Walking Through History

One of the places I visited in my recent trip to the east coast was Boston. It's called "The Cradle of Liberty" for a good reason. When you get there, and come up the stairs of the underground parking lot to the open green space above, it is a thrill to realize that this is the Boston Common. It has always been public land for the citizens to use together. When it was first settled, it was used for grazing livestock. It was also used as a place to give rabble-rousing speeches against the tyranny of the King, and the British soldiers camped there before they marched up to Lexington and Concord to that first battle of the Revolutionary War. It almost makes you shiver a little to stand there.

It is also the site of one of my favorite children's books. How many times did you read Make Way for Ducklings?  Well, Robert McCloskey wrote that book because of an incident that took place at Boston Common, so it is appropriate that they have this bronze statue group here.

The bronze is kept nice and shiny by all the little children who can't resist sitting on the ducks. Or if they can resist, their parents place them on the ducks for the cutest pictures you've ever seen.

After we admired the ducks, we found the visitor's center and started on The Freedom Trail. There are actually bricks placed in the sidewalk (and paint over the pavement) that you can follow and take a walking tour of Boston to all the iconic spots of historical significance. Several of those places are churches. In some, there were famous speeches given, historic acts planned (Boston Tea Party) and in one, the movement for the abolition of slavery in the United States was introduced and promoted.

Here's another monument that, if you've seen the movie Glory,  then you need no explanation. This illustration is familiar and iconic. If you haven't seen this movie, then you simply must watch it.

A Civil War reenactor guy hangs out there daily, so I asked them to pose together for a cool shot. (Yes, he accepts tips.) This honors the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was formed entirely of African-American soldiers. It was the first of its kind and many were skeptical. So, you should read about it, and see the movie and then you'll know about this heroic group of men and their leaders.

One highlight of the trail is the wharf where the oldest commissioned Navy warship is tied up. Yes, this ship is still in active duty and is manned by sailors who get chosen during boot camp. Apparently, every few months, someone will show up and ask for voluneers to do a tour of duty aboard Old Ironsides. My sailor said they didn't come during his boot camp experience, or he'd have voluneered in a minute. George Washington was the president when this ship was built. He named it.

 It is a very large ship with rows of cannons along each side, so they can shoot off twenty two cannonballs from each side. There are also guns on the deck, so it can carry fifty weapons.

These are really big cannons. They defeated the HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812, to the shock of the Royal Navy. They had been the biggets, baddest for a long time. The USS Constitution had gone against the Barbary Pirates and defeated them, too, when the Commander in Chief was Thomas Jefferson.

Due to its status as a commissioned vessel, as we got to the end of the tour, and were departing the ship, the Sailor turned, snapped to attention, and gave a salute to those Stars and Stripes waving in the left side of the photo. It was so cool. It was the perfect end of my day walking through history.

Some time, I hope you get a chance to go to Boston and walk The Freedom Trail. I taught fourth graders about these events for several years as part of our social studies curriculum. But, it was a serious thrill for me to walk around and see the Old North Church, the plaque in the sidewalk marking the site of the Boston Massacre, and the home of Paul Revere. It would be a great Independence Day vacation. Happy Fourth of July!