Day 7--The Freedom Trail: Paul Revere's House

One of the coolest things we got to do was go inside Paul Revere's home. Unfortunately, they did not allow pictures inside of the house. They had a lot of the original furniture from Revere's family inside. This building dates back to 1680, and is Boston's oldest building still in existence. At any one time, Revere shared this house with his mother, wife, and between five and nine of his children (he had sixteen all together!)

Day 7--The Freedom Trail: Continuing through the rain

As we continued down the red line, we were wowed by Boston's tall buildings.

We stopped to say hello to Sam Adams near the site of the Boston Massacre.
So at the beginning of the day, the sun was shining intensely and we were worried about being too hot during the walk. About halfway through, it all of a sudden started down pouring. We were very surprised and unprepared as we had no jackets or umbrellas.
It was REALLY coming down, and we were completely drenched, so we decided to stop and have a drink at the nearest bar to wait out the storm.

Day 7--The Freedom Trail: The Old South Meeting House

The Old South Meeting House was "the stage for some of the most dramatic events leading up to the American Revolution." On December 16, 1773, Bostonions crowded in here to discuss what to do with the tea that they didn't want to pay the high taxes for. It is rumored that Sam Adams said "Gentlemen, this meeting can do nothing more to save the country," which was rumored to be the secret signal that begin the Boston Tea Party.

This statue honors Margaret Stanger, a nurse who tried to speak out for women's right to use birth control. She was not allowed to speak her views at the Old South Meeting House, so in protest, she covered her mouth with a piece of fabric.
Phyllis Wheatley, one of the first African Americans to publish a book, was a member of the Old South Meeting House.

Day 7--The Freedom Trail: King's Chapel and Old City Hall

We stopped at King's Chapel, which is a really beautiful old church from 1754. An original wooden church was built at this spot in 1688, but eventually became too small for the congregation, so they built this stone structure right around the old wooden one, and disassembled and threw out the wooden structure piece by piece.

Boston's Old City Hall was yet another amazing old building.

Day 7--The Freedom Trail: Granary Burying Ground

The Granary Burying Ground was established in 1660, and is the final resting place of many of Boston's historical figures, including Sam Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock.

This is the grave of Benjamin Franklin's parents.

This is the marker of John Hancock's tomb, one of the more elaborately embellished headstones in the cemetery.
At Paul revere's tomb, there is the original headstone of Paul Revere. . .
as well as another monument from the 19th century:

Day 7--The Freedom Trail

Our second day in Boston, we took the day to walk the Freedom trail. The freedom trail is a two and a half mile trail that leads you through Boston and stops at many historic sites. We followed our self-guided tour book through the entire trail and saw many really cool things.

You would think it would be difficult to get lost on the Freedom trail, since you just have to follow this red line throughout the city. However, there were a few times that we got off track.

The trail starts in Boston Common, which is America's oldest public park, established in 1634.
Then, we stopped at the Massachusetts State House. The land for this building was originally used as grazing ground for John Hancock's cattle! The gold dome at the top of the building is covered with 23 karat gold leaf.
This next building is the Park Street Church. The steeple of this church was once the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston.

Day 6--The Harbor

After hanging out in the Quincy Market area for a while, we ate a nice dinner, and walked down to the Harbor. The sun was just setting and it was gorgeous!