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The Freedom Trail is where Boston’s history starts. It’s hard to visit Boston and not see the history all around you, it’s everywhere. On this trip, we are going to walk the Freedom Trail to see all these special places in Boston.

Now you can walk the Freedom Trail in about two hours certainly, however, if you want to get the most of this National Park, I suggest taking the whole day. This will give you time to explore each building and learn about the history. I also suggest you stop for lunch around Faneuil Hall and walk back into the North End for dinner.

You might even want to stop at the Starbucks by Government Center for a ‘cuppa’. This is a very famous picture you should take here, more on that later.

Table of Contents

We’re going to walk the Freedom Trail as follows:

• Boston Common
• State House
• Park Street Church
• Old Granary Burying Ground
• King’s Chapel & Burying Ground
• Benjamin Franklin Statue
• Old Corner Bookstore
• Old South Meeting House
• Boston Massacre
• Old State House
• Faneuil Hall
• Quincy Market
• Paul Revere’s House and Statue
• The Old North Church
• Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
• USS Constitution
• Bunker Hill

Visitor’s Center on the Freedom Trail

The Visitor’s Center in the Boston Common isn’t part of the National Park service but they do have maps for you of the Freedom Trail. Here is a copy of the Junior Ranger Booklet for your kids so they can start with it from the beginning. No matter if you are doing the Junior Ranger Booklet or not be sure to keep an eye out for Gus, a grasshopper. Can you find him on your travels?

If you aren’t familiar with the Junior Ranger program through the National Park system check out my blog post all about how your kids can become a Junior Ranger.

Boston Common, the start of the Freedom Trail

The Boston Common and the Public Garden are Boston’s premier parks and are also part of the “Emerald Necklace”. The Public Garden has swan boats that take passengers for a ride around the lagoon during the summer months. There is even a redwood tree growing in the Public Garden. When you visit you can give your kids the challenge of finding it.

Across the street is the Boston Common. This is the oldest public recreation space in the country. When it was first bought the ‘common’ was used as pasture for grazing cows. The Puritans also used the common for public punishment and ridicule. Hangings and whipping were performed here as well. Throughout history, this ‘common’ has become a place for anti-war marches, civil rights rallies, and a place for public speakers like Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope John Paul II.

The common is also where the ‘Redcoats’ began their fateful march to Lexington and Concord. And we all know how that turned out.

I would suggest grabbing your breakfast on the run and sitting among the trees and statues of this wonderful public common to enjoy the beauty of it. For the kids, there is a merry-go-round, a wonderful playground, and the Frog Pond. In the summer the Frog Pond is a shallow splash pool, (bring a small towel to dry off afterward) and in the winter it’s a skating rink. Either way, you look at it this park holds lots of history and continues to be a meeting place for all Bostonians.

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State House

From the visitor’s center, the red brick trail will take you to the State House. The gold roof has recently been refurbished and now shines bright as it sits high atop the ‘hill’ for all to see. It is very fitting that it is built on land that was once owned by John Hancock since he was the state’s first governor.

Take a picture of yourself sitting on the steps up to the State House just make sure to capture the beautiful 23K gold roof in the picture. You can also find a statue of Mary Dyer on the State House lawn. Mary along with 3 other Quakers were hung in the Boston Common for becoming Quakers instead of Puritans.

Park Street Church

From the State House, the Freedom Trail will take you to Park Street Church. On the corner of Park Street and Tremont Street, sits this beautiful church. It was built in 1809. The church now stands on the ground that was part of the common and where the Puritans stored their grain. If you hear someone ask about the “Old Granary” you can tell them it’s now where the church sits. The church spire is 217 ft high and welcomed people to Boston.

Now you might ask why this church is part of the Freedom Trail being only two centuries old. Well, for one the crypt is where gunpowder or ‘brimstone’ was stored for the war of 1812. Speeches against slavery were first given at Park Street Church. The song ‘America’ (My Country Tis of Thee) was first sung by the children’s choir here. The NAACP, the Animal Rescue League, and other societies all had their beginnings at this church. For these reasons and many more, this church is part of the Freedom Trail.

Old Granary Burying Ground

This cemetery also part of the Boston Common at its inception has some amazing history. Definitely worth your time, wander among the headstones that were repositioned during the Victoria era to make neat rows. This burying ground has some of America’s most famous people buried here.

