For the trip to Boston in the fall of 2000, Mom and I stayed at the Parker House Hotel (built in 1855). We chose it for its location and the fact that we could get a very good deal on the room. Boston Cream Pie, Boston Scrod, and Parker House Rolls were all created at this hotel. Such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Charles Dickens all stayed at the Parker House at one time or another. John F. Kennedy announced his bid for the presidency there. When John Wilkes Booth visited his brother, Edwin, just before he assassinated Abraham Lincoln, he also stayed at the Parker House and did some target practicing nearby. It was a very nice hotel with a Victorian feel. The best thing about it was that it is right on the Freedom Trail and we could walk pretty much everywhere we wanted to go.
We covered the trail over a couple days as we wanted to make certain we saw everything we wanted to see and weren’t rushed. We started at the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. These were the soldiers portrayed in the film “Glory”. Next, we wound our way along Boston Common and visited the Park Street Church before entering the Old Granary Cemetery. This cemetery was very close to the hotel — just across the street on the one side. Paul Revere plus his father and in-laws, Samuel Adams, the Boston Massacre victims, Ben Franklin’s parents and John Hancock were all buried there. We spent some time walking around and checking out the graves before heading over to King’s Chapel, which is across the street from the hotel on another side.
King’s Chapel is the oldest burial ground in Boston, dating back to the mid-1600s. The church was founded in 1686, although the present building was built in 1754. Many of the original Boston settlers (including some of my Reynolds ancestors) are buried there as is William Dawes (from the midnight ride). Elizabeth Pain, who is believed to have been Nathaniel Hawthorne’s model for Hester Pryne in The Scarlett Letter, is also buried there. Over the centuries, with overcrowding and not a huge concern for having people directly under the headstone bearing their name, headstones were frequently shifted around. Some are illegible. So, although I know that I have ancestors in there, I have not found their headstones and don’t have a clue as to where their remains might be. I don’t suppose it really matters. It is a very atmospheric, old cemetery and I’m just tickled to know I have family there.
Our next stop was the Old South Meeting House, which is across the street from where the Reynolds family land was originally located. The Boston Tea Party was planned here and the men who participated went directly from the meeting house to the harbor. A vial of tea and a piece of a label from one of the chests are on display, along with John Hancock’s portable writing desk and a musket from the Lexington battle. It was the largest building in Boston at the time it was built, with two levels of balconies and the pulpit at the side of the building.
That first day, we ended with the Old State House and Fanueil Hall. The next say, we began with the Holocaust Memorial and then explored the neighborhood of the Union Oyster House, and the Green Dragon Tavern. Shortly before reaching Paul Revere’s House, we stopped in at an old shop where I purchased a sword. I was told that it was British and of the type that the Regulars would have had at Bunker Hill. The person who sold me the sword said that the colonial militia would not have had swords, other than possibly the officers.
I found Paul Revere’s house to be fascinating. It was built in 1680. The Revere’s lived there from 1770 to 1800. It was the first wooden 17th century house in the U.S. that I had ever seen in person and was not large or grand — just an ordinary house of the time. Across a small courtyard from the house is a brick Georgian house build in 1711. This is the Pierce/Hichborn House and can also be toured. It is very different from the Revere house. We took our time at both houses, then sat for a while on a bench in the courtyard, staring at the Revere house before continuing on our way.
Between Paul Revere’s House and the Old North Church, I was stopped by a woman who asked me if her son could see the “toy” sword I was carrying (the tang, grip, pommel and button were sticking out of the plastic bag). I told her that it wasn’t a toy, but that I would show it to her and her son, although he couldn’t touch it. That seemed to satisfy them, so I pulled it from the bag and pulled the sword from the scabbard. It was and still is dull, so not too much danger of cutting anything. But I still didn’t want to take any chances. It now hangs at the bottom of the stairs down into my family room, above a Grand Union flag (which was the flag in use in the colonies at the beginning of the Revolution). I bought the flag at the Old North Church.
The Old North Church was not terribly large and was also hemmed in by several other buildings. So getting a good photo of it wasn’t easy. As with the Old South Meeting House, photographs were allowed inside. I loved the box pews. They also had a couple lanterns on display like the ones that had been waved up in the tower. But we also weren’t allowed up in the tower. We did go into one of the box pews and sat down to contemplate for a while.
Before heading across the river, we had lunch and then went up to Copp’s Hill Burying Ground. Both Militia Men and Regulars were buried there, including several from the Battle of Bunker Hill. The climb up the hill is worth it just for the view. The site originally had a windmill on it and was turned into a cemetery in the mid-1600s. It is the second oldest burying ground in Boston. Both Cotton Mather and Increase Mather, two Puritan preachers who were involved in the Salem Witch Trials, were buried there. Several free African-Americans, including Prince Hall, who began the first group of black freemasons, were buried there as well.
After Copp’s Hill, we crossed the river to tour the U.S.S. Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides”. The ship was launched in 1797 and saw service in several battles during the War of 1812. This ship is the real thing. It isn’t a reproduction. It continued to be in service until it was converted to a school ship in 1860. The last time that I am aware that it sailed was for the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in 2012. Periodically some refurbishment is needed to keep the ship seaworthy. It is now 220 years old.
I found it interesting that, other than the woman with the curious kid, nobody seemed to be bothered by me walking around with a sword sticking out of a plastic bag. Maybe they all thought that it was a toy. Not too sure that it wouldn’t cause comment now — post September 11th. But back in September of 2000, nobody cared.
The next stop on our journey was Bunker Hill. The Regulars had retreated to Bunker Hill after the battles in Concord & Lexington back in April. But, instead of engaging with the colonial militia immediately upon arrival in Charlestown, the Regulars chose to begin a siege on Boston and wait for reinforcements there while placing their cannons on Copp’s Hill, from where they could shoot at much of the city. In June, a couple days after the reinforcements arrived, Colonel William Prescott, of the colonial militia, began fortifying Breed’s Hill, which was closer to Boston and considered by him to be more readily defensible than Bunker Hill. Prescott also positioned several men on Bunker Hill.
Since my sword was likely from that battle, I momentarily thought about brandishing it on my way up the hill. But cooler heads prevailed and I quickly decided that would not be a good idea. Just carrying it up the hill in the plastic bag was good enough.
Most of the battle took place on Breed’s Hill. That’s also where the memorial was built. There is a debate about whether or not anybody actually said, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Even if it was said, nobody is certain who said it — Colonel William Prescott, General Israel Putnam, Colonel John Stark or Captain Richard Gridley. The Regulars ended up taking the ground, but at a loss of 1,054 casualties. The colonists suffered about 450 casualties. George Washington, on his way to Boston to take command of the Continental Army, heard about the battle while in New York City.
After leaving Bunker Hill, we took a boat from Charlestown Harbor to a pier not terribly far from the hotel, where I put my sword away before we headed for dinner at the Union Oyster House.
