As I said in the last post, Welcome to Day 21!
Today was somewhat more of a restful day (until the end), mainly because we took a bus tour all around the towns of Cambridge, Lexington and Concord to explore more of the colonial history of the era! And then, We finished the Freedom Trail by visiting the Bunker Hill Monument!
So, to rest our feet, let’s hop on, and dive in!
Cambridge, Lexington and Concord
Leaving from Downtown Boston with our tour-bus (and very funny driver and guide named Sam), we took off towards Cambridge, located due west of the main Boston area. We Didn’t stay too awfully long here, so here are just a couple highlights during our brief time here.
Cambridge is home to perhaps the most famous ivy-league school in the country… Harvard University! It’s programs are very extensive, and also expensive.
I’ll keep Texas Lutheran University, thank you very much.
The Harvard Bookstore is a major hub of world news and literary works. You could likely find anything in here, if you were willing to search long enough for it.
Crossing the bridge at the Charles River, to head further west into Massachusetts… Lexington is next!
Houses like these can be found around these old colonial towns… it’s very different from those in Texas, that’s for sure.
This house is special in particular, because of it’s chimneys. Back during the Revolutionary War, houses with white chimneys and black tops belonged to “Tories”, or the loyalists to the British Crown. They were welcoming signals for British Troops passing through.
The owner of the Munroe Tavern was killed by British Soldiers in 1775, and his establishment was converted into a hospital for British Troops. The quartering of soldiers in homes without consent was one of the many grieviances against the king highlighted by the Declaration of Independence.
The main reason we took this picture was because of the very vibrant flowers… how do they do it in this cold climate?
The “Grand Union Flag” glides in front of this house. The flag was the first symbol of the United States, used during the Revolutionary War. The 13 stripes that resembled the 13 original colonies remain, but has the British stripes where the stars would eventually go.
A statue commemorating the very first skirmish of the Revolutionary War, which took place right here in Lexington…
Behind it was the Lexington Common… it was at this space of green right here that the very first fighting erupted…
The platform on the flagpole reads: “Birth Place of American Liberty”.. it would certainly seem that way, and it was a struggle that would last for almost a decade… yet it would be won.
Along this line marked by the stone, the Minutemen stood, 77 of the militia against 700 British Soldiers… it took true courage for them to stand up against the greatest military superpower in the world… and stand up they did….
Towards the way was the memorial marker for the 8 brave soldiers that perished during the Battle of Lexington.
And most of these men were mere farmers and volunteers, who were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to protect their homes and family…
7 of the 8 patriot casualties are buried here in this little spot, which remains one of the smallest actual cemeteries in the country. The eighth, Mr. Porter of Woburn, was exhumed and taken back to his hometown shortly after the memorial was completed.
Soon enough, we hopped back on the bus and began to head towards Concord!
“Over the river and through the woods, to… someplace.”
This house belonged to Colonel William Smith, who was one of the leaders of the Massachusetts Campaign during the War He served directly under George Washington during this time, and would go on to marry Abigail “Nabby” Adams, who was the daughter of John Adams!
A neat church that we passed on our way there.
The home of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Woman! It was a brief stop to see, but no pictures were allowed inside. She based many of the characters and locations off real-life subjects situated here in Concord!
The home of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was known for being on the forefront of the “Romantic Movement”. He was a close friend with President Franklin Pierce, with whom he went to college with.
Stopping on the fringes of Minuteman National Historical Park for our next stop, we found the site of the Battle of Concord… The North Bridge!
Yet another memorial to the battle that took place here, which turned out to be a victory for the patriots unlike the Battle of Lexington.
Lexington and Concord each claim to be the site of the first battle… Even though the first shots were fired in Lexington, the first actual organized battle took place at Concord… It’s sort of a local competition if you will.
The graves of a couple of british soldiers who fell here, guarded by a lonely redcoat, who looks a little lost.
It’s a nice view of the Concord River, which is not too awfully wide.
Crossing the bridge, we came to some very neat lawns and gardens.
Looking up the hill, towards some kind of ceremony at the flagpole.
And looking back towards the North Bridge and the various memorials.
And these are just gorgeous…
Looking towards the park’s Visitor Center, which we didn’t enter.
Must take a lot of effort to manacure these gardens…
A nice overlook towards the North Bridge.
Mom loved these flowers. We need to figure out what species of flowers these are…
Finishing our look-around with minutes to spare, we got back on the bus, which took us directly back into Boston. Sam graciously dropped us off at the last location on the Freedom Trail that we weren’t able to explore yesterday… let’s finish this.
Bunker Hill Monument
At first, I thought that I had a “Rendevous with Déjà vu” (hey, that rhymes!).
It looks a bit like the Washington Monument doesn’t it? You’d think that this monument was based off of it, but instead, the Washington Monument was based off of the Bunker Hill Monument. This was dedicated several years before the Washington Monument would be completed.
A statue of William Prescott, the commanding officer of the Patriots during the battle. Running low on ammuntion, he famously commanded his soldiers to “Hold their fire until they saw the whites of their (The Redcoat’s) eyes.” He sucessfully retreated with most of his men from the advancing British troops.
Poor guy…
Looking down from Breed’s Hill.
What? It’s called Bunker Hill you say? Well actually, The Battle of Bunker Hill did not take place on nearby Bunker Hill, but instead took place here, at Breed’s Hill!
Just roll with it…
The Monument and Memorial Hall together at the top of the hill. It was very cold up here, especially with the wind blowing.
And this is the end of the Freedom Trail! Though it took us two days, we walked the whole trail!
It’s the same thing really, so I’ll just take that.
To get to the observation deck on the very top of the tower, one has to climb 294 steps on a spiral staircase that leads up… and up… and up.
Well, nowhere to go but up. Let’s get started.
At the base was this memorial marker. A bit difficult to read with the lighting, but we managed.
And up we went…
And up..
And up…
125 steps…
150…
225…
We had to take regular breaks between each of the markers… the steps were steep and narrow, and it was just plain difficult…
We reached the top however… out of breath, and out of shape…
The ceiling of the observation room. The room is oddly enough circular, which is located inside the squarish shape of the monument.
To our dismay, a large fog had come up upon Boston, and engulfed most of the view! We could still see some features thankfully… this view is looking out towards the west.
Looking south, towards the main part of Boston.
Far below, one can see the U.S.S. Constitution! It’s a pretty noticeable area to spot!
If you look closely, you can see the white steeple of the Old North Church! I don’t know if there was fog during Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride, but it might have been difficult for the lantern lights to pierce any fog.
Looking North and West towards more residential and commercial buildings…
… Hoo boy…
Several descending stories later, we emerged into the non-existant sunlight… our legs felt like straw, and mine were practically trembling with weakness… thankfully, since this was our last stop of the day, it should be smooth sailing on the way back to the subway!
Sigh…
Well, our legs eventually recovered thankfully, and the rest of our time here in Boston would be relaxing as it could be!
Can you believe it!? Tomorrow (or today, depending on when you read this), WE’LL BE BACK HOME IN THE LONE STAR STATE!
It’ll be a long flight back to Austin, so I’ll try to have the post for today taken care of before we take off!
This is the final stretch… I’ll see you tomorrow for the penultimate post of my 2019 Summer Trip Blog!
Mark's Historical Roadtrips! 