The cemetery has over 2,300 headstones but historians say that 5,000 people are actually here. People like Benjamin Franklin’s parents have a prominent obelisk in the center of the cemetery. Most people believe the Franklin family is from Philadelphia but they originated here in Boston.

Other people who helped America in its fight for independence that are buried at the Old Granary include John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and James Otis. James Otis is the lawyer who coined the phrase “no taxation without representation”. The victims of the Boston Massacre are also here.

You will find a lot of gravestones adorned with a skull with wings on either side as their ‘artwork’. This is because Puritans don’t believe in religious art. The skull and wings really symbolize the body going to the afterlife. You will also find pictures of the Grim Reaper, Father Time also well as scrollwork and poems.

King’s Chapel & Burying Ground

A bit of planning will make your visit to King’s Chapel more memorable. Tuesdays at noon the chapel puts on a music concert that is worth your time. You can hear the bell that still calls people to worship on Sundays. This second bell is one of Paul Revere’s finest.

Even if you can’t arrange your visit on Tuesday this chapel is worth a look. First built to continue the King’s reign over the colonists this church later became the first Unitarian church in America. The first King’s chapel did have a steeple which was part of the reasons the Puritans didn’t want the chapel. Since the Puritans left England for religious persecution they didn’t want any religious building in Boston. Their ‘religious’ buildings became ‘meeting-houses’.

Some fun facts about the chapel, the columns out front are not actually stone, instead, they are wood. Another fun fact is that when this newer version of the chapel was built the Royalists, who favored the King’s way, ran out of money for the spire which made the Puritans happy.

To get a behind-the-scenes tour of King’s Chapel crypt and bell tower, take the Bell & Bones tour. The history will amaze you. If ghosts are more your style take the Ghosts and Gravestones tour for a look at this and other burying grounds around Boston.

The church is built on part of the old burying ground that was for the Puritans. Sort of belligerent for the location of a King’s chapel, but then again that was the point.

This is Boston’s oldest burying grounds with some interesting headstones. A few Puritans from the Mayflower are here at this burying ground too. But whatever you do, don’t miss John Tapping’s beautiful headstone.

Benjamin Franklin on the Freedom Trail

As you walk down School Street to the Old Corner Bookstore look left at the statue of Benjamin Franklin. This is the original site of the Boston Latin School, the first public school in America, hence the name of the street. Up until 1972, it was an all-boys school.

King’s chapel is now in the place of part of what was the school. I guess the King’s chapel was more important than educating America’s youth.

Old Corner Bookstore

Now a public commercial building housing Chipotle, this beautiful 17th-century building once housed the infamous Ticknor and Fields publishing company from 1832-1865. This is also the site where Anne Hutchinson’s house once stood. Anne Hutchinson is yet another religious leader whose preaching didn’t mix well with the Puritans. The Puritans banned her from Massachusetts and she spent the rest of her days in Rhode Island. The current building built in 1718 was an apothecary and later a host of bookstores and publishers.

The reason this bookstore is so famous though is because of Ticknor and Fields. They worked with the most influential authors of the time like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and others. With books like The Scarlet Letter, Little Women, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin as well as the Atlantic Monthly these publishers have cemented their fake in history.

Old South Meeting House

‘Old South’ built-in 1729, is one of the nation’s most important buildings from Colonial America. Yes, it is a Puritan ‘church’ but also a public meeting house. Some of the most controversial and protested acts were up for debate here. These meetings took place during 1768-75 during which time the colonists protested the imprisonment of sailors into the Royal Navy as well as to debate the problematic tea tax.

However, it was that evening in December of 1773 when Samuel Adams gave the sign to the Sons of Liberty to start the Boston Tea Party that makes this site so famous. The Boston Tea Party Museum is another wonderful museum to explore. Check that out along with a few other great Boston tours for kids.

As the story goes, twenty women of Boston along with some prominent authors of the time, were able to save Old South in 1872. With its historical significance, I’m certainly glad they saved it. In 1877 the Old South Association turned the building into a museum.

Have a ‘cuppa’ along the Freedom Trail

I promised you a story about the teapot. To get here, follow the Freedom Trail from Old South to the Old State House. When you get to the Old State House make a left and you will see the teapot just up the road on the right.

