Follow the Yellow Brick Road...
More Like...Red Brick Road.
Recently, Boston Apparel Company took a field trip to Boston and followed the Freedom Trail... the most fun you’ll ever have following a 2.5-mile path of two red bricks. Taking you through 16 historical sites in Boston, The Freedom Trail is a walk through America’s revolutionary past. You'll see how this great city flipped the Massachusetts State Bird to the Brits and helped lead America to freedom. Here are some key highlights:
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BOSTON COMMON: Purchased by Puritan colonists in 1634 for 30 pounds, the sprawling 44 acres that make up Boston Common were once used to let cows, sheep, and some 1,000 Redcoats graze. During our visit, we noticed a lot of grass and picnickers. The Redcoats seem to have left.
MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE: With its distinctive, 23-karat gilded dome, our state house is pretty ballin’. Points of interest include the General Hooker Entrance made especially for your mother and a five foot cod in the House of Representatives that Harvard students once stole, causing the government to stop working. Those meddling kids. The State House is open to the public on weekdays from 8:45am-5pm, with free tours 10am-3:30pm.
PARK STREET CHURCH: A beautiful church with a high steeple that has a reputation for supporting everyone from abolitionists to suffragists to prison reformers. If you want God and some pretty nice people to help you with your latest nation-changing movement, come here.
GRANARY BURYING GROUND: Dead people. It’s pretty chill. Famous dead people here include Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, James Otis, and Crispus Attucks. It’s a good chance to walk over all the famous people you read about during AP US History. You knew there was a reason you took that class.
KING’S CHAPEL AND BURYING GROUND: A non-Puritan church where all the king’s men would congregate. It’s a beautiful example of German architecture. Though the church may seem like it’s made of stone, it’s actually just painted over wood. We call that a facade.
OLD CORNER BOOKSTORE: A lovely old building that housed a famous bookstore and printing shop in its heyday. Great authors who had their works published here include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Dickens, and Louisa May Alcott. Currently it is leased by a Chipotle.
FANEUIL HALL: No, not the marketplace where you shop. Historic Faneuil Hall is the location of a meeting hall where revolutionaries held the protests against the Sugar Act and Stamp Act that gave us the phrase “no taxation without representation.” It rhymes! Ac- knowledge that, and then go shop.
OLD NORTH CHURCH: Another church! This one is famous for its steeple from which Robert Newman signaled to Paul Revere to show how the British were coming. “One if by land, two if by sea” is the famous phrase from Longfellow’s poem. Unfortunately, since everybody was British and had a stiff upper lip during those days, Revere probably did not yell “The British are coming!” But that doesn’t mean you can’t.
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT: The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first major battle of the Revolution. Though the Americans lost, they took 1,000 British casualties, proving that they were a force to be reckoned with. Now, the place is commemorated with an obelisk because phallic symbols. Climb up to the top and get a gorgeous view of Boston and the perfect opportunity for some selfies.
USS CONSTITUTION: The oldest commissioned warship still afloat, meet Old Ironsides. This extremely well-constructed ship was famous for having cannonballs bounce off her sides as if she were made of iron. She’s open for boarding Tuesday through Sunday, but check online for a current schedule of times. Tours are offered every half hour from 10am-3:30pm, and they are free, making it a great and very American way to end your journey. Freedom!
