Scenes from Boston: The Freedom Trail

By Dominique Clarke
J Camp Live! Staff

It only takes one day to see how Boston has melded its modern advances into its historic city, and only one remarkable trail.

The Freedom Trail, a walking tour of Boston’s rich historic sites, provides thousands of visitors each year not only with a look at some of America’s historic focal points, but includes the bonus of eyeing cute shops, huge corporate buildings, and swanky restaurants.

The history of Boston easily blends with the history of America. Once the heart of the American Revolution, Boston has turned into a busy metropolitan city, boasting a population of over five million. And to appease those five million, modern restaurants, shops, and office buildings have sprouted from the historic roots.

“Is Ruth’s Chris really inside the Old City Hall?” asks one tourist outside the Freedom Trail stop. “Yes sir,” replies a worker outside.

The sign advertising the restaurant’s signature steaks sits perched upon the Old City Hall’s steel gates, as tourists make a visit to the site for dinner, and some history.

The rest of the trail’s sights remain mostly intact and untouched. Granary Cemetery is probably the best example.
“Granary Cemetery is my favorite part of the tour,” said one tour guide, dressed from head to toe in colonial garb.”

The cemetery has tombstones that date back to 1660, some with engraving that has all but faded away under years of environmental stress. The cemetery is an eerier, older version of Arlington Cemetery, with patriots like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere laid to rest among other Revolutionary War heroes.

“These are the roots of America,” says Sarah, a mother from New York taking the tour with her husband and two daughters.

And while she may be right, you’d think it would be hard to remember the historic significance of Park Street Church, where William Lloyd Garrison delivered his first anti-slavery street, with a 7-Eleven, a Dunkin’ Donuts, and a Burger King just across the street.

That’s not the case in Boston, where old historic buildings lay juxtaposed against the new contemporary masterpieces, and tourists never miss a beat.

“We’re really hoping to find out more about the history of Boston” says Sarah and her family, “and the history of America.”

On the Freedom Trail, they’ll be sure to find both — you can’t detach one from the other. And in Boston, no matter how hard you try, you can’t detach modern growth from historical preservation.

“It all seems to blend in,” says Carli, a college student from Cleveland, Ohio, “and it’s only my first day in Boston.”

Cloud Hosting says:

April 19, 2011 at 1:28 pm

This was really an interesting subject, I’m very lucky to be able to come to your blog and I’ll bookmark this page so that I could come again another time.

751051 says:

April 19, 2011 at 12:21 pm

What a lovely day for a 751051! SCK was here

4831772 says:

What a lovely day for a 4831772! SCK was here

Loriann Decorte says:

April 19, 2011 at 12:16 pm

Finally this is an excellent piece of writing! We now have bookmarked it and emailed this out to just about all of my buddies as I know they shall be curious, thank you very much!

Landon Odea says:

April 16, 2011 at 11:22 pm

you’re really a good webmaster. The web site loading speed is incredible. It seems that you’re doing any unique trick. In addition, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a great job on this topic!