Boston Massacre on the Freedom Trail

There is a cobblestone circle outside the Old State House that marks the place where 5 men were killed on that fateful night back in 1770. Tensions had been growing between Bostonians and the Redcoats who were there to keep the peace. However, Parliament continued to impose new taxes on the colonists between 1763 and 1767. The Sugar and Stamp Act, Wool Act, Hat Act, the Townshend Act, and the Tea Act all fueled the discord of the colonists and the Redcoats.

It escalated in March of 1770, outside the Customs House when several colonists, who called themselves Patriots, started mocking the British soldiers. Snowballs along with other objects like oyster shells and clubs were the colonist’s weapons but the Redcoats held guns. The British Redcoats fired and in the end, 5 colonists lay dead. Historians say these 5 men are the first casualties of the American Revolution.

Old State House

The Old State House was the house of government in the 1700s. This is where the Royal Governor read new decrees to the people of Boston, imposing new laws and taxes as seen fit by the King of England. The balcony that faces State Street, then King Street, is also the site where Bostonians first heard the Declaration of Independence on July 18, 1776.

After the relocation of the new State House to Beacon Hill, this building became the town hall. This is also where the Massachusetts Bay Colonial government officers were as well as the Massachusetts Assembly and the Supreme Court.

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If you look at the front of the building you will see the imposing Lion and Unicorn at the top. These are important Royal symbols, however, the Lion and Unicorn you see today are actually replacements from 1882. The original ones were taken down and burned that same day the Declaration of Independence was read.

On the other side of the building is a lovely flying eagle, the symbol of the new United States of America.

Faneuil Hall & Quincy Market

Faneuil Hall is Boston’s first central marketplace. Originally only a marketplace Peter Faneuil added the upper floors to have space for town meetings. It’s the gathering of citizens in these town meetings back in the 1700s where citizens like Samuel Adams began to speak out against the British and their new laws that make this meeting hall the “Cradle of Liberty”.

First opened in 1742, it reopened after a fire in 1763 just in time for the citizens to start holding meetings to protest all the new taxes Britain set forth starting in 1764. It is during these protests and debates that James Otis first uses the term “no taxation without representation”. These meetings grew so large they were moved to the Old South Meeting House.

The meeting hall is still a part of the local government and is used to this day. Different groups have had their meeting here including suffragists, abolitionists, and labor unionists, and the opposition has all held meetings here too. Also, John F. Kennedy held his last campaign speech in this hall. The Great Hall has also been used to swear in newly naturalized citizens to the United States. Imagine taking your Oath of Allegiance in this space with so much history. It would be wonderful.

Military groups practiced and stored their armory on the upper floors during Revolutionary times. Today the 4th floor is still used by the oldest militia group, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, for its museum and armory.

Inside the first floor of Faneuil Hall, you can meet Benjamin Franklin, or an actor playing him. He is running his print shop and for a small fee, you can have a copy of the Declaration of Independence hot off the presses!! What a souvenir that makes.

Quincy Market

Over the years the building has been added to and other buildings built around the area to include more market space. North Market, South Market, and Quincy Market. Take advantage of the shops and dining options all these markets afford you. No one in your group will go hungry with all the variety there is to choose from.

Freedom Trail Trip Tip:

After exploring Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, the trail will bring you right by some amazing old restaurants like Union Oyster House and Bell in Hand, the oldest tavern in America along with a few other fun restaurants and shops. Take your time and go into the shops and restaurants if nothing more than just to see how old the place is.

This is where the ‘brick road’ breaks up. When you come out of the alley next to the Union Oyster House you will be on Hanover St. You can continue on Hanover St. right into the North End or follow the bricks through the park and enjoy a rest. The Carolyn Lynch Garden is on the right side of Hanover St. However, the Freedom Trail brings you through the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on the left side of the street.

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Paul Revere’s House and Statue

I believe every man, woman, and child -of a certain age- knows who Paul Revere is. I think we can all thank Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem of 1861 that made Paul’s midnight ride famous. Paul Revere was more than just that one ride, though.

