I love history, despite not studying it at school beyond the basics, and even if I had, a UK syllabus was never going to cover the American Revolution. Podcasts and travel guides had to beef up my knowledge instead, so I arrived in Boston with only a rudimentary grasp of the Revolution, but ready to learn on the Freedom Trail.
Note: For clarity, this blog is a tourist’s view of the Freedom Trail in Boston, not a historian’s.
The Freedom Trail in Boston is a free, self guided walking route marked by a line of red bricks, starting at the Visitors Centre on Boston Common. The Boston section covers under 3 km of Revolution sights, and it comfortably fills a slow, fascinating day with stops for lunch and cannoli.
The Freedom Trail is an official walking route through Boston, in place since the 1950s, passing the places that mattered in the American Revolution.
Before you visit, listen to the three American Revolution episodes of the podcast The Rest Is History (July 2023). Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook set up the whole story brilliantly.
The Freedom Trail Foundation runs guided tours from the Freedom Trail Visitors Centre (with toilets) if you want the history from an expert, for a small charge. You can also book a guided Freedom Trail walking tour online.
Alternatively, pick up a map from the Visitors Centre and follow the route in your own time. There are plenty of information boards along the Trail. We bought The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail by Charles Bahne, which I recommend if you can find a copy – interesting, without being too heavy.
The trail itself is free to walk, although some buildings charge admission, such as Paul Revere’s House, the Old South Meeting House and the Old State House. We didn’t prebook any tickets. It wasn’t necessary in September, but it could be busier at other times of year.
A combination ticket covers the Old South Meeting House and the Old State House together, which is better value if you want both.
Technically at the Bunker Hill Memorial in Charlestown, although you can finish whenever you have had enough. Our guidebook splits the route into two sections, Boston and Charlestown, and we found the Boston section was plenty for one day.
The Boston section ends as Paul Revere rides off to warn the militia that the Redcoats are coming. If you have time to visit Lexington and Concord, 11 to 16 km northwest of Boston, you can find out what happened next. The Charlestown section picks up the story through to the Battle of Bunker Hill, plus the USS Constitution. We saved that for another visit.
The Boston section stops sit close together, under 3 km in total. You could whiz round in an hour, but what would be the point? Add photo stops, information boards, a couple of building visits, coffee and lunch, and time evaporates. We gave it a full, slow day, starting with a leisurely breakfast at Cobblestones Cafe on Beacon Street in the smart Beacon Hill district, and still had time to explore the waterfront before dinner.
Where: 24 Beacon Street, across from Boston Common
Where: 1 Park Street, on the corner of Park and Tremont Streets
Where: Tremont Street, between Park and School Streets
Where: 58 Tremont Street, on the corner of Tremont and School Streets
Where: 45 School Street
Where: 310 Washington Street
Where: 206 Washington Street
Where: Faneuil Hall Marketplace, South Market Street
Where: 19 North Square, in the North End
Where: 300 Hanover Street, in the North End
Where: 193 Salem Street, in the North End
Where: Paul Revere Mall (The Prado), between Hanover Street and Old North Church
Where: Long Wharf, at the end of State Street; museum at 306 Congress Street
From the Visitors Centre, follow the trail of red bricks in the pavement. Follow the red brick road and you won’t go far wrong.
Unless you are like us…
Massachusetts State House: Somehow we completely missed the first stop, which I put down to being giddy and chatting with our friends. It looks very handsome in photographs, with a copper dome covered by Paul Revere’s company. Built from 1795, it took over from the Old State House you meet later.
Park Street Church: Red brick with a white steeple on the corner of Boston Common, built in 1809 on the site of the old town granary that handed out grain to the poor.
Granary Burying Ground: A small, shady resting place for notable Patriots including James Otis, Peter Faneuil, John Hancock (the first signature on the Declaration of Independence), Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Gravestones of Sons of Liberty members carry a skull and crossbones, symbolising the death of the freedom they fought to keep.
King’s Chapel and burying ground: Built because King James II thought the city needed an Anglican church, exactly what Boston’s Puritan settlers had crossed the Atlantic to escape. The neighbouring graveyard is Boston’s oldest and holds Mary Chilton, the first Pilgrim to step ashore in America.
Old City Hall: On the site of the Boston Latin School (1635), which taught John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin, hence Franklin’s statue out front. Don’t miss the school’s mosaic in the pavement.
