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LEXINGTON and CONCORD
CAMBRIDGE/ WALDEN'S POND 

Munroe Tavern

Lexington Alarm Bell Tower

 Capt. Parker Statue

 Lexington Green

 Hancock House

Paul Revere was captured in this field just west of Lexington. he never got to Concord.

Hartwell Tavern

Joshua Brooks House.

Job Brooks house.

Noah Brooks Tavern.

Meriam house.

 British dead.

 Wright Tavern n Concord.

 Concord town by Sleepy Hollow Graveyard.

 The Old Manse by the North Bridge.

 The Old North Bridge.

 The Minuteman Statue.

 The North Bridge from the Rebel side looking at the british position.

 Where the British Soldiers fell.

The British fell back by this road with the Militia's pouring in from the surrounding towns.

 Bullets rained down on the British Column. They passed all the houses they marched by on the way to Concord. Every house and meadow became battlefields.

 After fighting their way to Lexington, they still had 12 bloody miles to go to Boston.

The Hancock Cannon.

Walden's Pond

 Cambridge/ Harvard

Like Paul Revere rode from Charleston, William Dawes rode from Cambridge to alert the countryside that "the redcoats were coming".

Christ Church on the Cambridge Common where George and Martha attended services.

The British Guns captured when Washington and the Continentals took Boston.

A marker in the Christ Church graveyard of a patriot who perished from wounds suffered at Bunker Hill.

Harvard's Walden Library.

Harvard University Church.

The Wadsworth House(above) on Harvard Yard. It was the home of Harvard Presidents and in 1775 was the first Headquarters of Washington when he arrived at Cambridge.

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BOSTON'S FREEDOM TRAIL

In Boston is the Freedom Trail. It is marked by red bricks or red paint as it snakes it's way through the city. This is a great idea for tourists. The Boston Common, across from the State House is where it starts or ends depending.

The depending part is if you want to park in downtown Boston or in Charlestown. I chose Charlestown and did the trail in reverse. The parking is easier. We started at Bunker Hill Memorial, but for ease of print we'll start at the State House. Yes, that is 23-karat gold leaf up on the dome. It was built in 1798 and is simply elegant.

Below is the wall plaque dedicated to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The 54th was an all black regiment that fought in the Civil War. Shaw was the son of a family with strong anti-slavery feelings. He led his regiment into battle and fell along with many of his men. The black soldiers were paid less and worked harder than the white soldiers in blue. They fought the same enemy and the prejudice of their fellow soldiers. They won both battles.

The Granary Burial Ground below is the final resting place for Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the victims of the Boston Massacre.

Sam Adams tombstone.

Be sure and stop for the old Boston City Hall. Ben Franklin has a statue out front as he was from Boston. In the photo below is a dressed guide who turned the corner as I snapped the photo. There are many guided tours around Boston.

Above is the Old Corner Bookstore. It was a private home that has survived to the current day from 1700. The book store was home to Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Emerson.

Adjacent to the Book store is the Old South Meeting House. An unpopular tax on tea in 1773 was discussed in a meeting here. The result was the Boston Tea Party.

The Old State House below was the center of politics in Boston. The symbols of British power are still evident on the corners of this structure, the lion and the unicorn.

The famous lithograph by Paul Revere shows this building in the background. Immediately in front is the actual massacre location marked in the sidewalk. It is also the location where the Declaration of Independence was read in 1776.

Faneuil Hall is where the modern day Quincy Market is located. This is a great place for lunch, my kids went crazy. There are many shops and sidewalk shows, but  be carefull to watch your time there are still many stops to see.

Statue of Sam Adams in front of Faneuil Hall. Sam was a brewer of beer for about 5 minutes. He was a simple man with a single focus, Liberty.

I walked through the Boston market. It was great, but I didn't see any chicken.

The market is just outside of the Italian section of the North End. In the North End is the Paul Revere house below. It is reflective of the houses of 1770's Boston. That does not exist anywhere now. It is a simple home of a silversmith that was almost destroyed in 1902. Revere walked from here to a rowboat that took him across the Boston bay to Charlestown. He passed under the guns of the British battleship Somerset in the dark of night.

When he saw the two lanterns in the steeple of the North Church, he rode. The alert went out,"the regulars are coming!" he was one of three riders that warned the militia's outside Boston.

The street from the Old North Church to the Copp's Hill Burial ground. The steeple commanded the skyline of 1774 Boston.

The inside of the North Church is still beautiful.

Copp's Hill above and below is an interesting stop on the Freedom Trail. The artwork on the stone is worth checking out. The hill was also the site of British cannons who fired at Bunker and Breed's Hills in the distance.

The bridge I am on below allows a picture looking back at the North Church steeple. I am in Charlestown.

The U.S.S. Constitution is fantastic. Old Ironsides is in mint condition and the oldest commissioned war ship in the world.

The houses lining the streets going up hill to the Bunker Hill Monument.

There is no grass on the hill anymore, but it is still easy to imagine the difficulty of climbing this hill. The Continentals on top shooting down, the British regulars marching upward with the fire being held until the whites of their eyes were clear.

The end of the Freedom Trail. The climb to the top is not easy, but the view is spectacular.