Revere was a silversmith by trade but also did some work with copperplate engraving. He produced some illustrations for books, magazines, and political cartoons. He also became a dentist for a number of years. Of course on the political side, he was a member of the Son’s of Liberty and the Masonic Lodge. Revere also participated in the Boston Tea party and was very active in helping with the Revolution.

Paul Revere’s house is actually the oldest building in all of Boston. The Revere family only lived there for 30 years but they were the Revolutionary years. You will see life as it was when the Revere family lived there during your visit. Think about the 16 children Revere had and how it was to live there.

If you’d like to see more silver work by Paul Revere, head on over to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see “The Liberty Bowl.”

Be sure to take your picture with Paul Revere’s statue as you walk to the Old North Church.

The Old North Church

The Old North Church is where the lanterns hung to signal how the Redcoats were getting to Lexington and Concord. The British wanted to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock and to seize the stockpile of weapons the Patriots had in Concord. Lucky for us we had Paul Revere and other Minutemen ready to stop them. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere set off to alert his fellow colonists to hide all arms and his fellow Patriots Adams and Hancock.

“One if by land, two if by sea” is another saying everyone should learn in school. Although Paul Revere didn’t hang the lanterns in the Old North Church he and everyone else could see the lanterns in the spire of the Old North Church from Charlestown. When you are exploring the Charlestown Navy Yard look for the Old North Church’s steeple.

Fun Fact: Paul Revere was a bell ringer at the Old North Church as a teenager! You can take the Behind the Scenes Tour to go into the bell tower and the crypt.

The Old North Church still has an active congregation but you are welcome to sit in the pews and feel what it was like in colonial times. The Revere family owned a pew until the early 1900s when they stopped that practice.

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Be sure to also check out the different gardens of the Old North Church from memorials to flowers they are all special.

In the Clough House, next to the Old North Church, you can also learn about 18th-century chocolate making. Be sure to stop by and have a taste of the sweet treat.

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, named after William Copp who donated the land, is where many Colonial North End residents are buried. This burying ground dates back all the way to 1659. The site sits high on a hill and has a good view of Charlestown and the mouth of the Charles River. This is why the British took up residence here. They used this position well fixing their cannons on Charlestown during the battle of Bunker Hill.

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Try and find a few important head markers in the burying ground. Look for Robert Newman, the lucky man to hang the lanterns signaling how the British were getting to Lexington and Concord. Then find Edmund Hartt, shipbuilder of the USS Constitution, and Shem Drowne who crafted the weathervane for Faneuil Hall.

As you walk around the burying ground take a close look at the gravestones. Can you find any with shot marks? These are from British Soldiers who used the gravestones as target practice. Captain Daniel Malcolm’s tombstone is a good example of this.

USS Constitution

The Charlestown Navy Yard, one of the original 6 Navy Yards in the US, is the permanent home of the USS Constitution. It’s now a National Park but it was an active naval base from 1800 to 1974. This is also the home of the USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer.

The USS Constitution fought in the War of 1812 where she got her nickname, “old ironside”. Can you guess why? After all the ship is not made of iron.

During World War II the Charlestown Navy Yard was instrumental in keeping the Allied forces afloat. And yes, women filled the positions that men once held.

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When you visit the navy yard be sure to go to the museum as well as go aboard both ships. We love seeing how sailors’ lives were on these ships.

Bunker Hill Monument

This battle was actually fought on Breed’s Hill and not nearby Bunker Hill. However, the battle has always been referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill. If you look on a map today you can’t even find Breed’s Hill.

The battle of Bunker Hill was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The battle took place on June 17, 1775, and set the tone for the rest of the war. Although the British won this battle it was with lots of casualties and the British realized the colonists could fight the fight.

The climb to the top of the monument is tight but well worth the commanding views of Boston across the river. Can you spot Old North Church’s steeple? How about any of the modern buildings like the Prudential or the Hancock? Even if you can’t spot them you can get a great look at the Zakim Bridge and the Charles River.

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Now walk across the street to the Bunker Hill Museum and check out all the memorabilia they have from the war. The snare drum is pretty incredible.

Final Thoughts

Of course, you can start your trip at the Bunker Hill Monument and walk toward the Boston Common, either way, works. I would just recommend going into the buildings and experiencing the spaces and history for yourselves. It really is incredible to walk where our founding fathers walked. Those who put their lives on the line for our freedom.

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