The Freedom Trail® is an iconic symbol of Boston. Its red brick line snakes through some of the oldest parts of the City. Use the map and the stop list below to explore and listen to stories about each site.
The content can be used as a completely virtual tour, or as your own Park Ranger to take along as you walk the Trail. Many choose to begin at Boston Common and follow the trail, but you can explore in person or virtually in any order you wish. If you would like to download the entire tour ahead of your visit, download the official NPS App for free! Search "Boston National Historical Park" and look for "The Freedom Trail®" under "Self-Guided Tours." See instructions at the bottom of the page.
Total run time of all 23 audio clips: 94 minutes, 28 seconds.
The Freedom Trail is a collection of public and private sites linked together throughout Boston which work to preserve the history of sites relevant to Boston's role in America's struggle for freedom. Boston National Historical Park, established in 1974, works with these sites in order to preserve and tell these stories. The trail itself stretches from Boston Common to Charlestown Navy Yard - two and a half miles for visitors from all over the world to come explore their past.
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Welcome to Boston’s Freedom Trail. Originally designed in the 1950s, the Freedom Trail is an iconic symbol of Boston. Its red brick line snakes through some of the oldest parts of this City, leading visitors to notable historic sites in the Downtown, North End, and Charlestown neighborhoods of Boston. The trail introduces visitors to Boston's storied, complicated, and multi-faceted history. While many sites are primarily recognized for their role in the American Revolution, all the sites on the Freedom Trail have stood as the backdrop of subsequent social, political, and religious movements, controversies, and challenges.
While the Freedom Trail can be picked up at any site, most visitors choose to start at the Boston Common. This is our first stop.
Welcome to Boston’s Freedom Trail. Originally designed in the 1950s, the Freedom Trail is an iconic symbol of Boston. Its red brick line snakes through some of the oldest parts of this City, leading visitors to notable historic sites in the Downtown, North End, and Charlestown neighborhoods of Boston. The trail introduces visitors to Boston's storied, complicated, and multi-faceted history. While many sites are primarily recognized for their role in the American Revolution, all the sites on the Freedom Trail have stood as the backdrop of subsequent social, political, and religious movements, controversies, and challenges.
While the Freedom Trail can be picked up at any site, most visitors choose to start at the Boston Common. This is our first stop.
Standing in the middle of Boston Common, you are in a space that people have both used and enjoyed for thousands of years. Considered the oldest public park in the United States, Boston Common remains the last piece of relatively undeveloped landscape in Downtown Boston. The land you stand on—called Shawmut by the Massachusett people—connects thousands of years of use. Here, the ancestors of the Massachusett lived, hunted, and fished. To this day, members of the Massachusett return every year to the Common to rebuild a fishing weir on the same ground.
Seafaring Europeans began to interact with indigenous communities in the 1500s. They brought with them European diseases to which the indigenous people had no resistance. By the time English Puritans arrived to permanently settle the area in 1630, native communities had been decimated by those diseases. While indigenous people suffered significant losses and destruction at the hands of European invaders from early interactions, they have gone and continue to go to great lengths to try to preserve their land, history, and culture in the face of oppression.
While occupying the land, the English established the Common as a public space—an area held in common by the Puritan settlers. The Common served a combination of public, military, agricultural, and recreational purposes. The most celebratory functions typically occurred on training days, during which militia companies from Boston and surrounding communities trained and drilled on the Common, followed by a carnival-like atmosphere of food and entertainment. Yet the space also held public executions, including those of religious dissenters like Mary Dyer, a banished Quaker who returned to Boston, as well as at least 50 indigenous people of the Narragansett, Pocumtuck, Nipmuc, and Wampanoag tribes following King Phillip’s War.
Activity on the Common continued during the Revolutionary era. In the 1760s and 70s, protests against British policies took the form of mass meetings as well as public acts of destruction. In 1768 and again in 1774, British soldiers encamped and trained on the Common. When war broke out in 1775, the British dug artillery entrenchments here.
Following the war, George Washington, John Adams, and the Marquis de Lafayette celebrated the nation’s independence in this space. In the 1800s, abolitionists used the Common to voice support for the end of slavery and the United States Army recruited soldiers to fight in the Civil War. During the fight for the 19th Amendment, suffragists drew crowds at open-air meetings and rallies here. In the 20th century, Charles Lindbergh spoke to an audience on the Common about the future of commercial aviation. Numerous Anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights rallies, including one led by Martin Luther King Jr., took place on the Common. The first Boston Pride marches held a rally at Parkman Bandstand. Today, Bostonians still gather on the Common to protest, celebrate, and recreate.
Considered the oldest public park in the United States, Boston Common remains the last piece of relatively undeveloped landscape in Downtown Boston. The land you stand on—called Shawmut by the Massachusett people—connects thousands of years of use. Here, the ancestors of the Massachusett lived, hunted, and fished. To this day, members of the Massachusett return every year to the Common to rebuild a fishing weir on the same ground. The Boston Common has served a combination of public, military, agricultural, and recreational purposes throughout its history. In the 1760s and 70s, colonists protested here against British policies. During the American War for Independence, British soldiers used the space for training and encampment. Following the war, it held celebrations for the nation’s independence. Bostonians have since gathered on the Common for various events, including women’s rights demonstrations, Anti-Vietnam War protests, Civil Rights rallies, and Boston Pride.
Directions to Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial:
From Boston Common, follow the Freedom Trail towards the Massachusetts State House to the northeast. The State House sits on top of the hill and has a massive gold dome.
The Robert Gould Shaw/54th Massachusetts Memorial faces the State House on the Boston Common side of Beacon Street. Length: approximately 0.2 miles (5 minutes).
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Crowds lined Beacon Street on the morning of May 31, 1897. They awaited a military parade that had been organized for the unveiling of the Robert Gould Shaw/Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, a memorial recognizing the brave Black regiment and its fallen leader.
Surviving members of Massachusetts’ Black regiments—the 54th and 55th Regiments and the 5th Cavalry—paraded amongst a flurry of flags and cheers, bringing to mind similar images of much younger soldiers of the 54th who marched off to battle in May 1863, ready to shed their blood for the cause of liberty. Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens captured this first march in his bronze relief of the steady Colonel Shaw on horseback marching alongside his determined soldiers.
As the veterans met their past when they arrived at the Massachusetts State House, Saint-Gaudens recalled a remarkable moment:
"There stood before the relief 65 of these veterans… Many of them were bent and crippled, many with white heads, some with bouquets. The impression of those old soldiers, passing the spot where they left for war so many years before, thrills me even as I write these words…They seemed as if returning from the war, the troops of bronze marching the opposite direction...the young men there represented now showing these veterans the vigor and hope of youth. It was a consecration."
The Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial commemorates one of the first Black regiments from the North to serve in the Civil War. After President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in early 1863, the administration allowed the enlistment of Black soldiers. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew quickly organized the formation of the state’s Black regiment—the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Largely due to the support of Black abolitionists, recruitment for the regiment exceeded expectations. African Americans from Massachusetts and beyond lined up to serve. Andrews enlisted Robert Gould Shaw, a Bostonian from a notable abolitionist family, to command the regiment.
Though willing to serve their country, the Black regiment faced both public opposition and internal discrimination. As these men fought for the United States, they also argued for equal pay and treatment from their own government.
The 54th challenged this discrimination through their service, bravely jumping into the fray. The regiment is most remembered for leading the futile assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina in July 1863, resulting in the death of Colonel Shaw and the wounding, capture, or killing of over 250 of his men. This heroic, yet tragic, assault showed the public that African Americans were willing to die for their country and for the liberty of others.
The actions of the 54th helped inspire the enlistment of more than 180,000 Black men…a boost in morale and manpower that Lincoln recognized as essential to the victory of the United States and the destruction of slavery throughout the country.
Following the Civil War, a committee of Bostonians commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to produce a work memorializing the regiment and Colonel Shaw. After over ten years, Saint-Gaudens completed the relief and the memorial found its permanent home on Boston Common facing the main staircase to the Massachusetts State House.
In his keynote speech at the 1897 dedication, Booker T. Washington said the monument stands “for effort, not victory complete.” He called on people to continued action by saying, “What these heroic souls of the 54th Regiment began, we must complete.” Generations of Bostonians have since answered this call. Numerous activist groups and organizations have used the Memorial as a site of public protest, pushing for the expansion of civil rights and daring their country to more truly fulfill its founding principles.
Take a moment to admire the detail in the memorial. The back of the memorial, facing the Common contains an inscription and sits above a fountain.
The Robert Gould Shaw/Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial is also the first stop of the Black Heritage Trail. This Trail explores the inspiring history of the free African American community of Beacon Hill in the 19th century, a community that led the city and the nation in the fight against slavery and racial injustice. For information about Ranger-led tours of the Black Heritage Trail, please go to the Boston African American National Historic Site website. Self-guided tours are also available on the park’s website or on the National Park Service App.
The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial commemorates one of the first African American regiments of the Civil War. Following his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, President Lincoln called for the raising of Black regiments. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew soon created the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry and chose Robert Gould Shaw, the son of prominent abolitionists, to serve as its colonel. Through their heroic, yet tragic, assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina on July 18, 1863, in which Shaw and many of his men died, the 54th helped erode Northern public opposition to the use of Black soldiers and inspired the enlistment of more than 180,000 Black men into the U.S. forces. To commemorate this brave Black regiment, Bostonians chose Augustus St. Gaudens to create this high relief bronze monument, which sits prominently on Beacon St. across from the Massachusetts State House. Unveiled in 1897, this monument depicts the 54th as they marched down Beacon St. off to war in 1863.
From The Robert Gould Shaw/54th Massachusetts Memorial, walk to the corner of Beacon Street and Park Street. Cross Beacon Street and follow the Freedom Trail path to stand in front of the Massachusetts State House. Length: approximately 200 ft (1 minute).
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On a cold February day in 1838, the Representatives’ Chamber of the Massachusetts State House buzzed with energy. That afternoon, Angelina Grimke, the first woman to ever address a sitting U.S. legislative body, took the podium on behalf of 20,000 women who petitioned for the end of slavery in Washington D.C.:
"These petitions relate to the great and solemn subject of American slavery-a subject fraught with the deepest interest to this republic, whether we regard it in its political, moral, or religious aspects. And because it is a political subject, it has often been tauntingly said, that woman has nothing to do with it...I hold, Mr. Chairman, that American women have to do with this subject, not only because it is moral and religious, but because it is political, inasmuch as we are citizens of this republic, and as such our honor, happiness, and well being, are bound up in its politics government and laws."
Completed in 1798, the Massachusetts State House with its iconic gold dome sits at the western edge of the Boston Common. Designed by Charles Bullfinch, the building houses the State Senate, House of Representatives, and Governor’s Office.