Built in 1729 as a Puritan house of worship, the Old South Meeting House became a key venue for angry protest meetings in the build up to Revolution. Britain, in debt after the Seven Years War (the French and Indian War, 1756 to 1763), tried to raise money by taxing the colonies: the Stamp Act of 1765, then the tea tax that survived the repeal of the other duties in 1773. “No taxation without representation” was the cry, and this hall is said to be where the idea of the Boston Tea Party began.
Inside it is very attractive, with a large pulpit, tiered balcony and high sided box pews with foot warmers against the New England winter. Sit quietly for a minute and imagine the clamour.
The Old State House (1713) is the oldest public building still standing in the eastern United States, the seat of the King’s appointed governors and another scene of confrontation. It is where independence was born in Boston: the Declaration of Independence was first read here on 18 July 1776, and the crowd celebrated with a bonfire of British symbols, including the original lion and unicorn from the roof. The museum exhibits kept us busy for quite a while.
Outside, a circle of tiles in the pavement marks the Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770, the first bloodshed of the Revolution story. Days earlier a schoolboy, Christopher Seider, had been shot and killed during unrest, and thousands attended his funeral. On the night itself, a dispute outside the Customs House drew a crowd throwing snowballs and rocks, shots were fired, and five protestors were killed. Paul Revere’s copper engraving of the scene sold thousands of prints, and the victims lie together with young Seider in the Granary Burying Ground.
Faneuil Hall, the cradle of liberty, comes next – built in 1742 as Boston’s official meeting place, where colonists first protested the Sugar Act in 1764, and where Samuel Adams (statue outside) delivered impassioned speeches.
Behind it, Quincy Market houses a seemingly endless corridor of food stalls, from lobster rolls, clam chowder and fresh oysters to Thai and Chinese dishes. Walk the strip before battling the queues, then head upstairs to eat under the pretty dome, where it is much quieter.
You need room for cannoli in North End.
After lunch we continued on…
Paul Revere bought this house on North Square in 1770, and it is Boston’s oldest structure, the house he left for his famous Midnight Ride. No photos are allowed inside, but the interior is 90 percent true to his time there, including some of his wallpaper, and a 900 pound bell cast by his company sits in the courtyard.
North End is Boston’s Italian American neighbourhood: espresso bars, restaurants and the Italian tricolore everywhere. Several outlets compete for the best cannoli in Boston. Mike’s Pastry on Hanover Street is the most famous, Modern Pastry sits across the road, and Bova’s Bakery around the corner is said to be the locals’ favourite.
We queued at Mike’s (it moves quickly), deliberated flavours, Limoncello for me please, and watched our boxes tied with string pulled from blue balls hanging from the ceiling. We ate them beside a basketball court surrounded by flats. It could not have felt more American.
The Old North Church (1723) is Boston’s oldest surviving church, and on the evening of 18 April 1775 two lanterns shone from its steeple – Paul Revere’s signal that the Redcoats were coming by sea. Young Robert Newman lit them, then escaped through a church window to avoid capture.
Revere rowed the Charles River, picked up a horse and rode for Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams, with William Dawes riding a separate route. Heading on towards Concord and its stockpile of arms, they met Dr Samuel Prescott; Revere and Dawes were stopped by a British patrol, but Prescott got through and raised the alarm. Longfellow’s 1861 poem later turned the night into folklore, coined the phrase Midnight Ride, and gave us “one, if by land, and two, if by sea”.
Inside, the church is very pretty, with box pews bought by wealthy families and a gold organ fronted by four angels taken off a ship from France, the oldest items in the building. We took the bell tower tour, which tells how 15 year old Paul Revere was a bellringer here, though we left slightly disappointed not to see any of the eight bells.
Just behind the church, a bronze Paul Revere gallops on his horse. The official final stop of the Boston section is Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, but we chose to finish our self guided walk at the statue instead.
From the statue it is a short stroll to Long Wharf and a restorative beer by the water. With more time you can continue to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, not an official Trail stop but very much part of this story; we watched visitors tossing tea chests off the recreated clipper outside, and it is on our list for next time. For dinner, we enjoyed a good meal at The Daily Catch on the waterfront.
In closing
Our guidebook covered many more places than I have described here, and it is hard to focus on them all while walking. Pick some key sights and leave the rest of your brain free to soak up the atmosphere. I loved the history and the beautiful buildings, and Boston felt safe, relaxed and very at ease with itself.
Walking the Freedom Trail was day one of our Boston and New England fall road trip, and it made me curious to explore further, starting with our 10 places to love in Boston.
Enjoy your travels!
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Your step-by-step framework for stress-free, unforgettable trips — from first idea to final itinerary.
Join thousands of travelers looking for inspiration from our FREE Planet Travel newsletter!
