Meanwhile, back on the Freedom Trail....
I dragged myself out of the comfy hotel room and back onto the sidewalks of Boston. I meandered my way past Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, towards Beacon Hill and spotted the beautiful gilded dome of the Massachusetts State House. It is hard to make out but the dome is topped with a gilded pine cone.
Located on the edge of Boston Common is the Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment. If you have seen the film Glory, you know who Shaw and the members of the 54th Regiment are. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. Glory is one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful war movies I have ever seen. I actually read that the inspiration for making the film was visiting the Shaw Memorial in Boston!
The 54th was one of the first all African-American units of the Union Army during the Civil War. These units were commanded by white officers, and Shaw commanded the 54th. Shaw, along with many of his men died in battle but were praised for their valor and honor. I could probably go on and on about this...
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| Shaw Memorial in Boston Common |
Moving back to the American Revolution, I next visited the Old South Meeting House. The meeting house is also an old church building with similar box pews as I saw at the Old North Church, but what this building is famous for is being the place where the Boston Tea Party was organized.
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| Old South Meeting House exterior |
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| Old South Meeting House interior |
Nearby is the Old State House, one of the country's oldest buildings and the seat of the British colony government and later the seat of the state government. One of the coolest features are the giant lion and unicorn, which are symbols of the British monarchy.
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| Old State House - Council Chamber |
Behind the Old State House is the Site of the Boston Massacre, marked by a stone circle. It was here where British soldiers killed five colonists in a riot in 1770.
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| Boston Massacre Site |
Next, I visited Granary Burying Ground, the graves of many notable figures are buried here.
Including Samuel Adams, Founding Father, signor of the Declaration of Independence and beer company namesake.
John Hancock's tomb can also be found here. Another signor of the Declaration, like his signature, his tombstone is large and fancy!
Paul Revere's grave can also be found in Granary Burying Ground. Other notables include the victims of the Boston Massacre, members of Benjamin Franklin's family and a third signor of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Treat Paine.
Continuing on, I made my way back to Boston Common and Boston Public Garden. It was a beautiful day and lots of people, families and doggies were out enjoying their weekends.
Boston Common is kind of like Boston's equivalent to Central Park. It is a large public park in the middle of the city. It also happens to be the oldest city park in the United States.
The park also has many notable features, including the beautiful Brewer Fountain.
Just north of Boston Common and Boston Public Garden is Beacon Street, where Cheers is located. This is where the exterior shots of the bar, featured on the tv show Cheers were filmed. The bar, originally called The Bull & Finch, was not named Cheers until 2002, which I think is pretty funny or perhaps business savvy? Must be business savvy because I went in and bought a t-shirt for Raisin Bread. I am such a sucker!!
I headed back south and walked through Boston Public Garden. There is a set of statues called Make Way for Ducklings that I saw the first time I visited Boston. But this time, they were all wearing knitted bows or bibs! So cute!
After all of that walking, it was time for dinner. I desperately wanted to have some seafood, but since it was Saturday night, lots of places were packed.
I eventually found Summer Shack in Back Bay. I started with a half dozen oysters. So delicious!
Then I had the one thing that I just had to eat while in Boston: a lobster/lobstah roll. Yum!
Wow, that was a long day! Good thing I could go back to my lovely hotel room!
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