Since its completion, the Massachusetts State House has been a site of debate and discussion. Within its elegant halls, representatives and members of the public alike have grappled with the essential principles of justice, liberty, and representation.
Those who at first struggled to gain access to the building still found ways to ensure their voices would be heard within its walls. Black and White abolitionists, including Angelina Grimke, petitioned for the end of slavery in the United States and against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. African Americans petitioned for equal access to education, leading to the State Legislatures’ ban on segregated education in 1855. And women petitioned for greater civil rights, most notably, the right to vote.
Following the Civil War, several Black community leaders became representatives, including the noted Boston abolitionist Lewis Hayden. In 1886, Watson Freeman Hammond of the Montauk people became the first indigenous state legislator. Not until the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 did women obtain seats. Many other “firsts” have since followed in the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Elaine Noble, the first openly gay state legislator elected in 1975, and Nelson Merced, elected in 1989 as the first state legislator of Latin American and Hispanic descent.
The golden-domed State House has witnessed over 200 years of history. Perhaps no one has pointed to the significance of those who have occupied the State House more than President John F. Kennedy in the months before he took office:
"…for no man about to enter high office in this country can ever be unmindful of the contributions which this state has made to our national greatness. Its leaders have shaped our destiny long before the great republic was born. Its principles have guided our footsteps in times of crisis as well as in times of calm. Its democratic institutions--including this historic body–have served as beacon lights for other nations as well as for our sister states."
When open, the State House offers free self-guided and guided tours. Access the building through the General Joseph Hooker Gate. Enjoy the murals, statues, and governors’ portraits that illustrate the state’s history. Artifacts on display include the Massachusetts Sacred Cod and the flag Sergeant William Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment saved at the Civil War Battle of Fort Wagner.
Completed in 1798, the Massachusetts State House sits at the western edge of the Boston Common. Designed by Charles Bullfinch, the building houses the State Senate, House of Representatives, and Governor’s Office. Since its completion, the Massachusetts State House has been a site of debate and discussion. Representatives and members of the public have grappled with the essential principles of justice, liberty, and representation. Those who first struggled to gain access to the building still found ways to ensure their voices would be heard within its walls. Black and White abolitionists petitioned for the end of slavery and against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. African Americans petitioned for equal access to education, leading to the State Legislatures’ ban on segregated education in 1855. Women petitioned for greater civil rights, most importantly, the right to vote. When open, the State House offers free tours where you can see murals, statues, and governors’ portraits that illustrate the state’s history.
Exit the Massachusetts State House to Beacon Street. At the intersection of Park and Beacon Street, cross Beacon Street and continue down Park Street. Turn left at the intersection of Park and Tremont Streets and cross Park Street at the stoplight. Park Street Church is immediately on the left. Length: approximately 0.1 miles (3 minutes).
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On July 4, 1829, a young William Lloyd Garrison stood in the nave of Park Street Church, preparing to give the first of many antislavery lectures here. Just 23 years old, the future famed abolitionist joined an event run by the American Colonization Society, which throughout the 1820s had been hosting lectures and church services every July to promote their goal of re-colonizing West Africa with freed enslaved people of African descent. Many White supporters saw this as a way to rid the country of Black people, though given the growing population of millions of enslaved people of African descent in the South, it would never feasibly bring an outright end to slavery. Believing this tactic was neither moral nor practical, Garrison forcefully addressed the crowd:
"I have said that the claims of the slaves for redress are as strong as those of any Americans could be, in a similar condition. Does any man deny the position? The proof, then, is found in the fact that a very large proportion of our colored population were born on our soil, and are therefore entitled to all the privileges of American citizens. This is their country by birth, not by adoption. Their children possess the same inherent and unalienable rights as ours, and it is a crime of the blackest dye to load them with fetters."
Park Street Church has stood on this corner, opposite Boston Common, since 1809. The elegant spire of this church and its carillon, or church bells, which sounds twice daily from its steeple, have long been landmarks in downtown Boston. The first members of Park Street Church organized as a reaction to the theology of Unitarianism, a doctrine that began to dominate many old Orthodox Congregational churches in the early 1800s. The church organized with a strict adherence to the Trinity—a firm belief in one God who exists in three persons: God the Father, God the son—who is Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.
The church also operated in a very evangelical fashion, which differentiated it from old-line Congregationalism. This evangelicalism gave rise to this intersection being nicknamed “Brimstone Corner.” The church’s evangelical mission also meant it organized and supported some of the earliest missionaries sent out of the United States. The most notable, and perhaps most consequential missionaries, went to Hawaii beginning in 1819. The missionary work from Park Street established the first permanent White settlements on the islands. The work proved quite successful in establishing Christianity on the Islands, but from a standpoint of the native Hawaiian peoples it marked permanent change and erasure of their heritage. Just generations later, many descendants of these missionaries were directly involved in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and eventual annexation of the islands by the United States in the 1890s. In many ways, the annexation and eventual statehood of Hawaii began here.
While founded after the Revolutionary War, it remained a space of discussion for the founding principles, serving as an auditorium for lectures, speeches, and performances. During the 1800s, abolitionist organizations held events here that made the argument to expand liberty to all, and in 1902, Filipina activist Clemencia Lopez called for the independence of her country to a crowd of women, declaring: “After all, you ought to understand that we are only contending for the liberty of our country, just as you once fought for the same liberty of yours.”
Today, Park Street Church maintains an active evangelical congregation with weekly services.
Park Street Church has stood on the corner opposite Boston Common since 1809. The church’s spire and its bells, which sound twice daily from its steeple, have long been Boston landmarks. The church's first members operated in an evangelical fashion, which led to this intersection being nicknamed “Brimstone Corner.” The church’s evangelical mission also meant it organized and supported some of the earliest missionaries sent out of the United States. The most notable missionaries went to Hawaii starting in 1819. Many missionary descendants were involved in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and annexation of the islands by the U.S. in the 1890s. While founded after the Revolutionary war, it remained a space of discussion for the founding principles, serving as site for lectures, speeches, and performances. During the 1800s, abolitionist organizations held events here that made the argument to expand liberty to all. Today, the church maintains an active evangelical congregation with weekly services.
From Park Street Church, follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground along Tremont Street. Granary Burying Ground is on the left about 50 feet from Park Street Church.
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One of Boston’s earliest burying grounds, the Granary Burying Ground serves as the resting place of early victims to British tyranny as well as Revolutionary heroes. When Boston’s first burying ground, now known as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, began to run out of adequate burial space in the late 1650s, the community established two additional burying grounds: the North End’s Copp’s Hill in 1659 and the Granary Burying Ground in 1660. The Burying Ground acquired its present name from a granary, a grain storage building, built next door in 1737 where the Park Street Church stands today. Despite its proximity to the Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground predates it by 150 years.
Walk through any of Boston’s burying grounds and you can find examples of the iconic New England gravestone art, including such images as: skulls with wings (known as death heads), cherubs, hourglasses, scythes, willow trees, and Classical urns. Though there are over 2,000 burial markers throughout the Granary, it is estimated that more than 5,000 people lay buried here. These include some of the most famous residents of colonial Boston, such as John Hancock, Paul Revere, James Otis, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine, as well as Crispus Attucks and the victims of the Boston Massacre. But buried in the Granary are also far less famous figures, such as victims of fire and plague, Frank, a man enslaved to John Hancock and whose relatively simple headstone rests in the shadow of Hancock’s monument, and generations of common people.
Granary Burying Ground remains a popular stop on the Freedom Trail where visitors can pay tribute to the named and unnamed revolutionaries of colonial Boston.
One of Boston’s earliest burying grounds, the Granary Burying Ground serves as the resting place of early victims to British tyranny as well as Revolutionary heroes. It was established in 1660 when Boston’s first burying ground, now known as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, began to run out of burial space in the late 1650s. The Burying Ground acquired its name from a granary, a grain storage building, built next door in 1737. Examples of the iconic New England gravestone art, such as images of cherubs, scythes, willow trees, and Classical urns, can be found throughout the burying grounds. Some of colonial Boston’s most famous residents are buried in the Granary, including John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and Crispus Attucks. Less famous figures, such as victims of fire and plague, and generations of common people, are also buried there. Granary Burying Ground remains a popular space where visitors can pay tribute to the named and unnamed revolutionaries of colonial Boston.
Exit the Granary Burying Ground and turn left. Follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground along Tremont Street. At the intersection of School and Tremont Streets, carefully cross School Street. Turn right and carefully cross Tremont Street. Turn left. Immediately ahead and on the right is the entrance to King's Chapel. The entrance to King's Chapel Burying Ground is a bit further ahead and to the right. Length: approximately 0.1 miles (3 minutes).
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On March 10th, 1776, as the Continental Army bore down on Boston from Dorchester Heights just south of town, Rev. Henry Caner of King’s Chapel took out the church’s Register of Marriages and wrote one final entry:
"An unnatural rebellion of the colonies against His Majesty’s government obliged the loyal part of his subjects to evacuate their dwellings and substance, and take refuge in Halifax, London, and elsewhere; by which means the public worship at King’s Chapel became suspended, and is likely to remain so until it pleases God…to change the hearts of the rebels, or give success to His Majesty’s arms for suppressing the rebellion."
As the British army evacuated Boston a week later on March 17, most of those loyal to the crown fled to Nova Scotia, including about a third of the King’s Chapel congregation and Rev. Caner, who never returned to Boston.
King’s Chapel, founded in 1686 as Boston’s first Anglican church, held services in several temporary locations around town until 1688 when a wooden chapel was constructed on the corner of the town’s first burying ground, now known as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground. The current stone chapel, designed by architect Peter Harrison in 1749 and completed in 1754, possesses one of the most elegant Georgian church interiors of the colonial era. The sanctuary features two rows of double Corinthian columns, a large pipe organ, and box pews, which were originally privately owned. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, many in the congregation remained loyal to the crown, including Charles Paxton, the Collector of Customs in Boston in 1767, and estate owner Isaac Royall Jr. Charles Paxton infamously called for troops to occupy Boston in order to enforce the controversial taxes laid out by Parliament in the Townshend Acts. Isaac Royall Jr., a wealthy land owner, enslaved dozens of people on his Medford estate which today houses one of the only surviving slave quarters in Massachusetts.
After the evacuation of Rev. Caner and the Loyalist members of the congregation in 1776, it took years for the remaining congregation to hold services at King’s Chapel. In the mean time, the neighboring Old South Church used the Chapel for their services due to the damage their building had sustained during the Siege of Boston. During this period, the Chapel hosted the funeral for Dr. Joseph Warren, killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, when he could be properly buried nearly a year later in April 1776. In 1782, the remaining congregation, led by prominent congregants Thomas Bulfinch and Joseph May, finally returned to the stone chapel. Lacking a minister, the congregation invited James Freeman to act as a lay reader, or non clergy member, to lead Sunday services. Under Freeman’s leadership the chapel edited the Anglican Book of Common Prayer to reflect a Unitarian theology and in 1787 the congregation officially declared themselves Unitarian and independent, making King’s Chapel the first Unitarian church in the United States. The congregation still meets in the 1754 building and remains an active Christian Unitarian church today. In addition to hosting services, King’s Chapel is open for general visitation.
