Boston & the Road to Revolution
Getting around for this trip was going to be unique. Being frequent travelers overseas, we are comfortable moving around by train. We decided this would be a great opportunity to see if we could pull off the same train trip in the United States. We flew to Boston, and set out for a two week vacation without ever getting into a car. For those of you who are geographically challenged, the major cities of the northeast are much closer than the major cities of the South or western United States. Boston, Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore can all be accessed fairly quickly using Amtrak. The longest train ride we took the entire time was about three hours between Providence and New York City, and that was still a comfortable ride. If you are going to take a train vacation like this you need to decide what you are looking for. I love riding trains because I can get up and move around, there are dining cars to go get snacks, and there is space to work should you want to use your computer. We bought first class tickets to get to each destination, and we believe it was worth it because they are really not that much more expensive, but the coach seats looked spacious, and if you get on early enough you may be lucky enough to get one of the seats that has a table in front of it. There are several types of trains that run between these cities. They have what they call their Acela line, but this "high speed" line only saves you a few minutes each way, so don't spend more for that when the regional lines will get you there in almost identical amounts of time. What will help save you some time if you need it is to look for the express lines. These trains will skip smaller stations, and can save you substantial amounts of time. Amtrak has a pretty convenient app that lets you look up schedules, buy tickets, and scan your tickets, so download that before you go and you will literally be able to walk straight into the station, get on the train, and be ready to go.
Coming from the giant city, in terms of space, of Atlanta, I was shocked at how compact Boston was. We rented a place near Fenway Park, and were able to take the subway to almost anywhere we wanted to go. I would highly recommend buying the unlimited pass for the subway. We did the math and we saved more than $20 buying the pass instead of paying for each subway ticket as we went.
Our first destination for Boston was to take the famed Freedom Trail. The city of Boston has done an unbelievable job of making the historic sites easy to find. All throughout the city you will find signs pointing you to the places you want to see, but that's not what makes it so easy. They have literally put a line in the sidewalk, and if you follow this line you will find almost all of the major historic sites in the city. Starting at the Boston Common, their large city park, you will walk by their stunning state capitol, and then will head down towards the Old South Meeting House. Along the way you will pass by the Granary Burying Grounds. There is no cost to go inside, even though there is a man sitting outside collecting money. He is not actually charging you to go inside, he is offering a guide that he has produced, and asks for donations on the way out should you use them. We took one of the guides, and they were genuinely quite good. On the way out we tipped him a dollar and he was more than happy. Inside the Granary Burying Grounds lay some of the most iconic names of the Revolution, including Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the five victims of the Boston Massacre. One story you may here from the bus tour guides outside the cemetery is that the actual Mother Goose from the nursery rhymes is buried inside. That is a myth. There is a woman buried on the inside named Mother Goose, but apparently the nursery rhymes predated her by a century. Continuing on, you will come to the Old City Hall. This impressive structure is flanked by statues of Benjamin Franklin, originally from Boston (the monument in the Granary Burying Grounds is actually the grave of his family), and Josiah Quincy, another prominent Bostonian. What makes this site entertaining is the little donkey statue in front. As one guide told it, Boston has always been dominated by Democratic politicians, so the city council decided to put a statue in front of city hall to commemorate it. The local Republicans, not to be outdone, were allowed to put two foot prints in front of the donkey to that all visitors can, "stand in opposition" to the rule of the Democrats. You will then come to the Old South Meeting House, which was a church and local community building that was used prior to the Revolutionary War by members of both sides to try and convince others of their opinion. The price of admission was completely reasonable, they gave me half off for being a teacher, and the exhibits inside also tell about the role of the building in housing abolitionist meetings in the 19th Century, and suffragist meetings in the 20th Century. Right beside the Old South Meeting House is the Old Corner Bookstore, one of the oldest buildings in Boston. You can imagine the likes of John Adams and John Hancock visiting there in the 1770's. What is more difficult to understand is this historic building is now a Chipotle. I'm not going to deny we ate in there, because we love Chipotle, but I wonder if Samuel Adams would have stopped by for a burrito on his way to a Sons of Liberty meeting. From there we kept going to the Old State House, which housed a two story collection of artifacts, and even had actors who would put on speeches about life during the Revolutionary times. From the balcony of this building in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read. Just in front of the building you will see a marker in the sidewalk showing you where the famed Boston Massacre occurred that set many of the events of liberty in Boston in motion. From there you have a little bit of a walk to get to the famed Old North Church, which I assume was just the North Church two centuries ago, the site of Paul Revere's famous lantern lighting to signal the march of British troops to Lexington and Concord.
