History Lessons In Beautiful Boston, MA

Boston wasn’t a huge detour off our route south and we have always wanted to visit! We stayed for one week at Minute Man campground in Littleton, MA, which put us within commuter train distance from downtown Boston’s North Station.

The RV park was close to the Minute Man National Historical Park. This NP commemorates the events that occurred on April 19, 1775, when Paul Revere went on his midnight ride to Lexington and Concord to warn militiamen that British troops were coming to raid supplies.

After a skirmish in Lexington, where Revere was captured, it is at the North Bridge in Concord that militiamen opened fire on the British – known as the “shot heard round the world”. This was the official beginning of the American Revolution.

There is a 5 mile Battle Road between the two towns that can be driven or walked, with colonial homes and a couple of taverns along the way.

Concord, MA was also home to a second revolution ~100 years later. This time, it was a philosophical and literary one.

Within sight of the North Bridge is Old Manse, where R.W. Emerson and N. Hawthorne both lived for a time. The Wayside housed N. Hawthorne, the Alcott’s, and M. Sidney. L.M. Alcott wrote Little Women after her family moved next door to the Orchard House. There is also Walden Pond and Thoreau’s Cabin, which is now a MA State Park. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Walden Pond.

On both Friday and Saturday, we took the commuter train into Boston. It was quite the journey and involved a 15-minute drive to park and ride, an hour ride on the Fitchburg Line to the North Station, where we could take a subway line to basically anywhere in the city. Boston is also very walkable.

On Friday, we started out in Boston Common, where the Freedom Trail begins. There are 16 historic sites along a 2.5-mile walk that preserve Boston’s role in the fight for independence. Several of them have been turned into small museums. We listened to the NPS audio tour as we walked.

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere are among those buried at the Granary Burying Ground.

Samuel Adams launched the Boston Tea Party after a meeting at the Old South Meeting House.

Many of the 19th-century authors mentioned above were published at the Old Corner Bookstore.

The Boston Massacre occurred outside the Old State House.

Faneuil Hall was a market building.

We stopped for lunch at the Union Oyster House. They claim to be America’s oldest restaurant. The red brick building on the left of the picture is The Bell In Hand Tavern that claims to be America’s oldest tavern. Who knows about these things?!

Next, the trail goes into Boston’s North End neighborhood, where the streets are lined with Italian restaurants and bakeries. We opted for Mike’s Pastry.

The North End was also Paul Revere’s neighborhood and the Old North Church was where the lanterns were hung (“one if by land two if by sea”) and his midnight ride began.

The last couple of stops were across the Charles River. We ended at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The USS Constitution, which is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat in the world, is berthed here.

After the Freedom Trail, we reversed direction and headed south to the Seaport neighborhood. On the way, we walked over the bridge where the two Boston Tea Party ships live.

We had a beer at Trillium Brewing Company and then dinner at Legal Sea Foods. We tried something new to us – “Rhode Island-style” calamari which has spicy cherry pepper sauce.

On Saturday morning, we began in Cambridge. We ate more goodies from a Tatte Bakery on the campus of Harvard.

There was a sign in Cambridge Common that read “Near this spot George Washington took control of the American Army on July 3, 1775”.

The REAL reason we went to Cambridge was for Michael to see Car Talk Plaza!

Next, we went to walk the neighborhoods of Beacon Hill to see the brownstones.

And, then to Backbay, for some other Boston landmarks.

We attempted to walk Newbury Street, where all the shopping is, but it was just so crowded. So, we looked on google maps for the closest park that we hadn’t already seen and headed to the Charles River Esplanade. We stumbled upon a beer garden inside the park. Score!

After that break, we were ready to walk over to the hotel that made the original Boston cream pie. It was not disappointing.

After an Irish dinner at The Black Rose, we schlepped back to the RV Park.

With so much still left to see, we were sad to leave the Boston area. But our wallets were not sad.

Next, in an effort to avoid all the other cities along the east coast (this time), we head back towards NY state and make a week-long stop in the Hudson Valley!