Founded in 1686 as Boston’s first Anglican church, King’s Chapel held services in temporary locations until 1688 when a wooden chapel was constructed on the corner of the town’s first burying ground, now known as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground. The current stone chapel was designed in 1749 and completed in 1754. Many in the congregation remained loyal to the crown leading up to the American Revolution. A third of the church’s members and its reverend fled during the British evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776. During this time, Old South Church used King’s Chapel for services due to damage their building had sustained. The remaining congregation finally returned in 1782. In 1787, the congregation officially declared themselves Unitarian and independent, making it the first Unitarian church in the United States. The congregation still meets in the 1754 building and remains an active Christian Unitarian church. King’s Chapel is also open for general visitation.
"The sweet Remembrance of [the] just/Shall flourish while they sleep in dust" - Tomb of Elizabeth Salter, King’s Chapel Burying Ground
The King’s Chapel Burying Ground is the oldest European burial space in the city of Boston, dating back to 1630 and the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Serving as the primary burial space for the town until around 1660, the earliest colonists of Boston, including many of the early governors, clergy, and regular folks are buried here. Among the headstones are some of the best examples of New England gravestone art, notably the 1678 Joseph Tapping headstone featuring a carved skeleton snuffing out a candle while Father Time with his scythe stands behind it, trying to hold the skeleton back. Another notable headstone is that of Elizabeth Pain, whose inscription includes a crest that resembles the letter A, which may have inspired author Nathaniel Hawthorne when writing The Scarlet Letter, which references the burying ground.
Though the burying ground is known today as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, it actually has no official connection to King’s Chapel and predates the founding of the chapel by almost fifty years. The burying grounds of Boston are Puritan burial spaces, which means they are unconsecrated, or in other words they are not sacred or holy spaces and are owned and administered by the town, not the church. Even today the burying grounds are owned and administered by the city. The burying ground’s status as a town-owned and unconsecrated burial space led the founding congregation of King’s Chapel to build the original wooden chapel on top of the burying ground in 1688.
In 1686, King James II reorganized the government of Massachusetts Bay to exercise more direct control on the colony, sending a Royal Governor for the first time. Around the same time, the Church of England sent a minister to Boston to gather Boston’s Anglicans into a congregation. Despite Anglicanism being the official state religion, there were no Anglican churches in Boston or anywhere in Massachusetts prior to 1686 because religious dissenters, the Puritans, had established the colony as a way to seek distance from the established Church of England. Though the Puritans freely practiced their religion in Massachusetts, they actively prevented the establishment of other churches. As a result, after the founding of King’s Chapel in the summer of 1686, no Boston landowner would sell land to construct a permanent church. After nearly two years of meeting in temporary locations and still unable to purchase private land, the town allowed a permanent structure to be built right on the burying ground, moving the graves on that site to another portion of the grounds. The current stone chapel still sits on this same plot, on the corner of Tremont and School Streets. Exhuming graves to build the Chapel may appear extreme, but the construction received little pushback from those in Boston due to Puritan belief and the nature of the burying grounds as explicitly non-sacred spaces. By the time of King’s Chapel’s construction the burying ground no longer stood as the main burial space for Boston, as by that time the Granary and Copp’s Hill Burying Grounds had been established to provide additional burial space.
The King’s Chapel Burying Ground remains open for visitors to walk amongst the gravestones of colonial Bostonians.
The King’s Chapel Burying Ground is the oldest European burial space in the city of Boston, dating back to 1630 and the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Exit King's Chapel Burying Ground through the main entrance and turn left. Turn left at the intersection of School and Tremont Streets. The First Public School Site is a mosaic on the sidewalk outside the Old City Hall courtyard on the left. Length: approximately 400 ft (2 minutes).
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"On the 13th of the second month, 1635...At a Generall meeting upon publique notice...it was...generally agreed upon that our brother Philemon Pormort shall be intreated to become scholemaster for the teaching and nourtering of children... "
With this town support, the first school in what is now the United States was founded in Boston on April 23, 1635. Known as the Boston Latin School, this school became an institution that prepared boys for entry into Harvard. The first headmasters held classes in their homes until the completion of the school building at this site. The wooden structure remained for the next 100 years, and then it moved across the street to a new location. A mosaic in the sidewalk commemorates this original site of the school. Today, Boston Latin is near the Longwood Medical area of Boston, and it remains one of the highest rated schools in the entire country.
In the 1700s, several of Boston's well-known revolutionary figures, such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, studied here before attending Harvard. A statue of Benjamin Franklin remembers the school’s most famous dropout. In fact, the majority of male students in Boston did not attend this or the North Latin School in Boston. Paul Revere, and many others who did not have the social standing or the marks for Latin school, instead attended one of Boston's writing schools. Rather than learning the classics, writing schools taught boys the handwriting skills needed for business: contracts, letters, and account ledgers. Many more, however, simply did not, or could not, afford the time spent at school, and any children who were not White and not male were simply not allowed to access the publicly funded schools.
By the 1800s, public schools opened to some girls, and Boston’s Public School Committee eventually funded segregated schools for the local African American community after Black community leaders had run their own school for several years. The disparity in funding, however, became painfully stark: The Abiel Smith School on nearby Beacon Hill had far fewer resources for its Black students. It took decades of community activism—petition writing, court cases, and lobbying—to integrate Boston schools in 1855. Girls and young women also faced educational barriers. By 1854, only one public high school for girls existed, located in the neighborhood of Roxbury. Access to publicly funded secondary schools became one of the demands of women’s rights advocates in the area.
Struggles for equal access to quality education continued into the 20th century. By midcentury it became painfully obvious once again to Black Bostonians that the school system, though it legally could not segregate, effectively segregated Black students into under-resourced schools. Activists led by women, such as Melnea Cass, organized protests and demanded public inquiries into the de facto segregationist policies of Boston Public Schools. In the mid-1970s, a court ordered busing plan came into effect to attempt to mitigate the racial disparities in the school system. Bringing children from Black neighborhoods like Roxbury to White neighborhoods like South Boston and Charlestown, Boston found itself rocked with vicious protests and violence as White Bostonians vehemently protested and attempted to resist the busing plan.
The legacy of the Boston Latin School is one that highlights the complicated challenge that faces all communities: How to best educate the next generation so it can effectively lead society into an unknown future.
Founded in Boston on April 23, 1635, the Boston Latin School became the first school in what is now the United States. The first headmasters held classes in their homes until the completion of the school building at this site. The wooden structure remained for the next 100 years, and then it moved across the street to a new location. A mosaic in the sidewalk commemorates this original site of the school. In the 1700s, several of Boston's well-known revolutionary figures, such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, studied here before attending Harvard. A statue of Benjamin Franklin remembers the school’s most famous dropout.
Standing at the mosaic with your back to Old City Hall, turn left and continue down School Street. The Old Corner Bookstore is at the corner of School and Washington Streets. NOTE: This building houses a commercial business. Length: approximately 300 ft (1 minute).
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"April 1850
Saturday 6. Go to town as usual. At Ticknor's I find Park Benjamin sitting on a three-legged stool, and discoursing oracular speech as from a tripod. He is going to Newport to make that his headquarters and he goes about through all towns and villages on his literary canvassing of the country. In the smaller towns he puts his tickets at 12 ½ ¢! And there sat Benjamin discoursing loudly, and having for auditors on this occasion Felton; Captain Sumner; Perley Poore, the editor; Giovanni Thompson, the artist; myself; and hovering far and near, Fields, listening, laughing, and despatching parcels." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
By walking down School Street towards Washington Street in the mid-1800s, as the famed American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow walked regularly to meet his printers, Ticknor and Fields, you were entering the literary center of the city. With the subtle smell of ink and paper in the air, this area served as the home of approximately 40 booksellers. Beginning in 1829, booksellers occupied the gambrel-roof building on the corner of School and Washington streets. This building became known as the Old Corner Bookstore. The bookstore gained its prominence in the literary world under the ownership of William D. Ticknor and James T. Fields. From the 1830s to the 1860s, these two men helped shape the literary scene of Boston.
On the shelves of their bookstore customers found books written by New England writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Louisa May Alcott, as well as British writers Alfred Lord Tennyson and Charles Dickens. Ticknor and Fields largely supported the Transcendentalist movement, taking a chance on publishing Henry David Thoreau’s Walden after encouragement from other authors. Their combined interest in growing their firm as well as publishing intellectually provocative literature guided their business decisions.
Ticknor, the senior partner, had long established himself as a respectable judge of literature. It was Ticknor who made the decision to sell Tennyson’s Poems, likely one of the first American publishers to pay an international copyright to a British author. Ticknor also became close friends with the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Ticknor’s office at the back of the store sat a chair for the popular American author. Ticknor’s son later recalled:
"I have seen [Hawthorne] seated in the ‘Old Corner Bookstore’ beside my father’s desk, and when he asked a question, if my father looked up suddenly, as was his habit, Hawthorne’s face would flush like a bashful girl’s – then laughing he would resume the conversation."
In the later years of the firm, Ticknor focused mostly on the business side of the publishing firm, trusting Fields’ refined taste for literature. Fields used his charm to sway authors to hand over their manuscripts, expanding the firm’s reach. As a New York journalist wrote:
"Fields, the publisher, is the hub in which every spoke of the radiating wheel of Boston intellect has a socket – the central newsgiver, listener, sympathizer, gossip, and adviser..."
While this site has a long history of being a bookselling hub in the 19th century, the history of the site goes back much further. In the 1630s, Anne Hutchinson held secret, unorthodox religious meetings. Her belief that individuals could form their own relationships with God resulted in her being tried for heresy and subsequently exiled from the colony.
Built in 1718, this building was an apothecary for druggist Thomas Crease. In the 1800s and early 1900s it served as a bookstore and other commercial stores. In 1960, this building was threatened to be demolished and replaced by a new parking structure. However, a group of citizens jumped into action to save the Old Corner Bookstore, one of the oldest brick buildings in Boston. This effort led to the establishment of Historic Boston Incorporated, which formed to save this building and restore it. Today, the Old Corner Bookstore remains a commercial space in the heart of Downtown Boston.
The Old Corner Bookstore gained prominence in the literary world under the ownership of William D. Ticknor and James T. Fields. From the 1830s to the 1860s, they helped shape Boston’s literary scene. The bookstore sold works written by both New England and British writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Charles Dickens. While the site is known as a 19th century bookselling hub, its history goes back much further. In the 1630s, Anne Hutchinson used it to hold secret, unorthodox religious meetings. In 1960, the building was threatened to be demolished, but a group of citizens jumped to save it. This effort led to the establishment of Historic Boston Incorporated, which formed to save and restore the building. Today, the Old Corner Bookstore remains a commercial space in the heart of Downtown Boston.
