Boston’s Freedom Trail

Originally designed in the 1950s, the Freedom Trail is an iconic symbol of Boston. Its red brick line snakes through some of the oldest parts of this city, leading visitors to notable historic sites in the Downtown, North End, and Charlestown neighborhoods of Boston.

Boston Common remains the last, relatively undeveloped landscape in Downtown Boston. The land you stand on, called Shawmut by the Massachusett people, connects thousands of years of use. In the 1760s and 70s, colonists protested British policies. During the American War for Independence, British soldiers used the space for training and encampment.

Black and White abolitionists petitioned for the end of slavery and against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. African Americans petitioned for equal access to education, leading to the State Legislatures’ ban on segregated education in 1855. Women petitioned for greater civil rights, most importantly, the right to vote.

Established in 1660 when Boston’s first burying ground began to run out of space, this is the resting place of ordinary people as well as Revolutionary heroes. It acquired its name from a granary, built next door in 1737.

Completed in 1754, this stone chapel housed a deeply loyalist congregation. As the American Revolution escalated, one-third of its members and their reverend fled during the British evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776.

This is the oldest European burial space in the city of Boston, dating back to 1630 and the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Winthrop, the colony’s first governor, is buried here. It also features the gravestone that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write The Scarlet Letter.

In 1669, 50 men and women rejected Boston’s First Church and its narrow view of church membership and voting citizenship. The “Dissenting Brethren” formed a new church reflecting a more open view. In 1729 they built their new meeting house. It became an active place of debate in the years leading to the American Revolution.

In 1773, thousands packed the meeting house to protest the arrival of East India Company Tea and the tax it was subject to. Their final meeting on 16 December resulted in the Boston Tea Party where 92,000 pounds of tea were thrown into the ocean, helping to precipitate war and subsequent independence.

After two years of occupation by the British Army, tensions in Boston reached an all time high. On 5 March 1770, a wigmaker's apprentice got into a fight with a 29th Regiment soldier over a bill. Confusion of the scene escalated as calls of a fire brought people into the streets.

Tensions finally boiled over when a soldier was struck and knocked down. Raising his musket, he fired into the crowd without orders, sparking a deadly chain reaction. Five men were killed outside the Old State House, marking the first bloodshed of the Revolution in Boston.

Revere bought the home in 1770 while working as a silversmith. He joined “the cause of liberty” as a political cartoon engraver, courier, and spy. Revere and others warned patriots that British soldiers were heading towards Lexington and Concord on 18 April 1775. He continued to support the cause during the years of the Revolutionary War.

On 18 April 1775, British soldiers headed towards Lexington and Concord. Revere instructed that a lantern signal be sent from the tallest building in town, the church’s steeple, to indicate how the army had left. The lantern’s story was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1861 poem 'Paul Revere’s Ride,' with the famous phrase, “One if by land, and two if by sea.”

On 16 June 16 1775, colonial militia units marched here and fortified what’s known today as Breed’s Hill. The British opened fire as their forces assembled to land and attack the hill. Units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire hastily formed a line of defense.

While the militia initially held back British soldiers, they were soon forced to retreat. The bloody battle lasted for two hours but was devastating to both sides. While a loss for the New England forces, the Battle of Bunker Hill became symbolic of the spirit of those fighting for freedom.