The Not Bunker Hill version.
But also as an update on the Bunker Hill sign situation, Judge Angel Kelley ordered the signs restored as of last weekend, thus halting the Orange administration in its dastardly quest to hide basic history. We thank her, sincerely.
We didn’t do the official Freedom Trail tour, but if you do, your guide will be dressed in colonial wear and probably spout very colorful Boston terms in an accent allehgic to Rs. The guides are always cheerful and fun when you pass them.
Old Granary Burying Ground
The Old Granary Burying Ground is one of the first stops of the trail. Sam Adams is buried there, along with Benjamin Franklin’s parents, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine (prosecutor in the Massacre trial and signer of the Declaration of Independence), Paul Revere, James Otis Jr., Christopher Seider, and the first five victims of the Boston Massacre: Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. (Kit Monk didn’t die until ten years later, but the disability that the Massacre left him with was supposedly a direct cause of his death.) The five victims are all buried together in a mass grave.
It’s always strange to be in a place where these real people’s remains lie. The groundskeepers do a great job of maintaining the cemetery, and people still leave little flags and flowers for those buried.
Other Cemeteries
It is also quite possible that Gotthold Frederick Enslin, who is one of two of our main characters–the other being Matthew Kilroy–who is based on a real person, is buried in Old Granary in an unmarked grave. In actuality, most of Boston’s oldest cemeteries contain far more unmarked than marked graves.
Enslin will be a main character in Volume 5, and there are three cemetery possibilities for his unmarked grave: Old Granary, Copp’s Hill, and King’s Chapel. All are stops along the Freedom Trail.
The Old State House
The scene of the Massacre. We went on March 5th, and they’d laid out a wreath to honor the victims on the spot marking the Massacre. Fun fact, though: the marked spot as where the Massacre occurred is actually… not where the Massacre occurred. In modern day terms, it occurred closer to the Bank of America across the street.
They have a pretty cool museum in the Old Statehouse that is worth a stop. It contains a timed map of the battle of Lexington and Concord, actual musket balls, a cannon ball, and grapeshot from the Bunker Hill, plus Joseph Warren‘s alleged sword. They also have a doctor’s saw used in the aftermath of that battle (and Mercy could not but think of Josiah).
What was a little strange to us, though, was the use of the coffin designs in merch ranging from Stanley cups to scarves to mugs to keychains to wallets to bags. Like, the memes about the tea party and jokes about lobsters are funny, but pasting the coffins of the Massacre victims on merchandise just seems a little… gauche? They were five real people who died.
Old North Church
Taking a tour of the crypt sounds morbid, but is actually pretty cool. It’s candlelit, but the guide is far more focused on history than on creepy ghost stories (actually, there were none of those!) There’s a plaque marking where Major Pitcairn’s body… at least lay for a while, and may well still lie.
Paul Revere’s House
The Freedom Trail then proceeds into Boston’s North End (a historically Italian district that delights this Italian-American author). There sits Paul Revere’s actual house, which you are able to walk through. The house is fairly well-preserved.
What’s interesting is there’s a monument across the street marking where Major Pitcairn’s house would have been. Not gonna lie, I would love to have seen the Reveres and Pitcairn interacting as neighbors.
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