From the corner of School and Washington Streets, cross School Street away from the Old Corner Bookstore. Walk past the Boston Irish Famine Memorial on your right and then turn left and carefully cross Washington Street at the crosswalk. The Old South Meeting House is at the intersection of Washington and Milk Streets. Length: approximately 300 ft (1 minute).
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"Arise my soul, on wings enraptur’d, rise To praise the monarch of the earth and skies, Whose goodness and beneficence appear As round its centre moves the rolling year, Or when the morning glows with rosy charms, Or the sun slumbers in the ocean’s arms; Of light divine be a rich portion lent To guide my soul, and favour my intent. Celestial muse, my arduous flight sustain, And Raise my mind to a seraphic strain!"
Phillis Wheatley, kidnapped as a young girl in West Africa and enslaved in Boston by the Wheatley family, wrote those opening lines to a poem entitled Thoughts on the Works of Providence sometime in the early 1770s. Her words were undoubtedly inspired in part by the sermons she heard from the balcony of her spiritual home: the Old South Meeting House.
Old South was the third congregational church in Boston. Dissenters established the congregation in 1669 following a disagreement with the leadership of the First Church of Boston over congregational membership and voting rights. In 1729 this dissenting congregation built their new Meetinghouse that still stands today: the Old South Meeting House. The structure remains a brick and wood expression of their Puritan beliefs and worship style. The interior is a soaring and light-filled but severely plain open square. All attention is directed toward the elevated pulpit. Phillis Wheatley became a member of the congregation in 1771, joining a congregation that proved supportive of the Patriot cause led by Old South member Samuel Adams. Even though she was a member, Wheatley likely sat in the balcony while prominent White families sat in rented pew boxes on the floor. Inspired by her faith, Wheatley wrote on many subjects. Most notably, she published challenges to the institution of slavery. All the while, the Revolution grew in intensity.
Though Boston had a town meeting hall just a few blocks away in Faneuil Hall, mass meetings of townspeople met at Old South Meeting House during particularly fraught crises. In 1770, only Old South could contain the thousands who demanded justice in the aftermath of the Boston Massacre. Three years later in 1773, meetings adjourned again from Faneuil Hall to Old South Meeting House, but this time in response to a standoff over the enforcement of Parliament’s Tea Act. On December 16, 1773, the most significant of these meetings at Old South convened. When word arrived that the royal governor would not allow the tea to leave Boston Harbor, the meeting was interrupted by whooping and yelling from young men loosely disguised as Indigenous people. Someone reportedly shouted: “Boston harbor a tea-pot tonight!”
Hundreds followed to the harbor and witnessed those who were under disguise dump 92,000 pounds of tea into the harbor. Less than two years later, war exploded in Boston. During Boston’s occupation, British forces tore out the pews and turned Old South into a riding stable.
When the British forces evacuated Boston in March, 1776, it took roughly seven years to refurnish Old South. Challenges to slavery and injustice did not end with the Revolution. In 1847 Old South’s senior minister George Blagden told his congregation:
"[In] condemning the sins of men, and calling them to repentance and to Christ, we are to let the outward relations of society...alone, and faithfully condemn the sins committed [to] those relations...let all outward distinctions, recognized and established by human law, whether that of [kings] and subject, or master and slave, alone."
Old South served as a recruiting station for the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1862, Reverend Manning and Old South helped create the New England Freedman’s Aid Society, dedicated to providing teachers and other aid for "the industrial, social, intellectual, moral, and religious improvement" of the formerly enslaved.
Despite narrowly escaping destruction during the Great Fire of 1872, the congregation moved to a new church in the Back Bay neighborhood and the Old South Meeting House risked demolition. Preservationists rallied to save the building, and Old South became a place for commemoration, education, and public speech. Now operated by the non-profit Revolutionary Spaces, Old South Meeting House remains a place for free speech, educational programs, and reenactments or theatrical performances, offering opportunities to learn and contemplate the past.
In 1669, 50 men and women rejected Boston’s First Church and its narrow view of church membership and voting citizenship. These “Dissenting Brethren” formed a new church reflecting their more open vision of membership and citizenship. In 1729 they built their new Meetinghouse, now known as Old South Meeting House. It remains a brick and wood expression of their Puritan belief and worship. This site became an active place of debate in the years leading to the American Revolution. Speakers such as Dr. Joseph Warren commemorated the Boston Massacre and protested other unjust laws. In 1773, thousands packed Old South Meetinghouse to protest the arrival of East India Company Tea and the tax it was subject to. Their final meeting on December 16 resulted in the Boston Tea Party where Bostonians dumped 92,000 pounds of tea into the ocean, helping to precipitate war and independence. During the siege of Boston, British soldiers tore up pews and pulpit, spread dirt over the floor and turned it into a riding stable.
Exit from the gift shop of Old South Meeting House on to Milk Street. Turn right and at the intersection turn right on to Washington Street. Follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground. When the trail turns right into a small pedestrian mall, the Old State House is on the left. Enter through the middle doors. Length: approximately 0.1 miles (3 minutes).
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On July 18, 1776, crowds of Bostonians massed into the street under the balcony of the Old State House. There, they gathered to hear the newly written Declaration of Independence for the first time. Among those joining the multitudes was Abigail Adams. She shared the overwhelming response to the Declaration in a letter to her husband John Adams:
"the cry…was God Save our American States… Bells rang, the privateers fired, the forts and Batteries, the cannon were discharged… After dinner the kings arms were taken down from the State House and every vestage of him from every place in which it appeard and burnt in King Street. Thus ends royall Authority in this State, and all the people shall say Amen."
The Declaration of Independence signaled a clean break from Royal authority and ultimately ushered in a new form of government responsible to the people. However, the elected officials who replaced Royal appointees within the courts and council chamber of the building carried on a legacy grounded in solidifying power, expanding land claims, and increasing trade throughout the Atlantic Ocean.
Starting in 1713, the colonial legislature, the Superior Court, and the royal governor and his council met in three chambers on the second floor of the Old State House, known then as the “Town House.” From these chambers, the men in power waged policies that expanded their control and influence over the vast landscape of New England and modern-day Canada. In doing so, they came into conflict with Indigenous peoples trying to preserve and protect their ancestral homelands, as well as French colonists who had settled in the area. To gain access to this land, the government employed ruthless policies, such as scalp bounties, to destroy Indigenous populations. These scalp bounties targeted Native men, women, and children in times of war and supposed peace. During the Seven Years’ War in 1755, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Phips authorized one such bounty against the Penobscot Tribe from the council chamber of the Old State House. It declared:
"The Penobscot Tribe of Indians to be Enemies, Rebels and Traitors...And I do hereby require his Majesty’s Subjects of this province to embrace all Opportunities of pursuing, captivating, killing and destroying all and every of the aforesaid Indians."
Drawn-out war with France and their Indigenous allies led to growing internal conflict amongst those in the chambers of the Old State House. Legal arguments challenged royal authority. Popular legislators such as Samuel Adams and James Otis rejected and resisted new laws and taxes proposed by British Parliament, an ocean away.
However, these legislators represented only the monied and landed voters of Boston. Outside the State House, other petitioners questioned policies and argued for greater equity. Enslaved and previously enslaved peoples of color submitted multiple petitions to the government, demanding the generations-long institution of slavery be ended in Massachusetts. While one petition in 1777 inspired a draft bill to achieve this goal, it never passed into law. Later court cases in the 1780s ruled slavery unconstitutional under the Massachusetts State Constitution. Massachusetts, the first colony to codify enslavement was the first to also abolish it. Despite these strides, the institution of slavery continued to grow elsewhere in the young country.
Following the Revolutionary War, the government of Massachusetts transformed into a government built upon the idea that all men are created equal, with the rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. But this experiment of a free republic also inherited and continued a legacy of land dispossession, enslavement, exploitation, and exclusion. The Old State House represents both the painful legacies of colonial America and the promise that the people have the tools to confront injustice, debate new paths, and shape a more just and equitable future.
Revolutionary Spaces stewards the Old State House today. Visitors can walk through exhibit spaces and step into the rooms where history was made.
Starting in 1713, the colonial governing bodies met in three chambers on the second floor of the Old State House. These men waged policies that expanded their control and influence over New England and modern-day Canada. In doing so, they came into conflict with Indigenous peoples and French colonists. The Seven Years’ War with France and their Indigenous allies led to internal conflict as popular legislators rejected new laws and taxes proposed by British Parliament. This resistance turned into revolution.
Following the Revolutionary War, the government of Massachusetts transformed into a government built upon the idea that all men are created equal. But this experiment also inherited and continued a legacy of land dispossession, enslavement, and exclusion. The Old State House represents both the painful legacies of colonial America and the promise that the people have the tools to confront injustice and shape a more just and equitable future.
Revolutionary Spaces stewards the Old State House today.
The Boston Massacre Site is immediately outside the Old State House. A marker is on the sidewalk towards the east side of the building at the intersection of State, Congress, and Devonshire Streets. Length: less than 100 ft (less than 1 minute).
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I have been in constant pain since I heard of Troops assembling at Boston, lest the Madness of Mobs or the Insolence of Soldiers, or both, should, when too near each other, occasion some Mischief difficult to be prevented or repaired, and which might spread far and wide. I hope, however that Prudence will predominate and keep all quiet.
-Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Cooper, 1769
After two years of occupation by the British Army, tensions in Boston reached an all time high in 1770. While some Bostonians welcomed the soldiers, others saw them as invaders. As the winter dragged on, protests and street fights began to break out in different parts of Boston. A clash on March 5 had deadly consequences. That evening, a wigmaker’s apprentice named Edward Gerrish got into a fight with Private Hugh White of the 29th Regiment over a dispute of a barber bill. Losing his temper, Private White assaulted the teenaged Gerrish with his musket. Gerrish cried out for help and the townspeople soon arrived on the scene.
Around nine o’clock that night, church bells began to ring out into the darkness. Usually an indication that a fire was consuming part of the town, Bostonians started to pour out of their homes carrying their fire buckets to assist in the fight. Others, though, came to the intersection of King and Queen Streets armed with weapons: snowballs, oyster shells, bricks, and sticks and converged upon Private White. Though estimates varied, the crowd ranged from 30 to 90 angry men.
Captain Thomas Preston, the officer on duty that night, led seven soldiers across the intersection to reinforce Private White. They formed in front of the Customs House with their muskets loaded, bayonets affixed. Confusion and fear ruled the scene as the sounds of taunts, screams, and church bells combined, making communication almost impossible. Suddenly, one of the soldiers was struck with an object and fell to the ground. As he stood up, he lowered his musket towards the crowd and fired. Though no order was given, several other soldiers opened fire. Captain Preston ordered the men to cease firing, but as the balls flew through the street, men fell dead and wounded. The first bloodshed of the American Revolution in Boston fell onto the ice and snow in front of the Old State House.
