America's Freedom Trail and Paul Revere's North End

What will we visit on this tour?

• Meeting point:

  State House, Boston, MA, Boston, MA 0...

  State House, Boston, MA, Boston, MA 02108, USA

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  I will be waiting on the small set of stairs inside the northeast corner of Boston Common, facing the gold dome State House. I am a large, clean-shaven man wearing a bright green Boston Red Sox baseball cap with a red B on the front. Also, a gray backpack.

• 1
  Outside visit

  Freedom Trail

  America's best collection of Revolutionary War sites. Up-close visits to the Massachusetts State House, America's first public park, Granary Burial Ground, oldest continuously operating hotel in America, oldest Anglican Church in Boston, Benjamin Franklin statue and site of the oldest school in America, Old Meeting House and the "Tea Party," oldest commercial building in America, Old State House, Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, Revere House, Old North Church, Copp's Hill, Bunker Hill and USS Constitution.

• 2
  Outside visit

  Massachusetts State House

  1798 gold domed State House was built by noted architect Charles Bulfinch on John Hancock's land. This building is both historical and architecturally beautiful, featured in the 2006 film, "The Departed," starring Matt Damon, Leo Di Caprio, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson.

• 3
  Outside visit

  Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial

  Colonel Shaw led the first all-black regiment into battle during the American Civil War, and is featured in the 1989 film, "Glory" starring Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington.

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• 4
  Outside visit

  Boston Common

  Boston Common (1634). America's first public park! This spacious green has been a part of the city since its early colonial beginnings as Boston's communal grazing pasture used for public hangings and as a British encampment.

• 5
  Outside visit

  Park Street Church

  An 1809 active church and the tallest building in 19th-century Boston. Hear its history as “Brimstone Corner.” Learn about the abolitionists of Boston. On Independence Day in 1831, “America” (My Country 'Tis of Thee) was performed for the very first time.

• 6
  Outside visit

  Granary Burying Ground

  This is Boston's 3rd oldest burying ground (1660). The final resting place of some of the most notable founding fathers including 3 signers of The Declaration of Independence Samual Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine. Also resting here are Paul Revere, James Otis, James Bowdoin II, Peter Faneuil, Benjamin Franklin’s parents, Mother Goose and the five casualties of the Boston Massacre.

• 7
  Outside visit

  Omni Parker House

  Parker House (1855). The oldest operating hotel in America has long been a rendezvous for Boston politicians and the Saturday Night Club of literary greats. Learn about the famous employees and guests at the home of the delicious Boston Creme Pie and Parker Rolls. Peak into the elegant dining room where JFK proposed to Jaqueline Bouvier.

• 8
  Outside visit

  King's Chapel

  The Burial Ground (1630) is the oldest graveyard in the city and the final resting place for many notable Bostonians’ burials. The town’s 1st Anglican church was completed in 1688. George Washington attended services here when in Boston.

• 9
  Outside visit

  Old City Hall

  Thirty-eight Boston mayors served their terms of office in this 2nd Boston City Hall. The Boston Latin School operated on the site from 1704 to 1844 with notable alum Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

• 10
  Outside visit

  Old South Meeting House

  Old South Meeting House (1729) gained fame as the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. Five thousand or more colonists gathered at the Meeting House, the largest building in Boston at the time, to debate British taxation. The "Boston Tea Party," was one of the most fateful events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Learn about the organizers, their motivations and the consequences of their "tea party.”

• 11
  Outside visit

  Old State House

  Old State House (1713 - 1776). The oldest surviving public building in Boston. The seat and symbol of pre-Revolution British government and Royal power prior to the American Revolution. The site of the "Boston Massacre" and the first reading of the Declaration of Independence.

• 12
  Outside visit

  Faneuil Hall

  Faneuil Hall (1742)/Quincy Market (1824). Explore the fascinating history of Boston's first central marketplace and its evolution from a place where local citizens would shop for common groceries, to the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis and others encouraging independence, to being a pulpit for the abolitionist movement. It is referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty" though the building had ties to slavery. Rated # 4 in "America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites" by Forbes Traveler.

• 13
  Outside visit

  Union Oyster House

  Ye Old Union Oyster House (1826), devour a cup of "chowdah" at America’s oldest continuously operating restaurant. Visit JFK’s favorite booth. See if you could digest Senator Daniel Webster’s favorite daily lunch.

• 14
  Outside visit

  The Paul Revere House

  The oldest house in Boston (1680). The North End’s favorite Son of Liberty lived here prior to the American Revolution. We'll learn about Paul Revere's famous "Midnight Ride," immortalized in Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow's poem and the truths and myths behind this historic moment.

• 15
  Outside visit

  Paul Revere Statue

  An absolute must photo, Revere on horseback riding away from the Old North Church steeple.

• 16
  Outside visit

  Old North Church

  The 2nd Anglican Church in Boston (1723). The lanterns were hung in the steeple on the night of April 18, 1775, to silently alert the direction of British troop movements, “one if by land, two if by sea,” to Paul Revere, the Minutemen and others to begin their rides shouting, "The Regulars are coming out!"

• 17
  Outside visit

  Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

  Boston's 2nd oldest (1659) and largest of these colonial burying grounds. The final resting of puritans to shipbuilders to smugglers to enslaved and free African Americans. The tomb of the Mather family of Puritan ministers is particularly interesting due to its connection with the Salem Witch Trials.

• 18
  Outside visit

  Copp's Hill Terrace

  This strategic hilltop location overlooking the harbor made it a place of military importance during the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill. The British established fortifications from where they shelled Bunker Hill in 1775. See the oldest commissioned warship in the world, across the harbor, the historic and impressive USS Constitution and learn about her epic battle against the HMS Guerriere and how she earned her nickname “Old Ironsides.”