Momboisse Family Adventures, Boston Massachusetts
Interested in being your own tour guide? I have over 20 published GPS audio tours with VoiceMap (Carmel, Monterey, California Gold Country, Folsom, Tahoe, Sacramento) and over 40 tours published with GPSmyCity (Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur, Folsom, Sacramento, Boston, Cinque Terre, Kotor Montenegro, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Estonia). Happy Adventures!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Boston, Massachusetts
298 Nautical Miles from Newport, RI
Princess Tour
Freedom Trail Walking Tour
at the next set of stairs
to view the Massachusetts State House.
Directly across from the State House is Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial, the first stop on the Black Heritage Trail. This memorial was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and dedicated on Decoration Day 1897.
Responding to pressure from black and white abolitionists, President Abraham Lincoln allowed black soldiers to be admitted into the Union Army in 1863 as enlisted men, but not officers. The 54th was the first black regiment to be established in the North. This monument depicts the men of the 54th Regiment and Robert Gould Shaw who volunteered to serve as their commanding officer. Shaw and 32 of his men were killed in the assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina.
Gate of Granary Burying Ground 1967
Next to the Park Street Church
is the Granary Burying Ground
My brother and sister looking for the Mary Goose Grave in the Granary Burying Ground 1967. Mom and I are heading toward Revere's.
Continue down Church and step over the mosaic next to the red bricks that mark the Freedom Trail.
This mosaic by Lilli Ann Killen Rosenberg commemorates the original site of Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, this is the first public school in the United States. Five signers of the Declaration of Independence went to this school. The school admitted only boys until 1972.
Benjamin Franklin was the most famous dropout of Boston Latin School so a few feet from the mosaic is a statue of Ben. Between Ben and
Josiah Quincy (Boston's second mayor and the person responsible for erecting Quincy Market)
is Boston's Old City Hall, erected 1864.
At present, this is the home of Ruth's Chris.
Left on Milk street, look above the Mr. Speedy sign to see of bust of Ben Franklin with the words Birthplace of Franklin.
Back on Washington Street to Court Street and the Old State House. Erected in 1713, this was the seat of England's colonial government.
Here is Professor Allison again,
this time on Faneuil Hall.
Down Union Street past the New England Holocaust Memorial. Designed around six luminous glass towers, meant to bring darkness to light, each tower signifies one million Jews killed during the Holocaust.
A slight verge right brings our tour to Marshall Street, a narrow alley named for Thomas Marshall, a ferry captain from the late 17th century. This is the Blackstone Block Historic District.
Straight up Hanover
through the Paul Revere Mall
To the Old North Church, also known as Christ Church (Episcopal).
The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. We arrived too late to tour, and realized we did not have enough time to walk to our last goal, the Bunker Hill Monument. Maybe a future time. But if not we are pleased with the opportunity to walk Boston's Freedom Trail.
Tomorrow Bar Harbor Maine.
__
298 Nautical Miles from Newport, RI
Princess Tour
Freedom Trail Walking Tour
We cruised into Massachusetts Bay and docked at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal around 10am.
With the limited amount of time we had available to us in Boston, we choose to take one of the Princess organized tours. If given the opportunity to see Boston again, we would tour on our own using this tinyurl.com/ycpjem9a we created before leaving home.
Our 2 1/2 hour tour ($54 per person), focused more on shopping options than history. With that said, here are the highlights.
Our 2 1/2 hour tour ($54 per person), focused more on shopping options than history. With that said, here are the highlights.
Our tour bus drove us two miles and dropped us at The Tudor (built in 1886 and converted to condos in 1999) at the intersection of Beacon and Joy Streets. Our group filed down the steps leading to Boston Common where we met our tour guide.
We strolled .1 mile along the edge of Boston Common before exiting
at the next set of stairs
to view the Massachusetts State House.
Today, the seat of Massachusetts state government, the Massachusetts State House was completed in 1798. Bostonian Charles Bulfinch was so successful with this architectural design, that he was hired to design the state capitol for Connecticut and Maine.
The dome was originally covered with wooden shingles, but they leaked so in 1802 Paul Revere's firm clad it in copper. It was gilded with gold leaf for the first time in 1874.
Directly across from the State House is Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial, the first stop on the Black Heritage Trail. This memorial was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and dedicated on Decoration Day 1897.
Responding to pressure from black and white abolitionists, President Abraham Lincoln allowed black soldiers to be admitted into the Union Army in 1863 as enlisted men, but not officers. The 54th was the first black regiment to be established in the North. This monument depicts the men of the 54th Regiment and Robert Gould Shaw who volunteered to serve as their commanding officer. Shaw and 32 of his men were killed in the assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. 
Park Street Church covered in scaffolding and the Millennium Tower in the background. Our tour did not take us in the Park Street Church, but it was the site of an important anti-slavery speech given by William Lloyd Garrison, an American abolitionist and one of
the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, on July 4, 1829. In his speech, Garrison promoted the immediate end to slavery in
the United States.
Next to the Park Street Church
is the Granary Burying Ground
where we find the graves of many patriots.
Ben Franklin's parents
(Ben is buried in Philadelphia),
(Ben is buried in Philadelphia),
John Hancock,
Victims of The Boston Massacre (left),
Samuel Adams (right, and
Paul Revere.