As the smoke cleared, three individuals lay dead in the street: a sailor James Caldwell, a ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a sailor named Crispus Attucks. Attucks, who was a self-emancipated man of African and Indigenous descent, is often referred to the first victim of the American Revolution. Two more men later died from their wounds: Samuel Maverick, an ivory carving apprentice, and Patrick Carr, an Irish born breeches maker.
In the days following the Massacre the town was in mourning and also in panic. Mass meetings met at Faneuil Hall, and then the Old South Meeting House, demanding justice for the innocent lives lost at the hands of British soldiers. Crispus Attucks, a stranger in town, was lain in state at Faneuil Hall, and then his body joined the other victims in an immense parade that marched throughout Boston. Some estimates claim as many as ten thousand people joined or witnessed the event. The victims of the Massacre were ultimately buried in the Granary Burying Ground, where their graves are still marked to this day.
The patriots did not forget or forgive what happened on King Street on March 5 for years to come, holding commemorations on the anniversary of this massacre.
The Boston Massacre is now noted as one of the sparks of the American War for Independence, with Crispus Attucks as its first martyr. While Boston played a significant role in the American Revolution, this city also served as a hub in subsequent revolutions, particularly in the fight against slavery. In fact, the site of the Boston Massacre once again witnessed a flash-point. In 1854, freedom seeker Anthony Burns was captured and sentenced to be returned to slavery. After abolitionists failed to rescue him from his Boston Courthouse jail cell, Anthony Burns was marched down State Street in shackles, under a guard of federal marshals, marines, local police, and deputy agents. 50,000 Bostonians watched in protest, and abolitionists recognized the tragic irony of a Black man in chains being forced back into slavery over the same spot Crispus Attucks fell in the fight for Liberty. As they passed over the site of the Boston Massacre, Burns and the armed procession walked under a black coffin with the word “Liberty” written on it. This event became a turning point for many Bostonians in the fight over slavery. As philanthropist Amos Lawrence wrote in a letter to his uncle, “We went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.”
In an effort to remember the event and the lives lost, the Boston Massacre was commemorated in stone in 1886. A “round, wheel-shaped” memorial consisting of 13 circles of cobblestones was installed at the foot of the Old State House. You can still see this marker, about 10 feet wide, in front of the Old State House in front of the intersection of Devonshire, State, and Congress Streets.
After two years of occupation by the British Army, tensions in Boston reached an all time high in 1770. On March 5, a wigmaker’s apprentice got into a fight with a 29th Regiment soldier over a bill dispute. Confusion of the scene increased as calls of a fire brought people into the streets. A crowd of men gathered, some with buckets, others with makeshift weapons, such as snowballs and bricks. The soldier called for backup. The standoff escalated, and one soldier was struck and fell. As he stood, he lowered his musket and fired, as did others, though no order was given. The first bloodshed of the Revolution in Boston fell in front of the Old State House. In all, five men died. After a trial in October, only two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter. Though the two sides settled into an uneasy compromise, the patriots did not forget the massacre on King Street. A “round, wheel-shaped” memorial consisting of 13 circles of cobblestones was installed at the foot of the Old State House in 1886.
Standing at the Boston Massacre Site with your back to the Old State House, follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground to the left. Carefully cross State Street and continue across the intersection of Congress Street. Follow the trail north along Congress Street. Faneuil Hall is on the right in a large open plaza. Length: approximately 0.2 miles (5 minutes).
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"To speak tonight in Faneuil Hall with the pictures of Sam Adams and those other great men of the Revolution around us, and to go back to the historical event which this Tea Party celebrates, brings to mind immediately the watchword of that hour 'Taxation without representation is tyranny.'…It is the same thing we are today struggling for. The Woman Suffrage movement has been often spoken of as a new movement. It is, but it is based on old principles—the principles that were fought for and maintained on the field of battle nearly a hundred years ago. It is simply a carrying out of the principles further than our fathers carried them a hundred years ago."
In December 1873, suffragist Mary Livermore, along with other men and women suffragists, recognized the one hundredth anniversary of the Boston Tea Party by hosting their own event inside Faneuil Hall’s Great Hall-the very same place where the first Tea Party meetings began in 1773. During this New England Women’s Tea Party, speakers referenced the rights and liberties that early colonists fought for and declared. Yet, though the war for independence had been won, the struggle for representation, equal rights, and liberty continued for every generation.
Construction of this original building completed in 1742, and it served as a town meeting hall and marketplace. Bostonians named the building after its benefactor, Peter Faneuil, a Bostonian merchant. Like many other Boston merchants, Faneuil profited from the labor of enslaved persons in the Caribbean and from trafficking in enslaved Africans all around the Atlantic. His wealth, and the funds for this building, came from the profits of his Atlantic trading empire.
While the building has since gone through a rehabilitation and expansion since 1742, Faneuil Hall has remained a site of meetings, protests, and debate. It gained its unofficial name the “Cradle of Liberty” from James Otis in 1763 when he dedicated this building to the cause of liberty. Though most known for its Revolutionary-era protests, Faneuil Hall has served as a gathering space for successive generations to discuss and debate the meaning and legacy of American liberty. Abolitionists called meetings in response to arrests of fugitive slaves in the city, sometimes facing the attacks of anti-abolitionists who also held meetings here. Women's suffragists and anti-suffragists each held rallies throughout the decades-long struggle for the 19th Amendment. Labor activists hosted union meetings here where they rallied for better wages and working conditions. Anti-communists helped perpetuate the Red Scare in Boston and called for the defense of American liberty against Communism. And in the 1970s through the 1990s, Boston's LGBTQ+ community took inspiration from the old Boston town meetings, holding their own open forums in Faneuil Hall to voice their concerns and fight for their right to exist in the world as their truest selves.
Today, Bostonians continue to use Faneuil Hall for political, social, and cultural events. The Hall has also been host for naturalization ceremonies since the 1980s, welcoming new citizens at the “Cradle of Liberty.”
In 2008, journalist Yvonne Abraham wrote of her experience becoming a citizen in Faneuil Hall: “We are sitting together on hard wooden benches in Faneuil Hall, waiting for the judge…We have waited years, even decades, for this day. ... We are doctors, clerks, students, factory workers. We live in Hyde Park, Randolph, Lowell, Chicopee. We are from Angola, Poland, El Salvador, South Korea. There are 417 of us in all, from 75 countries...US District Judge William Young stands beneath the giant painting of Daniel Webster defending the Union, and tells us we are special. ‘It’s my privilege to welcome you to citizenship...You, make no mistake, are what makes this country great. ... This is a short ceremony, but you have walked long roads to get here. I want to thank you...on behalf of all citizens.’
Ask us how we feel on this day and many of us will say we are the ones who are grateful, for the immense opportunities this country has given us, for the rights and responsibilities that will be ours. But here is a federal judge in his black robes thanking us. We entered Faneuil Hall proud to become US citizens at last. Young makes us proud to be immigrants, too.”
The ground floor of Faneuil Hall serves as a marketplace and a visitor center for the National Parks of Boston. When open for visitors, Park rangers and Park staff interpret the historic Great Hall on the second floor of the building. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company occupy and operate the fourth floor.
The original Faneuil Hall finished construction in 1742 and served as a town meeting hall and marketplace. Bostonians named the building after its benefactor, Peter Faneuil, a Boston merchant who profited from the labor of enslaved persons in the Caribbean and from trafficking enslaved Africans around the Atlantic. His wealth, and likely the funds for the building, came from the profits of his Atlantic trading empire. While the building has gone through rehabilitation and expansion since 1742, Faneuil Hall has remained a site of meetings, protests, and debate. Its unofficial name, the “Cradle of Liberty,” was coined by James Otis in 1763. Though most known for its Revolutionary-era protests, Faneuil Hall has served as a gathering space for successive generations to discuss and debate the meaning and legacy of American liberty, including abolitionists, women’s suffragists, labor activists, and the LGBTQ+ community. Today, Bostonians continue to use Faneuil Hall for political, social, and cultural events.
Exit Faneuil Hall east towards the Quincy Market building. The red Freedom Trail® line on the ground will cross in front of you. Turn left and follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground towards the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Follow all turns of the trail. The Trail will take you across North St. and have you follow Union Street. Follow it to the right down Marshall St. to Hanover Street. Continue across Blackstone St. and cross to the left over Hanover St. before carefully continuing right across John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road, through the Greenway, and across Cross Street. Turn right and follow the trail for a block and then turn left onto Hanover Street. At the light, cross Hanover Street to your right and walk down Richmond Street. Turn left onto North Street. Keep left at the fork and the Paul Revere House is in North Square on the left. Enter at the ticket booth next to the house. Length: approximately 0.5 miles (10 minutes).
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"Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride”
With the nation on the verge of Civil War, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow began writing “Paul Revere’s Ride” in 1860. Paul Revere became the symbol of Longfellow’s romantic vision of the Revolution: a time of unity and patriotism that Americans must remember. Within a decade of the poem’s publication in 1861, Longfellow made Paul Revere an American folk hero, but it took decades before the Boston community preserved his home in the North End.
Built around 1680, the Paul Revere House replaced the parsonage of the Second Church of Boston, which had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1676. The first owner of the house, Robert Howard, was a wealthy merchant and slaveowner. With its leaded casement windows and second-story overhang, it is the only remaining seventeenth-century house in Boston. Paul Revere owned the home from 1770 to 1800, renting it out during the 1780s.
When Revere bought the property, it became home to a master silversmith, “a man of middling rank,” as he later described himself. By then, the front roof line had been raised to create more attic space, likely providing more sleeping space for his children. Revere’s first wife, Sarah, had eight children, dying five months after the birth of her eighth. His second wife, Rachel, also had eight children. Generally, between five to nine children lived here at any one time.
By the time Paul Revere bought his North Square home, he had completed military service during the Seven Year’s War, started a family, and established a thriving silversmith business. When Parliament began taxing the American colonies in the 1760s, Revere’s income, like many of his artisan and mariner neighbors, began to drop. Revere joined “the cause of liberty,” first as an engraver of political cartoons, then as a member of political organizations, and finally as a courier and spy.
As a member of an intelligence network of thirty “mechanics,” Revere spent months spying on British soldiers and Tories. When news came that the British Army planned an expedition into the countryside to either arrest Revolutionary leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams in Lexington or seize munitions in nearby Concord, Revere and a network of individuals effectively spread a timely warning to supporters in the area. Although he had completed several other rides throughout April, Revere himself did not complete the “Midnight Ride,” getting captured by British soldiers just outside Lexington.