If you really enjoy walking, the longest part of the trail is the last part, the march to Bunker Hill. Across the Charles River in Charlestown is the location of the famous fight that was lost by the rebels, but showed the British they were in for a fight. History teacher moment, the Battle of Bunker Hill is actually a misnomer. The rebels had been instructed by their militia commander to build fortifications on the top of Bunker Hill, but instead built them on Breed's Hill closer to town. Despite the incorrect name, the battle broke out on June 17th, 1775. Wave after wave of British troops marched in straight line formation up the hill and took colonial fire. They expected the Americans to turn and run in fear, but being good Americans, they fought bravely. After a day of fighting the colonials eventually were defeated, but not before taking more hundreds of British soldiers with them first. This "loss" greatly elevated American morale, and this "win" greatly depressed the British. Once you walk out to the Bunker Hill monument, which is a national park, you will find the obelisk built in the 19th Century to commemorate the battle. Never afraid of a good climb, you can hike to the top for a bird's eye view of the city. I am going to leave it up to you if you want to do this. I made the trek, and it's challenging. There are 294 steps to the top, and the passage gets very narrow towards the top. There is no elevator, and the landing at the top is quite small. The view was fine, but the windows look original to the building, and look like they have about a century worth of scratch marks on it, so you're not getting a crystal clear view. At the base of the obelisk is a small museum with a few pieces of art, and then a wonderful park that was full of people picnicking and lounging for the day. Take the short walk, back down hill, to visit the U.S.S. Constitution, the oldest ship in the American navy. This is also part of the national park, and they have a wonderful museum adjacent to it with hundreds of artifacts including the bust of Andrew Jackson that was ripped off a ship, and a hand drawn battle map from the War of 1812. Outside, they have a dry dock for a ship that looks like the opening scene of Les Miserables. If you don't feel like taking the hike back across the Charles River, there is a ferry that leaves from the same dock as the Constitution. It was only a few dollars, and drops you off right back in the heart of the old town.
You could stay in Boston for weeks visiting sites, and colleges (apparently there is a 1-1 college to resident ratio there) including Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, Boston A&M (that may not be real, they all blended together), and many more. We mistakenly took the subway out to Harvard during their commencement activities, so like any good college graduate I got in line to have my picture made with John Harvard. No one seemed the slightest bit concerned that a man in his forties and not in graduation attire was in line, nor did it stop anyone from asking me to take their pictures as their kids walked down the steps from the library. If you have to pick one more night of activities, go to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I cannot express to you enough how mind blowing this museum is. We have been to the Smithsonian, Louvre, British Museum, Egyptian Museum, and many more, and this one goes toe to toe with all of them. If you visit on Wednesday night there is no admission cost, they just ask for a donation of a few dollars. That was the best $10 we spent the whole trip. You could spend days in this museum exploring their world class art and historic structures. When I say historic structures, I mean that. During the economic boom of the early 20th Century, wealthy Americans would often go to Europe and buy entire cathedrals or entire rooms from palaces, and have them sent back to the United States. In this museum they have reconstructed massive Roman temples and gothic cathedrals. They also have one of the largest exhibits on Egyptian, Assyrian, and Middle Eastern history in the world. If you're not into historic items, they have all the art you could ever want. They house thousands of paintings by European masters like Monet, Manet, and Degas, but also early American artists like John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart. Some of the most iconic paintings in American history are on display here, including the most recognizable portraits of Alexander Hamilton and Samuel Adams. One of the rooms housed a roughly 15 foot tall statue of the goddess Juno. This thousands of year old statue was bought by a wealthy Boston family, and literally sat in their backyard garden for a century before being donated to the museum. We spent four hours in there, and I think we just scratched the surface. You can get there easily by taking one of the street cars that drops off in front of the museum.
I could go on for days about Boston. Everyone should take a day and travel out to Quincy and Braintree. These two adjacent towns are suburbs of Boston, which you can access easily by train, and are where you will find the homes and resting places of President John Adams, and his son President John Quincy Adams. You will have a chance to learn about them at their home, Peacefield, and about their inspirational wives, Abigail and Louisa. On the way back from Quincy, stop in on the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. While it was small compared to others, you can't go to one of these museums and not be impressed with the leadership and commitment of these great men. There are wonderful places to eat like the Union Oyster House, one of the oldest restaurants in the country, and Limoncello in the Little Italy district. If you like canollis, and who doesn't, stop by Mike's Pastry. This place is so popular they have lines out the door to get the numerous cannoli flavors they have like Oreo, peanut butter, and cookies and cream. If you are there in the summer, do like we did and take in a game at Fenway Park. The neighborhood around the park has plenty of places to eat, and even more places to drink. The night we went it was 50 degrees and raining in late May, so that was an experience. I will throw out one warning. Smoking marijuana is legal in Massachusetts, and that was a shock for people like us who have never been around it. The subways and city buildings are covered with signs saying smoking marijuana is only legal indoors, but that didn't stop anyone. The entire time we were there the town had a smell of weed, and I guess the people there have become used to it. If you don't want to put yourself or your kids in that situation, then maybe Boston is not the place for you. Other than that, we had an amazing time in Boston, and look forward to returning soon, mostly to catch the other half of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, but also to make about ten more trips to Mike's Pastry.
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