My brother and sister looking for the Mary Goose Grave in the Granary Burying Ground 1967. Mom and I are heading toward Revere's.
Our tour continued down Tremont Street to King's Chapel (Anglican). King's Chapel was built so that the Church of England would have a church in Boston. Out tour did not take us inside the King's Chapel but I found this YouTube by Professor Robert J. Allison of Suffolk University.
the Omni Parker House Hotel, originally opened by Mr. Harvey Parker in 1855. Among the hotel's famous culinary creations are the Parker House dinner roll and the Boston cream pie. According to the Omni Parker House Hotel site, their wait-staff once included Malcom X, Ho Chi Minh, and Emeril Lagasse.
Right on School Street past
Continue down Church and step over the mosaic next to the red bricks that mark the Freedom Trail.
Benjamin Franklin was the most famous dropout of Boston Latin School so a few feet from the mosaic is a statue of Ben. Between Ben and
Josiah Quincy (Boston's second mayor and the person responsible for erecting Quincy Market)
is Boston's Old City Hall, erected 1864.
At present, this is the home of Ruth's Chris.
The Jewish Advocate (newspaper)
15 School Street
15 School Street
Old Corner Book Store at the corner of School and Washington Streets is one of Boston's oldest buildings. Erected in 1712 for Thomas Crease as his home, office, and apothecary.
From 1833 to 1864 this was the office of Ticknor and Fields publishing company. They published the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
In 1960, it was scheduled to be demolished but saved by Bostonians who had other ideas. Today it is owned by Historic Boston Inc., and the home of Chipotle. Ruth's Chris, Chipotle, I am sensing a theme for contemporary uses for Boston's historic buildings.
Here is a picture of the same building from my family trip in 1967. At the time it was the office of the Boston Globe.
The Old South Meeting House was a Congregational (Puritan) parish, and the center for rebellion against British rule.
It was also the largest meeting hall in town at the time of the Revolutionary War. This was the location of the meeting December 16, 1773 that sparked the Boston Tea Party. Another claim to fame, it was the site of Benjamin Franklin's baptism. Though open to the public, our tour did not go inside. Here is a YouTube of the inside.
The Old South Meeting House was a Congregational (Puritan) parish, and the center for rebellion against British rule.
It was also the largest meeting hall in town at the time of the Revolutionary War. This was the location of the meeting December 16, 1773 that sparked the Boston Tea Party. Another claim to fame, it was the site of Benjamin Franklin's baptism. Though open to the public, our tour did not go inside. Here is a YouTube of the inside.
After the Revolution it was used as the Massachusetts State House until 1798 when the new State House was built on Beacon Street.
On March 5, 1770 it was the site of the Boston Massacre. The cobblestones mark the site.
Apparently the site was in the middle of the intersection when I visited in 1967. I assume this was moved for safety reasons.
Here is Professor Allison on the Boston Massacre.
Left on Congress Street to Faneuil Hall. Here we were given 45 minutes to shop before meeting back with our tour guide.
Unfortunately we did not know until after our tour that on the second and third floor of this market place there are museums. A missed opportunity.
Here is Professor Allison again,
this time on Faneuil Hall.
This district is a network of narrow alleys which give modern day tourist a glimpse of the size and scale of colonial Boston as well as it's Federal style architecture.
Here we find the Union Oyster House erected in the 1710s (above) and the 1770s Ebenezer Hancock House (below). This is now Swartz and Swartz and is the only building left in Boston that is known to have been owned by John Hancock.
On Richmond Street our tour turns right heading toward Paul Revere's House.
The Revere's sold this house in 1800. Over the years it was a boarding house, a tenement, and a bank. Somehow though it survived fairly intact. In 1905 a group of Revere's descendants purchased the house and renovated it. Today it is open for tour, but not ours.
through the Paul Revere Mall
Our tour guide did take us into this church for a short presentation by a docent. Here is Professor Allison on the Old North Church and Paul Revere. At the end of the video he reads my favorite childhood poem. One I made my mother read over and over and over again, Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
After our visit to the Old North Church our tour was to hit another shopping spot before catching a bus back to the ship.
We chose to forgo the extra shopping and leave our tour. We walked across the Charlestown Bridge
to the Charlestown Navy Yard
and the USS Constitution.
The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. We arrived too late to tour, and realized we did not have enough time to walk to our last goal, the Bunker Hill Monument. Maybe a future time. But if not we are pleased with the opportunity to walk Boston's Freedom Trail.
Tomorrow Bar Harbor Maine.
****
For an interactive map and guided walking tour covering many of our tours please be sure to download the GPSmyCity App from the iTunes store. The App covers an extensive library of articles and walking tours from over 470 cities worldwide, and now features articles from Adventures of a Home Town Tourist covering Carmel and Monterey (with more cities on the way).__
Photography (with iphone 5s) by L.A. Momboisse and R.M. Momboisse unless otherwise listed below:
Professor Robert J. Allison Suffolk University: Video King's Chapel, and The Boston Massacre, and Paul Revere.
Video of Old South Meeting House
Professor Robert J. Allison Suffolk University: Video King's Chapel, and The Boston Massacre, and Paul Revere.
Video of Old South Meeting House
Comments
Post a Comment