Winging it in...Boston!

The British are coming…

I was saving this quote for the week that I actually managed to complete the Freedom Trail, but the weather this weekend was sunny, and if you could stay out of the wind it was very pleasant to be outside. Actually, after four days in a car, I would have been happy to be outside regardless of the weather, but this was an added bonus, and meant I avoided the gym and hit the sidewalks for a run.

Initially I was planning on heading up towards the Public Garden, round the Frog Pond in Boston Common and back, but having finished the intended route I found myself at the start of the Freedom Trail and with a guide filling in the historical details I found decided to wander along a small part of the red line and head up to the Old North Church and the statue of Paul Revere.
The Public Garden was created in 1859 and is 24 acres of park in the middle of the Back Bay area of Boston. In the summer it has the Swan Boats, apparently in operation since 1877, so I will head back after April and try them out. It is also famous for the bronze statues of Mrs. Mallard and her Eight Ducklings, from the 1941 Children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McClosky- yes I have the book and it is a very cute story.

The Frog Pond in Boston Common is one of my favorite places in the summer, and in the winter becomes an ice skating park. If I have time next week I may head down there for a short skate. I don’t think there actually are any frogs in there in the summer now, but it does have a two tiered Fountain installed nearby based on the one created for the 1855 Paris Exposition.
Opposite Boston Common- and right where the guide happened to be placed for the Freedom Trail is the Massachusetts State House. Designed by Charles Bullfinch in 1795 its elegance, grandeur and guilt dome are all testament to the hopeful, headstrong spirit of a newly independent America. Then again John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere all played a part in its building so one shouldn’t be surprised by its determination to be noticed and dominate the skyline here. There are plenty more architectural features of note, but I feel at this point you might need a photo, or a subscription to architecture monthly to appreciate the details. I will however point out the links to JFK and Mary Dyer, and let you do your own research if you are so inclined!

The Old North Church is the oldest in Boston; built in 1723 it is a replica of St. Andrew’s by the Wardrobe in Blackfriars, London. It has a 191 foot steeple and the original colonial weathervane. However, it secured its place in Boston history by reportedly being the church in which sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns side by side on April 18, 1775 to signal the movements of the British troops from Boston Common. (One if by land, two if by sea.) Back to Paul Revere, who has a statue outside the church, it was on this same night that he and fellow patriot William Dawes made their famous ride to Lexington to warn the American troops that the British were marching… (I’ll expand plenty more on this story in the following weeks- and just wait until I get to Bunker Hill, or the Boston Massacre! I love this city for all its history.) As it turned out, both Revere and Dawes were detained by still managed to spread their warnings. Anyway, I’m sure we all know how this story ends… and July 4th has THE BEST fireworks! There is however, a little speculation that it was different church, also called Old North, which was the one in which the lantern burned, this theory is possibly supported by the fact that irate British supporters burned it for firewood later in 1776.

Either way, the Old North Church deserves a mention just because it houses bricks from a prison in Boston, England where 12 Pilgrims were incarcerated before leaving for the New World, four cherubim states looted from a French ship, the oldest working public clock in an American public building (made in 1726), it holds the body of John Pitcairn (British Major, Bunker Hill, enough said for today) who should have been buried in Westminster Abbey but never quite got there, and the eight bells in the belfry were intended to be the first American made bells used in the British Empire, but now toll the death of every US President, having never quite made it out of Boston.

I feel this week has been quite a history tour! So I will stop bombarding you with facts and hang up my tweed jacket, dust the chalk of the suede elbow patches and leave the rest of my sightseeing for next week, and the next installment of the Freedom trail.