Boston Freedom Trail - Up to the Boston Massacre Site

Parking under the Boston Common

Statue of President George Washington with Boston skyline in the background. Jon, Robyn Standing with Glen Parker.

The colossal equestrian bronze statue of George Washington, in the Public Garden, at the Arlington Street entrance opposite Commonwealth Avenue, is the largest and one of the most impressive works of sculpture in Boston.  (Bev's favorite.) 

This is one of Bev's favorite views.

Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a central public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the Boston Commons.^[4][5] Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States.^[6] The Boston Common consists of 50 acres

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Boston Common at Boston, in the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was erected in memory of Massachusetts soldiers and sailors who died in the American Civil War. Designed by Martin Milmore, construction began in 1874 and the monument was dedicated on September 17, 1877. Union Generals George B. McClellan and Joseph Hooker were among the estimated 25,000 people attending the dedication on Boston Common.

The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill^[3][4] neighborhood of Boston. The building houses the Massachusetts General Court (state legislature) and the offices of the Governor of Massachusetts.

The Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. It is the final resting place for many notable Revolutionary War-era patriots, including Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre, and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. The cemetery has 2,345 grave-markers, but historians estimate that as many as 5,000 people are buried in it.^[1] 

8th Great - grandmother - Henry Allen and Judeth Beers Allen, LYPS-VLJ-buried in Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA

King's Chapel Burying Ground was founded in 1630 as the first graveyard in the city of Boston. According to custom, the first interment was that of the land's original owner, Isaac Johnson. It was Boston's only burial site for 30 years (1630–1660). After being unable to locate land elsewhere, in 1686 the newly established local Anglican congregation was allotted land in the graveyard to build King's Chapel.

The King's Chapel congregation was founded by Royal Governor Sir Edmund Andros in 1686 as the first Anglican Church in colonial New England during the reign of King James II. The original King's Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 at the corner of Tremont and School Streets, where the church stands today. It was situated on the public burying ground, now King's Chapel Burying Ground, 

The bronze sculpture of Benjamin Franklin was modeled in 1855 and dedicated on September 17, 1856. It cost $20,000 and was erected as Boston's first portrait statue to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Franklin's birth. The statue was originally installed in front of Bullfinch's Court House, before being relocated to City Hall.^[1]

The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic commercial building located at 283 Washington Street at the corner of School Street in the historic core of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 1718 as a residence and apothecary shop, and first became a bookstore in 1828.



Old Corner Bookstore

Ireland Famine Statues.  People of Boston assisted the Irish at the time of sreat need.

The Old South Meeting House is a historic Congregational church building located at the corner of Milk and Washington Streets in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston, Massachusetts, built in 1729. It gained fame as the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773. Five thousand or more colonists^[2] gathered at the Meeting House, the largest building in Boston at the time.

Jon wanted to see a subway station under Boston.

What a lobster roll should look like!

The Massachusetts Old State House: seat of state government 1776–1798

On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the east side balcony to jubilant crowds by Col. Thomas Crafts (one of the Sons of Liberty). At one o'clock Crafts rose in the Council Chamber and read it to the members.^[14] Then, fellow patriot Sheriff William Greenleaf attempted to read it from the balcony, but he could only muster a whisper. Crafts then stood next to the sheriff and read it from the balcony in a stentorian tone. For most people, it was a festive occasion, as about two-thirds of Boston residents supported the revolution. The lion and the unicorn on top of the building were removed and burned in a bonfire on King Street.^[15]

After the American Revolution, the building served as the seat of the Massachusetts state government before its move to the present Massachusetts State House in 1798.

This engraving by Paul Revere, portraying the Boston Massacre, shows the Old State House sitting prominently behind the action.

Probable Site of the "Boston Massacre"

The Boston Massacre was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston.^[1] The event was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.^[2][3][4] British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation.

Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused him. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting the others to fire without an order by Preston. The gunfire instantly killed three people and wounded eight others, two of whom later died of their wounds.^[5]