Historical Boston

Welcome to Boston. With a bit of Google mapping and some discussion we found our way to the next Airbnb after a four-hour train ride from New York plus the local commuter train. It is a pleasant spot, a little off the beaten path in an area called Roslindale. It took us 30 minutes to walk to the closest subway station this morning but felt good to move. The entrance to our accommodation is what Norm refers to as a hobbit house. What do you think? 

Yellow Bunny fits quite well. Look closely for her. 

Once in downtown Boston we enjoyed a walk about Faneuil Hall, a market place for hundreds of years. The top floor is a meeting room where leaders of the American Revolution gathered in the 1770s to debate how to respond to increasingly repressive British acts. (Hey, we're here for only two days and already we are talking like revolutionaries.)  

And lunch in Quincy Market with its stunning rotunda.

 This is looking up. 

You can see how large it is compared to Norman. 

Now lunch on the Eastern Seabord has to be seafood - seafood chowder and lobster macaroni and cheese. Yummy!

This is Quincy Market.

Ice cream for dessert.

Just a note about selvies. In NY a woman walking by said, "oh you have matching hats. How cute!". So it has taken me a while to wear my hat at the same time as Norman but what the heck, it's the USA, who really looks?

Think they can tell we are tourists? 

We signed up for the National Parks walking tour of the Freedom Trail. A great one-hour plus walk and talk by Polly Keinle, our leader. We learned a lot about Boston's leadership in the fight for independence from Britain. She explained Paul Revere's contribution to the effort, more than just the "one if by land and two if by sea" from Longfellow's famous poem about Revere's midnight ride. Here is his house he bought in 1760. 

And of course the famous ride made famous by Longfellow who took a fair amount of poetic license in telling the story, we learned. 

In the background is the Old North Church where the actual lanterns were hung in the middle of the night and only for about one minute, warning patriots across the harbour that the redcoats were coming by sea, not by road. We toured the church which had such amazing history. Pews owned by individuals and family date from 1723. Some 1,100 people are buried in the church's crypt.

He does look like he is in deep thought. 

This says Gillam Phillips 1724. 

We then walked the Freedom trail to Bunker Hill, the site of a major battle between the British and the  Colonist. The Colonists had more men and held the upper ground on the north side of Boston harbour, but the British lost half of their troops killed and wounded. It was a "victory" for the redcoats but at a terrible cost.

Here is the monument to commemorate the battle, an obelisk like the monument in Washington to America's first president, completed several decades later. 

     

On the trail we stopped at Copp's Hill Cemetery. This tombstone is from 1623. The skull and wings were a common emblem at this time. 

     Heading home I just had to take a picture of the old state house. Love the Georgian-style buildings.

     And here is style in our neighbourhood, the triple-decker a common throughout Boston neighbourhoods,

         Tomorrow: Harvard and I think the swan boats. Stay tuned....