The Boston Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile walk through important locations and events in the history of Boston and the making of the nation. Following a red line path takes you to 16 places of historical interest in the city, and though the walk is free a number of the buildings have an admission fee if you want to go inside.

Last week we had visitors from Australia and they wanted to go into Boston for the day and do some sightseeing, and of all the things to do in Boston I chose to take them on Freedom Trail Tour.

While there are a number of activities to do in the city I’ve discovered that visitors enjoy the Freedom Trail as it is unique to Boston and provides them an entertaining link through stories to its historic past.

The Boston Common Visitors Center located on the edge of the common along Tremont Street organizes daily tours that highlight specific sections and locations along the trail. The modest fee of $12 for their 90 minute Walk into History Tour proved to be money well spent for our group.

In our 90-minute tour we had a lot of myths busted as we traversed on foot the mile from Boston Common to Faneuil Hall. Stops along the route included Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, Old Corner Bookstore, Boston Massacre Site, Old State House, and we ended up at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market just in time for lunch.

Our tour guide was dressed in character and gave us all the dirt on what really happened in many of the revolutionary events. For example there was no massacre per se - more a series of unfortunate events and masterful propaganda.

And Paul Revere’s eventful Midnight Ride only took place in Longfellow’s poem, and Sam Adam’s face is not on the famous brewery bottles but Paul Revere’s… not sure what that has to do with history but apparently indicative of Sam’s less than photogenic profile.

Our tour ended at Faneuil Hall and gave us the chance to expose our Australian friends to the food hall inside Quincy Market. They were overwhelmed by the choices - sort of deer in the headlights syndrome - but we had no such challenges with dessert as we headed over to Mike’s Pastry in the North End for a world famous cannoli. The Freedom Trail takes you over to the North End anyway to the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s House, and it’s a short hop to Hanover Street where you’ll find Mike’s Pastry shop.

After our food extravaganza we walked back to the State House to spend time exploring Beacon Hill - another must-see neighborhood of Boston - but that’s another blog post.

The Freedom Trail Tour is a fine introduction to the historical events of the city and it gives you a realistic peak into the lives of famous characters by telling the true stories behind the myths we learnt growing up.

I’ll leave you to discover the rest of the Freedom Trail secrets yourself by taking the tour when you visit next. For a free map and more information visit the Freedom Trail web site here.

You can discover a lot of additional interesting things to see and do and places to stay in Boston at our special Boston Vacations and destinations page here.

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Cliff Calderwood
Publisher
New England Travel Online Magazine

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