Shortly after Revere sold the house, it became a sailors’ boarding house. By the 1840s, the North End became home to Irish immigrants escaping the Potato Famine. By the late nineteenth century, Eastern European Jews and Southern Italians in search of religious freedom and economic opportunity settled in the neighborhood. Paul Revere’s house became a tenement with such businesses as a candy store, cigar factory, and vegetable and fruit store with apartments upstairs.
In 1902, Paul Revere’s great-grandson, John Phillips Reynolds, Jr., purchased the house to prevent it from being demolished. In 1905, the Paul Revere Memorial Association began restoring the house, which opened to the public in April 1908. The Paul Revere House remains open to the public today, giving visitors a glimpse of the long-lost seventeenth century Boston and sharing what it was like for Paul Revere and his family to live through the American Revolution.
Built around 1680, this house replaced the parsonage of the Second Church of Boston, which was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1676. Paul Revere bought the home in 1770 while working as a silversmith. He joined “the cause of liberty” as a political cartoon engraver, courier, and spy. Revere and others warned patriots that British soldiers left Boston to head towards Lexington and Concord on April 18, 1775. He continued to support the cause during the years of the Revolutionary War. After Revere sold the home around 1800, it became a sailors’ boarding house. Throughout the 19th century, the North End was home to Irish immigrants, Eastern European Jews, and Southern Italians. The home became a tenement with businesses. In 1902, Revere’s great-grandson purchased the house to prevent it from being demolished. The Paul Revere Memorial Association began restoring the house in 1905 and opened to the public in April 1908. The home remains open today. It is the only remaining 17th century home in Boston.
Exit the Paul Revere House grounds via the ticket booth gate. Turn left and follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground down North Square. Turn left onto Prince Street. Turn right onto Hanover Street and continue until you reach Paul Revere Mall on the left. Cross Hanover Street. Walk through the Paul Revere Mall and enter the rear gates of the Old North Church grounds. The entrance to Old North Church is ahead, at the other end of the building. Length: approximately 0.2 miles (5 minutes).
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"I returned at Night thro Charlestown; there I agreed with a Col. Conant, & some other Gentlemen, that if the British went out by Water, we would [show] two [Lanterns] in the North Church Steeple; & if by Land, one, as a Signal; for we were apprehensive it would be difficult to Cross the Charles River, or git over Boston neck. I left Dr. Warrens, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the Signals. I then went Home, took my Boots and Surtout, and went to the North part of ...Town..." -Paul Revere 1798, from a letter to Jeremy Belknap describing the events of April 18, 1775.
Built in 1723, The Old North Church, known officially as Christ Church, is the oldest standing church building in Boston today. By the 1720s, the original wooden King’s Chapel had become too small, which necessitated the construction of a new, larger, Anglican Church. The new church would be built in the North End, which by this time housed many of the wealthy merchants who made up the Anglican congregation. Built in the style of London architect Christopher Wren, Old North stands as one of the earliest examples of Georgian architecture in North America, and originally it would have been lusciously painted and each individual box pew would have been ostentatiously decorated to the liking of its private owners.
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, Christ Church found itself politically split over the issue of loyalty to the Crown. Many in the congregation had been affected financially by Parliament’s policies on taxation and importation, and the forced closure of the port of Boston in 1774 financially damaged those in the congregation whose business relied on shipping. Political and financial disputes so plagued the church that on April 18, 1775, the church's minister and vocal loyalist Rev. Mather Byles Jr. resigned.
That very evening, William Dawes and Paul Revere rode out to warn the Massachusetts countryside that a detachment of the British Army had left Boston by crossing the Charles River and headed west to the towns of Lexington and Concord. Fearing that neither he nor Dawes would be able to safely leave Boston and spread the message, Revere supplemented their rides with a signal from the tallest building in town, the steeple of the Old North Church, to Charlestown to indicate whether the army crossed the Charles River or took the longer land route down Boston Neck. Revere tasked a friend with this job, likely church member John Pulling Jr, who probably enlisted the church’s caretaker Robert Newman to assist. The two carefully climbed to the top of the church's steeple and briefly held out two lanterns toward Charlestown before quickly making their escape. By the time Revere arrived in Charlestown an hour or so later the signal had been seen and preparations were already being made. The story of these signal lanterns would be immortalized in Longfellow’s 1861 poem Paul Revere’s Ride, famously coining the phrase “One if by land, and two if by sea.” This alert gave the militias around Boston time to prepare for the army’s advance, and the skirmishes across Lexington and Concord the following day are considered the opening battles of the American Revolution.
The Old North Church has remained a fixture in the North End community of Boston, witnessing the changing of the neighborhood over the following centuries. It maintains an active Episcopal congregation, and it welcomes visitors to the church and historic site.
Built in 1723, the Old North Church, known officially as Christ Church, is the oldest standing church building in Boston today. Built in the style of London architect Christopher Wren, Old North stands as one of the earliest examples of Georgian architecture in North America. On the evening of April 18, 1775, British soldiers left Boston and headed towards Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere instructed that a lantern signal be sent from the tallest building in town, the church’s steeple, to indicate how the army had left. The lantern’s story was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1861 poem 'Paul Revere’s Ride,' with the famous phrase, “One if by land, and two if by sea.” This alert gave the militias around Boston time to prepare. The skirmishes at Lexington and Concord the next day are considered the opening battles of the American Revolution. Old North maintains an active Episcopal congregation and welcomes visitors to the church and historic site.
Exit the main entrance to Old North Church. Walk around the iron fence to the intersection of Hull and Salem Streets. Cross Salem St. and walk up Hull Street. The entrance to Copp's Hill Burying Ground is on the right. Length: approximately 0.1 miles (3 minutes).
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"Here lies buried in a stone grave 10 feet deep Cap Daniel Malcolm, merchant who departed this life October 23, 1766 Aged 44 Years. A true son of liberty a friend to the public an enemy to oppression and one of the foremost in opposing the Revenue Acts on America." -Inscription on the headstone of Daniel Malcolm, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground.
After Boston’s first burying ground, now known as the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, began to fill in the late 1650s, the town set up a second burying ground in the North End on a hill that partially belonged to shoemaker William Copp. Established in 1660, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground became the resting place of thousands of people who lived, worked, and died in the North End. Among those interred on the hill are merchant John Pulling Jr. and Old North Church sexton, or caretaker, Robert Newman, the two men believed to have held the signal lanterns on the night of April 18, 1775 to warn of the British advance on Lexington and Concord. Also buried here are Increase, Samuel, and Cotton Mather, all three influential and infamous theologians of Boston.
Copp’s Hill also is the final resting place for many early Bostonians of African descent. Many enslaved and free African Americans are buried on this hill, including Black educator, community leader, and Masonic Grand Master Prince Hall. Existing White lodges, such as Joseph Warren's St. Andrew's lodge, refused to allow Prince Hall and other men of color to become members. In response, Hall and several other men of color established their own Masonic lodge after being initiated into freemasonry by occupying British soldiers in 1775. In Boston, Prince Hall and his fellow masons led their community as activists for the abolition of enslavement and for the recognition of their rights as equal citizens in Massachusetts. Later Grand Masters of the Prince Hall Masons became significant leaders in the Black community of Boston’s Beacon Hill, including George Middleton and Lewis Hayden, whose homes are on the Black Heritage Trail. The African Lodge that Prince Hall organized and led laid the foundation of a fraternal organization of Black men that grew with the United States, and it still thrives today. Hall’s modern brothers erected the monument that currently stands next to his original, modest headstone.
Though blocked by the nineteenth century houses that now fill the North End, Copp’s Hill still offers a beautiful view of the Charles River and Charlestown. Visitors can get a glimpse of the same vantage point British soldiers used during the Battle of Bunker Hill, setting up their cannons among the headstones and bombarding Breed’s Hill on June 17, 1775.
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground was established in 1660 after the burying ground at King’s Chapel began to fill up. Located on a hill that partially belonged to shoemaker William Copp, it became the resting place of thousands of people who lived, worked, and died in the North End. Among those interred are merchant John Pulling Jr. and Old North Church caretaker Robert Newman, two men believed to have held the signal lanterns on April 18, 1775 to warn of the British advance on Lexington and Concord. Copp’s Hill also houses many of the graves of Boston’s early African population, including Black educator, leather dresser, and Masonic Grand Master Prince Hall. Though blocked by the nineteenth century houses that now fill the North End, Copp’s Hill still offers a beautiful view of the Charles River and Charlestown. Visitors can get a glimpse of the same vantage point British soldiers used during the Battle of Bunker Hill, setting up their cannons among the headstones and bombarding Breed’s Hill on June 17, 1775.
Exit Copp's Hill Burying Ground on to Hull Street. Turn right. Follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground and cross Snow Hill Street. Continue down Hull and then turn left onto Commercial Street until you come to N. Washington Street. Caution: The following is an alternate route that has been created for pedestrians due to construction. Cross N. Washington St. and proceed right. Follow the red painted line across a temporary pedestrian bridge to cross the Charles River. When you get to the light, carefully cross New Rutherford Ave. Here, the trail splits. Follow the trail to the left, carefully crossing Chelsea St. and entering City Square Park. Continue following the trail up Main Street. Turn right onto Winthrop Street. The trail splits again near the intersection of Winthrop and Adams Streets. Follow the trail to the left up Winthrop Street. The Bunker Hill Museum is off the Freedom Trail® on your left, across from Monument Square. Length: approximately 1 mile (20 minutes).
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"Sunday June 18 1775 The Day; perhaps the decisive Day is come on which the fate of America depends...Charlstown is laid in ashes. The Battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunkers Hill, a Saturday morning about 3 oclock & has not ceased yet... How [many ha]ve fallen we know not – the constant roar of the cannon is so [distre]ssing that we can not Eat Drink or Sleep – may we be supported and sustaind in the dreadful conflict... I cannot compose myself to write any further at present."
Abigail Adams wrote these words to her husband John Adams as she heard the cannon fire in Braintree, 10 miles south of the battlefield here in Charlestown. Though there was so much uncertainty about the outcome of the battle, one fact was clear to all observers: War had come to the Colonies.
On the evening of June 16, 1775, colonial militia units marched here to Charlestown and fortified what’s known today as Breed’s Hill. By morning, British cannon in Boston and in the harbor opened fire as British forces assembled to land and attack the hill. As the British forces began their assault, units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire hastily formed a line of defense. Among those on the battlefield were also over one hundred patriots of color, indigenous men and men of African descent.
Neither the colonial forces nor the British forces were ready for the chaos and carnage that awaited them. As the British forces climbed Breed’s Hill toward the fortification, colonial forces shot down upon them. While the militias initially held them back, British units continued to march forward as British cannon fired upon the surrounding land, setting nearby buildings on fire. British soldiers continued to put pressure on New England regiments, forcing them to retreat. This bloody battle lasted no longer than two hours but was devastating to both sides.
