Boston, Massachusetts

readerskitchen
Apr 5, 2015
2 min read

“I read my eyes out and can't read half enough...the more one reads the more one sees we have to read.” ― John Adams, Letters of John Adams

As I mentioned in my previous post I spent the weekend in Boston, Massachusetts. This was my second ever visit to the great city, however, so much time was spent enjoying the company of friends that little to no exploring was actually done. To make up for this, I'll share some photos and information on my visit to Boston last June as well.

Boston is such an incredible city. Being such a proud Virginian, it's hard for me to admit this, but I think it's the single most important city in American history. This city carried the entire American Revolution on its shoulders single handedly for several years before others stepped up and recognized the cause. (I take pride that it was Washington who saw this need and stepped in). Even Franklin, a key figure and proud Philadelphian was actually born and raised in Boston. Two key figures who represented the starkly different, but equally important facets of the battle were Samual and John Adams. One was a radical man of action and the other was a man of words. Both from Boston.

That's enough with the history lesson. What I'm trying to say is that the Freedom Trail is definitely worth a try. There are tours that you can book (and pay for) where a colonial interpreter will take you along and tell you all of the stories. Mine was led by Rachel Revere. There are also self-guided tours for the more wallet conscious, you can simply follow the red brick line through the city as it takes you from Boston Common to the Old Granary Bury Ground (Sam Adams and John Hancock are buried here) to the site of the Boston Massacre which is denoted by a plaque on the ground that people pass by every day without noticing.

You can go from there to Quincy Market (the first covered market) and grab some food or have a picnic and look at the beautiful view from Boston Common. You can even continue walking along the tour to Boston Harbor (maybe have a spot of tea). I stayed outside of Boston proper in Somerville where I had some GREAT food at Union Square. You can grab something to go and walk up to Prospect Hill to enjoy more views from the spot where the first ever American flag was flown. I did all of Boston either on foot or by bike (using a bikshare).