Day 6 of Spring Break Trip

The fun thing about this trip is that we've been getting farther and farther back in American history. We started at the Civil War, then did the Foundations of American Constitutionalism. On Day 6, we did the beginnings of the Revolution, and today we are planning to go to Plymouth Rock to see the place that started it all.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. We rode our first subway! In Boston there are four subway lines, all named after colors. We rode the Red Line into downtown Boston, past Harvard and MIT, and got off at the beginning of what they call the Freedom Trail, which is a walking trail that goes past all the historical sights.

We saw places I've only read about, like the Old North Church, where Paul Revere put up a lantern to warn how the British were coming; the Boston Massacre site, where the Revolutionary War fighting began; the Old State House, where James Otis argued that "taxation without representation is tyranny;" and the graves of John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Mother Goose, and Elizabeth Pain (said to be the inspiration for Hester Prynne). Everything was really great, except the weather, which was windy and cold.

After this excursion, which took most of the day, we got back on the Red Line and headed for our hotel, where we camped for the rest of the day watching NCIS. We are on vacation, after all!

High Point of the Day: Seeing these historical sights come alive (or maybe riding a subway)
Low Point of the Day: Being tired and hungry, and therefore grumpy.


The New State House, built in 1842. We took a tour and learned a bunch of information about it, but none of it is really important to anyone but a Massachusetts native, so I won't put it in here.


Paul Revere's grave. As you recall, he was one of the men who took word to the minutemen that the Redcoats were coming. We were told he is mostly famous just because of Longfellow's poem.


These are the graves of the first casualties of the Revolutionary War. The little boy was killed in February, and the Boston Massacre happened in March. We actually saw the exact site where it happened.


Me at Paul Revere's House.


The Old North Church, where they lit lanterns to show which way the British were approaching from. Also the site where Ian gets arrested in National Treasure.