300 to 500 men of the New England militia were killed, wounded, or captured during the chaos. One of the most prominent losses was patriot leader Doctor Joseph Warren. The toll of the British Army and Marines was much greater - over 1,000 British soldiers were killed or wounded, including Major John Pitcairn. While ultimately a loss for the New England forces, the Battle of Bunker Hill became symbolic of the tenacity and spirit of those fighting for ideas of liberty.
Established in 2008 by the National Park Service, the Bunker Hill Museum shares the full story of the Battle of Bunker Hill through its exhibit spaces and dioramas. To learn more about the Battle, visit the Museum or take the self-guided audio tour of the battlefield “Remembering Revolution.” This audio tour explores the memory of three men who fought at Bunker Hill and why the monument and men continue to have relevance today. You can access this self-guided tour through the National Park Service App or through the Boston National Historical Park’s website.
As visitors walk through the museum, they can learn about the construction of the Monument, the efforts to memorialize the battle, and the history of the Charlestown neighborhood.
On the evening of June 16, 1775, colonial militia units marched here to Charlestown and fortified what’s known today as Breed’s Hill. By morning, British cannon opened fire as British forces assembled to land and attack the hill. As the British forces began their assault, units from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire hastily formed a line of defense. Among those on the battlefield were also over one hundred patriots of color, indigenous men and men of African descent. While the militias initially held back British soldiers, they were soon forced to retreat. This bloody battle lasted no longer than two hours and was devastating to both sides. While ultimately a loss for the New England forces, the Battle of Bunker Hill became symbolic of the spirit of those fighting for ideas of liberty.
At the Museum, visitors can explore exhibits and dioramas that share the stories of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the construction of the Monument, and the history of the Charlestown Neighborhood.
Exit the Museum from the main entrance. Carefully cross the street ahead of you and climb the stairs on the other side. Walk directly towards the Monument. Go around the Monument to the right. When the Monument is open, the entrance is via the adjacent Bunker Hill Lodge building. Length: approximately 300 ft (1 minute).
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"A duty has been performed. A work of gratitude and patriotism is completed. This structure, having its foundations in soil which drank deep of early revolutionary blood, has at length reached its destined height, and now lifts its summit to the skies...We have assembled to celebrate the accomplishment of this undertaking, and to indulge, afresh, in the recollection of the great event which it is designed to commemorate."
With these words, Daniel Webster commemorated the opening of the Bunker Hill Monument in 1843.
Daniel Webster was a well-known political figure, and he served as a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, a private group that oversaw the construction of the monument and lodge, one of the earliest monuments dedicated to a Revolutionary War battle.
The Monument Association had two goals: they wanted to memorialize the location of the battle and they wanted to make the battle a unifying, shared story for Americans. As Americans faced national divisive issues, Webster and others wanted the monument to represent Americans’ common purpose.
The monument resembles an Egyptian obelisk. It’s made of granite blocks, some over 8 tons each, and it has a 294-step granite staircase to the top. The monument is an engineering marvel; it stood as the tallest structure in the United States until the completion of the Washington Monument in 1884.
The Monument Association underestimated the cost of building the Bunker Hill Monument, resulting in the project taking 15 years to complete due to funding shortfalls. To prevent the project from stalling, writer-editor Sarah Josepha Hale and a group of Boston-area women held a successful Ladies Fair that raised part of the funds to complete the monument at 221 feet.
The people of Charlestown have embraced the Battle of Bunker Hill and later the Monument with celebrations and parades every June 17. Bunker Hill Day became a city-sponsored event with patriotic speeches and songs on the grounds of the Monument when Charlestown became part of Boston in 1874.
Citizens of Charlestown and Boston alike have referenced the Monument and what it represents to them in the decades that followed its completion. Suffragist Lucy Stone once remarked, “We are still battling for the principle it stands for. My spirit kindles whenever I see that monument. It is our monument.” Activists and artists have activated the Monument through the 20th and 21st centuries.
Adjacent to the monument is the Bunker Hill Lodge, built in 1903; this Greek Revival granite building replaced an earlier wooden structure built to house the Doctor Joseph Warren statue. The Lodge also held artifacts and dioramic scenes from the battle. The National Park Service moved these items to the Bunker Hill Museum in 2008, which is directly across from the Monument in a former public library building. Here visitors can explore exhibits and dioramas that share the stories of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the construction of the Monument, and the history of the Charlestown Neighborhood.
Just blocks away from the monument at Winthrop Square are four bronze tablets listing the Provincial militia that died in the Battle of Bunker Hill, installed by the City of Boston in 1889. These names remind us of the diversity of the Provincials who fought, not just at Bunker Hill, but throughout the Revolutionary War, as many Native Americans and freed and enslaved African Americans were among those who fought.
The Bunker Hill Monument was built to memorialize the location of the Battle of Bunker Hill and make the battle a unifying, shared story for Americans. It resembles an Egyptian obelisk, and has a 294-step granite staircase to the top. The people of Charlestown have embraced the battle and later the Monument with celebrations and parades every June 17. Activists and artists have since activated the Monument throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
Adjacent to the monument is the Bunker Hill Lodge, built in 1903; this Greek Revival granite building replaced an earlier wooden structure built to house the Doctor Joseph Warren statue. The Lodge also held artifacts and dioramic scenes from the battle. The National Park Service moved these items to the Bunker Hill Museum in 2008, which sits directly across from the Monument.
Exit the Bunker Hill Lodge and walk down the accessible ramp. Turn right and follow the red Freedom Trail® line on the ground. Make a left and continue along Winthrop Street. The trail splits near the intersection of Winthrop and Adams Streets. Follow the trail to the left, along Adams Street. Make a right on to Chestnut Street. Continue following the trail under the highway overpass. Carefully cross Chelsea Street and follow the trail along Constitution Road. The trail splits near Gate 1. Follow the trail left to enter the Charlestown Navy Yard. For exhibits, introductory film, and visitor information, the Visitor Center is on your right. Enter by continuing along 1st Ave. and walking to the end of the building, turning right, and going through security on the right. Length: approximately 0.5 miles (10 minutes).
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"Boston, from the natural strength of it’s situation, the great number, of Ship Carpenters in it’s vicinity, and of it’s Seamen, must always remain, a Building place & a place of Rendezvous, for our Navy, of the first importance."
Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert wrote these words to President John Adams on April 25, 1800 as he proposed Boston as the home of one of the nation’s first six Navy Yards.
Stoddert specifically recommended these shores of Charlestown because its land and sea features made it the most ideal location in Boston Harbor. Long before the United States established the Charlestown Navy Yard, the tidal flats of this area provided seasonal sustenance to local indigenous communities for thousands of years. These communities, whose descendants are the Massachusett, called the land Mishawum or “Great Springs.”
When colonists took over this land, it became one of the first colonial ports in North America. Years later, during the Revolutionary War in 1775, these tidal flats acted as a landing area in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Established in 1800 by the United States Navy, the Charlestown Navy Yard served as an active naval shipyard for 174 years. Buildings at the Yard, such as Dry Dock 1, the Ropewalk, and the Chain Forge, proved to be revolutionary, either because of their uniqueness or the technological advancements made within their walls. Due to these innovations, workers at the Charlestown Navy Yard built over 200 ships and repaired thousands more.
The most productive years of the Charlestown Navy Yard was during World War II. To meet the needs of the United States Navy, the Navy Yard increased its workforce from 17,000 civilian workers to a peak of over 50,000 workers working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
For generations the workforce had almost entirely been White men, but during this time of crisis the Navy Yard opened its doors to women and people of color. For the first time, this created the opportunity to make livable wages for thousands of people. While these workers provided critical labor and many excelled in their positions, some experienced racism, sexual harassment, and discrimination.
This industrial workplace had harsh conditions that pushed the limits of endurance and even the health of workers. Virginia Wilder Parker, a welder at the Charlestown Navy Yard, recalled working in both the cold and the heat: "When I first came to the yard they said women would never work below decks...uh-huh, we did...lot of it was rough like I just mentioned about the ... dry dock! ... we used to go down there … icy days, everything, it was quite dangerous. And uh, sitting on cold steel, wasn’t the best either but we all had pads that we made ... we printed our name on it and sometimes uh, it would be so hot that you couldn’t put your hand down on the steel, you’d get burned..."
At the end of World War II, production and employment decreased as the armed forces returned home. During the Cold War, the Yard continued to be a valuable site of innovation and modernization, specializing in refitting destroyers like the USS CASSIN YOUNG.
After 174 years of constant operation, the Yard closed in 1973. One year later, Boston National Historical Park was established, with the Charlestown Navy Yard as a unit of the park.
To learn more about the history of the Yard and its workers, visit the Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Center or check out digital experiences on the Boston National Historical Park’s website and the National Park Service App.
The area Charlestown Navy Yard occupies was once tidal flats that provided sustenance to local Indigenous communities. These flats acted as a landing area in the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Established in 1800, the Charlestown Navy Yard served as a space of shipbuilding innovation for 174 years: Dry Dock 1 was the one of the first two dry docks constructed in the country; the Ropewalk produced all the rope for the entire U.S. Navy; and the Chain Forge developed and used a unique process called Die-Lock, which created incredibly strong links. Workers at the Charlestown Navy Yard built over 200 ships and repaired thousands more. Over half of these ships were constructed during World War II, the most productive years of the Charlestown Navy Yard. During this time, the Navy Yard increased its workforce from 17,000 civilian workers to over 50,000 workers, including women and workers of various ethnic and racial backgrounds. The Navy Yard joined Boston National Historical Park in 1974.
Tours of USS CONSTITUTION are offered by active duty personnel of the United States Navy. Exit the Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Center through the side exit and meet with the crewmember stationed outside for the next tour. Exhibits of USS CONSTITUTION's history are at the USS Constitution Museum outside the secure area, directly across the pier. NOTE: Tour availability of USS CONSTITUTION is subject to change without prior notice. The ship is docked to the right when looking down towards the end of the pier. Length: approximately 200 ft (1 minute).
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“Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon’s roar;— The meteor of the ocean air Shall sweep the clouds no more!”
So begins Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.’s poem “Old Ironsides,” which describes the battle aboard the USS CONSTITUTION. The USS CONSTITUTION was constructed along with five other warships that comprised the new Navy for the United States after the Revolutionary War. Launched in 1797, the USS CONSTITUTION is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world today and was constructed right here in Boston.
The USS CONSTITUTION spent the first few years in the Quasi-War with France and later fighting off pirates on the Barbary Coast. It was during the War of 1812 that the ship gained fame and prowess. The USS CONSTITUTION gained its name “Old Ironsides” after its first big battle of the war, against the British ship HMS GUERRIERE. During the encounter, sailors observed how well the hardwood sides of the ship repelled the cannonballs. Not only were the sides strong, with 55 guns on board it was a mighty force to face upon the open seas. “Old Ironsides” went on to defeat four other British warships during the war and evaded capture. During this time, 450 to 500 sailors served onboard to keep the ship under way.
