The Freedom Trail

Last weekend, I went to Lexington and Concord and found out what happened to set off the American Revolution there. This weekend, I walked the Freedom Trail in Boston which tells what set the stage for Revolution and ended off with a visit to the Old North Church. The belfry of the Old North Church was used to signal to Paul Revere and other messengers that the British were moving off by sea ("one if by land, two if by sea"). So in a sense I've travelled through the Revolution story in reverse!

Anyway, it was a pleasant walk through Boston - the first long walk I've actually had here (excluding through Copley Square last week). We started off at the State House, and then went on to the Park Street Church, the Granary Burying Ground, the King's Chapel and Burying Ground, the Old South Meeting House, Faneuil Hall, etc (in total, the trail includes 4 churches/meeting houses and 3 graveyards! Does this reflect the strong Puritan and religious tendencies of the revolutionaries or is it just that what was said in a church was regarded as "sacred"?). We ended off, as I mentioned with a stop at Paul Revere's house and the North End church.

What was a little surprising was that the Old State House actually seems to have a T stop in it! Here is a building which was the seat of the British colonial government, and subsequently became the seat of the state government. The Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony in the front of the building (can see it in the picture). It may now be a museum etc but I wonder that the city planners could not find a more appropriate place to locate the subway stop.