part, both Ho Chi Minh worked in the kitchen in 1915 and Malcolm X worked here as a busboy in the 1940’s. One of its most famous guests stayed here while visiting his brother, an actor, in 1865 and actually took target practice in a nearby gallery: John Wilkes Booth. 10 days later, he killed President Lincoln.
This obelisk in the Granary Burying Ground marks the grave of John Hancock - or maybe not. No one knows for sure if his body is here or not. He was buried next to a wall but several tombs were taken down to allow more lighting to reach the basements of several nearby buildings. Some even think that the lead coffin was used to make lead pipes for the new buildings. The obelisk was put here later to mark his grave - possibly for tourists? How did that happen? John Hancock: a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the first Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the President of the Continental Congress? Some developer comes along, wants to erect a building and the town council caves? For $1,000,000 you can have John Hancock’s grave? Is nothing sacred? For $2,000,000 you can have my mother’s grave?
Here’s Hancock by John Singleton Copley. Pretty dapper: the richest man in Boston at one point - he inherited wealth from his smuggler uncle and then expanded his uncle’s business.
And, hey, look how straight the lines of the stones in the cemetery are. Is that original? Nope. Originally the cemetery was part of the Boston Common and ’mowed’ by the livestock grazing on there, but, when they bought the new-fangled invention, lawn mowers, in the Victorian era to keep the grass neat and trim, they ‘straightened’ the stones and put them in nice, neat rows. As Gary muses: you might not be putting flowers on your great- great- great- grandmother’s grave but that of an axe murderer.
The cemetery was named for the 12,000-bushel grain storage building which was once next door, and there are 2345 markers here but it is estimated that there are over 5000 people buried here. Figure that one out. Got it - since gravestones were expensive, many people put several members of the same family under one stone with the family name on it.
And, here is the ‘famous’ Red Line subway stop entry or exit which I used every day to get home from my job in Cambridge, where I worked for several years. I took the subway from Cambridge to here, got off and walked to the bus station a few blocks away. Nice walk through the Boston Commons but what I remember most is all the white lights hanging in the tall trees during Christmas. Walking under all those white lights was magical.
Boston Commons began as a common grazing ground for sheep and cattle. Each house was assessed 6 shillings for 44 acres of open land and it was held in ‘common’ for all. It and Boston Gardens are very like Central Park in New York City, a green grassy place with ponds, walkways, flower gardens and myriads of trees. A place to play, reflect, sit, contemplate, walk through and we saw many doing all these things today as we walked through.
At one end is the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Have you watched the movie, Glory, about the Black Regiment with the white leaders during the Civil War? If you have, you have heard of Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th MA Regiment. Covered themselves in glory attacking Fort Sumter.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you’ve missed one of the best. His parents were abolitionists in Boston and after a few years in the Union army, he accepted command of the first all-black regiment and even encouraged the men to refuse their pay until it was equalled to the white troops’ wage. At the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, a beach-head near Charleston, South Carolina, Shaw was killed while leading his men to the parapet of the enemy fort. The victorious confederates buried him in a common grave with the men who died with him, intending this to be an insult. The bodies of other Union officers were returned to the Union but not Shaw’s.
Though intended as an insult, Shaw’s family regarded it as a great honor to be buried with his men. His father wrote later:
‘We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers....We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company. – what a body-guard he has!’
We toured Beacon Hill where many prominent Bostonians live and then headed home.
It’s been a full day, it’s 6:00 and it’s time to head on home. It’s amazing how real history can be when one tours such sites as we have seen today.
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