After the War of 1812 the UUSS CONSTITUTION, served in a number of squadrons in different locations around the world. From 1844 to 1846 the ship sailed around the world on a world cruise. During its service as the flagship of the African Squadron, while on patrol for slave traders headed to America off the coast of West Africa, the USS Constitution seized its last ship, the H.N. GAMBRILL, in November of 1853. When stopped and examined, this American schooner was prepared to take on enslaved Africans as cargo.
Over the following years, the USS CONSTITUTION became a training vessel. After a national cruise from 1931 – 1934, it returned to Boston, where it remains today. “Old Ironsides” now sits in the Charlestown Navy Yard as both a training and ceremonial ship for the Navy as well as an educational experience for visitors.
The USS CONSTITUTION and five other warships comprised the new Navy for the United States after the Revolutionary War. Built in Boston and launched in 1797, the CONSTITUTION is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world today. During the War of 1812 the ship gained fame and its name “Old Ironsides.” During its first big battle against the British warship HMS GUERRIERE, sailors observed how well the ship’s hardwood sides repelled the cannonballs. It also had 55 guns on board. The ship went on to defeat four other British warships during the war and evade capture. The ship served on squadrons around the world and seized its last ship in November 1853 while on patrol for slave traders headed to America from West Africa. It later became a training vessel. After a national cruise from 1931 – 1934, it returned to Boston, where it remains today. The CONSTITUTION now sits in the Charlestown Navy Yard as both a training and ceremonial ship for the Navy, as well as an educational experience for visitors.
Exit the USS CONSTITUTION and the secure area. Across the Navy Yard and down 1st Avenue, on the other side of Dry Dock 1, is the USS Constitution Museum. Length: approximately 0.1 miles (3 minutes).
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The USS Constitution Museum opened in 1976 in the former pump house for Dry Dock 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Museum is a private, non-profit, and non-government funded complement to the USS CONSTITUTION. Artifacts that once were displayed on the ship or were in storage became part of the museum.
The Museum is the memory and educational voice of “Old Ironsides.” Museum staff collect, preserve, and interpret the artifacts and archival material related to the Ship and its crew through interactive exhibitions, compelling programs, and engaging outreach initiatives.
The USS Constitution Museum is recognized as a leader in hands-on history and family learning. Through its innovative education programs, interactive exhibits, and groundbreaking research, the Museum presents a model for how stories of the past can become relevant, relatable, and, most of all, fun for all ages.
Since opening, the Museum has doubled in size and quadrupled in visitation. Working with the National Parks of Boston, the Museum expanded into two adjacent buildings and built a connecting corridor in the mid-1990s.
In 2001, the Museum completed renovations on a new state-of-the-art collections storage facility and research library. Today, over 350,000 people visit the Museum each year to learn, explore, and research, making it one of Boston’s most visited museums.
The USS Constitution Museum opened in 1976 in the former pump house for Dry Dock 1 in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Museum is a private, non-profit, and non-government funded complement to the USS CONSTITUTION. Museum staff collect, preserve, and interpret the artifacts and archival material related to the Ship and crew through interactive exhibitions, compelling programs, and engaging outreach initiatives. Through its innovative education programs, interactive exhibits, and groundbreaking research, the Museum presents a model for how stories of the past can become relevant, relatable, and, most of all, fun for all ages. Working with the National Parks of Boston, the Museum expanded into two adjacent buildings and built a connecting corridor in the mid-1990s. In 2001, the Museum completed renovations on a new storage facility and research library. Today, over 350,000 people visit the Museum each year to learn, explore, and research, making it one of Boston’s most visited museums.
Walk out of the Museum into the main quad of the Charlestown Navy Yard. After Dry Dock 1, turn left to head towards the pier. USS CASSIN YOUNG will be on your left at the end of the pier. Length: approximately 0.2 miles (5 minutes).
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"One thing I liked about being on a destroyer was, they were small. Oh, I don't think I would have liked the Navy as much if I had been on a bigger ship, you know. It might have been an easier life, but ... [y]ou'd look at these other, bigger ships just waddling along you know, and you'd—We'd knife down through them—boy that was a good feeling. And then about the time you were, you know, in a heavy sea why you [chuckles] ... they [destroyers] weren't that great, but, you felt like you were really living…you’d turn into the wind and get a little bit of spray in your face and, you’d taste the salt…then you’d feel those propellers turning…and you could feel the power in that thing, you know. Felt good."
Built in 1943 in San Pedro, California, the USS CASSIN YOUNG is one of the 175 Fletcher-class destroyers built during World War II. Here in Charlestown, the Navy Yard built dozens of similar ships during the war. In the 1950s, the USS CASSIN YOUNG and many other destroyers received regular repairs and modernization in Charlestown. CASSIN YOUNG is therefore a testament to not only the sailors who served aboard the ship, but also to the workers in Navy Yards across the country who served and sacrificed for their country.
The ship’s namesake was Captain Cassin Young, a U.S. Navy service member who earned a Medal of Honor for heroics at Pearl Harbor. He was later killed in action at the Naval Battle at Guadalcanal, where he served as a captain of a heavy cruiser.
During World War II, the USS CASSIN YOUNG served in seven campaigns in the Pacific Theater. Destroyers such as the USS CASSIN YOUNG were true to their name, ready to fight off attacks from the air, the surface, and under the surface with a substantial weapons system and handling a variety of duties. The ship had a crew of 325 men during World War II.
Following the ship’s commissioning on December 31, 1943, the USS CASSIN YOUNG initially engaged in combat in April 1944, attacking Japanese strongholds in the Caroline Islands. Throughout 1944, it escorted U.S. forces throughout the Pacific, experiencing kamikaze aircraft for the first time towards the end of the year.
After the April 1, 1945 assault on Okinawa, in which the USS CASSIN YOUNG escorted assault craft to the beaches in addition to providing shore bombardment, the ship took up the role of serving in a radar picket station. This hazardous responsibility provided early warning of impending air attacks to the main fleet. The USS CASSIN YOUNG’s time on radar picket stations included two instances of being struck by kamikazes, once on April 12 and again on July 30. Although six kamikazes were shot down on April 12 during a massive attack, one hit the mast and exploded fifty feet above the ship. One sailor, Torpedoman 3rd Class Robert Moore, was killed and 59 were wounded. After repairs, the USS CASSIN YOUNG returned to Okinawa in July. Again the ship came under assault on July 30, approximately two weeks before the end of World War II. Shortly after 3 AM, a single kamikaze crashed into the starboard side of the main deck near the forward smoke stack, causing a large fire. The crew contained the damage, restored power in one engine and got the ship underway within the hour. The casualties from this attack numbered 22 men dead and 45 wounded. For determined service and gallantry on the Okinawa radar picket line, the USS CASSIN YOUNG was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation.
Repaired upon returning to California, the USS CASSIN YOUNG was decommissioned for the first time in May of 1946 before being recalled to service at the outbreak of the Korean Conflict. Recommissioned in September of 1951 with initial tours in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the ship was retrofitted in the Charlestown Navy Yard, and subsequently served as a patroller of the seas outside of Korea and in the Mediterranean during the 1950s with a crew complement of 250 men. Among the highlights of these later years included the ship’s receipt of the ‘E’ for Battle Efficiency in 1959. On April 29, 1960, the USS CASSIN YOUNG was again decommissioned and put into mothballs (part of a reserve fleet) in Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia.
The USS CASSIN YOUNG has been a part of the Boston National Historical Park since 1981 when it opened to the public as a museum ship in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The ship is in the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark since 1986.
Built in 1943 in San Pedro, California, USS CASSIN YOUNG is one of 175 Fletcher-class destroyers built during World War II. The ship’s namesake was Captain Cassin Young, a U.S. Navy service member who earned a Medal of Honor for heroics at Pearl Harbor and was killed in action at the Naval Battle at Guadalcanal. The ship was active in the Pacific Theater during WWII, serving in seven separate campaigns. It had a crew of 325 men. Commissioned in December 31, 1943, the ship engaged in combat in April 1944. Following the April 1, 1945 assault on Okinawa, CASSIN YOUNG took up the duties of radar picket ship, where it was struck by kamikazes twice. It was decommissioned in May 1946 but was recalled at the outbreak of the Korean Conflict in September 1951. The ship was decommissioned again on April 29, 1960 and moved to a reserve fleet in Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia. It has been a part of the Boston National Historical Park since June 1981, opening to the public as a museum ship at the Charlestown Navy Yard.
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Interested in reading about the stories highlighted in this tour? Check out our History & Culture page to explore more.
Massachusetts State House: President-Elect John F. Kennedy's "The City Upon a Hill Speech" Credit: WBZ Radio. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Faneuil Hall: Thank you to Yvonne Abraham from the Boston Globe for permission to use a selection of her April 27, 2008 column.
"300 Trek Hub's Freedom Trail to Protest War." Boston Globe. August 10, 1969.
"Abigail Adams to John Adams, 18 June 1775," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0150. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 222–224.]
"Abigail Adams to John Adams, 21 July 1776," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0033. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 55–57.]
Abraham, Yvonne. "We had a dream." Boston Globe. April 27, 2008.
Archer, Richard. As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
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Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Edited by Martin Blatt, Thomas Brown, and Donald Yacovone. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001.
Horton, James and Lois Horton. Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1979.
Kaplan, Sidney and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989.
Kendrick, Stephen and Paul Kendrick. Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and how Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
Kennedy, John F. "The City Upon a Hill Speech." January 9, 1961. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Accession Number: MR65-221. The City Upon a Hill Speech | JFK Library
"King's Chapel, Anglicanism, and the American Revolution." Independent Country, Independent Church: American Independence, James Freeman, and King's Chapel's 1780s Theological Revolution. King's Chapel. Accessed April 1, 2023. http://www.kings-chapel.org/anglicanandrevolution.html.
"Massachusetts SP Boston Common and Public Garden." National Archives Catalog. Record Group 79: Records of the National Park Service. Series: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Massachusetts. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797062
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Thatcher, Benjamin Bussey. Traits of the Tea Party: Being a Memoir of George R.T. Hewes, One of the Last of its Survivors: With a History of that Transaction, Reminiscences of the Massacre, and the Siege, and other Stories of Old Times. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835. https://archive.org/details/traitsofteaparty00that/page/178/mode/2up. 178.
Virginia Wilder Parker, Welder. Oral History. Boston National Historical Park. September 3, 2000.
Webster, Daniel. The Orations on Bunker Hill Monument: The Character of Washington and the Landing at Plymouth. New York: American Book Company, 1894. GoogleBooks.
