After not getting into Boston till Midnight it was still up and at em in the AM. I alway love driving into Boston and crossing this bridge. Super cool design. Called the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.
We were dropped off at the Boston Commons. It is the oldest public park in the United States. We started at the Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial. Itʻs to honor the first black regiment to fight in the Civil War. Ultimately Shaw lost his life with his men in a battle in South Carolina at Fort Wagner. This memorial is in honor of their bravery and sacrifice they made. It is also memorialized in the movie, Glory.
Directly across the street is the Massachuesets State House. The roof is real gold but it is extremely thin.
Our guide for the day was named was David. He was really great. Got the kids involved all day long. Funny, interactive, and a great speaking voice. Iʻll be requesting him again for sure. Here he has Khaelyn using her hand to show the geography of Boston.
Here we are outside Park Street Church. This is actually the church that sent the first missionaries to Hawaii.
Into the Old Granary Burial Ground we went. There are thousands of people buried here on top of each other. The graves stones just say one but there are so many more. It is a pretty cool burial ground. Along with lots of names we donʻt know, there are a bunch we do.
Like John Hancockʻs grave
This tree always reminds me of our dearly departed friend and co-worker Chantel Moreno. She came with us on our second trip in 2009. When we were here then and honestly pretty much every other time, this tree has always been mostly white, still flowering. Always a beautiful tree. She always asked about the tree after her trip when weʻd come back from East Coast Trips. We miss you Chantel!
This was one families burial plot. You can count down and see how many people are buried in one area. And how long that family had been using that plot! Holy Cow!
Another famous grave here. Paul Revere of Midnight Ride fame. We learned he died sorta in obscurity. It wasnʻt until a lot later that he became famous. It wasnʻt until Longfellowʻs poem about his heroics in 1775 did he become famous. Once he was, they replaced his small grave stone to a big one.
A super cool thing we saw was an excavating team digging down to get to some graves. They were checking to see the condition of some family graves and were planning on fixing up the walls. Checking on the conditions of everything.
Some pictures below with Sam Adamsʻ grave.
Here are the victims of the Boston Massacre. They are all buried right here next to Samuel Adams.
Here is Old City Hall. Boston is a pretty democratic city. They have a statue of a donkey which represents the democratic party.
Some cool buildings along the walk.
We then go to the scene of the Boston Massacre. It is directly in front of the old Customs House. David had the kids reenact it. He selected some Redcoats and some rowdy people to be the colonists.
Hereʻs our Redcoats.....
Fierce they look.
Colonist Kaimina is giving some lip to one of the soldiers.
Down ya go son.Hit in the face with the butt of a gun.
Later the soldiers open fire killing five Bostonians.
John Adams who ended up being the second president of the United States was actually the lawyer for the British soldiers. He got all off except two how got their thumb tips burnt as punishment.
At a monument in front of Fanueil Hall. The monument is of Sam Adams.
Lunch time in Quincy Market! A few folks had been waiting for this, myself included, for hot buttered lobster rolls with some clam chowda. It delivered as usual.
Red Auerbach statue. He was the Celtics coach for many years and won 16 championships.
After lunch we continued our tour through Boston. More revolutionary sites to see like the Green Dragon Tavern where things like the Boston Tea Party were planned out. Paul Revereʻs house. Itʻs the oldest house in Boston built in / around 1680.
Green Dragon Tavern
Paul Revere House
Mikeʻs Pastry to get canolis.
Behind Old North Church is Paul Revere Mall. A terrific statue in honor of Paul Revere. The Old North Church is not open on Mondays so we didnʻt go in but got to see it.
Walking along as a group to the bus to go to Lexington.
A very nice surprise for our kids was brought to us by Principal Lydia Trinidad. She contacted her friend Lilly, who sometimes come to Kualapuʻu to work with teachers, to bring us some Dunkin Donuts. Lilly couldnʻt but sent her daughter to bring them to us. Thanks everybody involved!
Lexington was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. Where it all began. The British soldiers had been marching all night from Boston on their way to Concord to find ammunition. In the early morning at Lexington they encountered Minutemen who were waiting for them. See below how it worked out for them as acted by the kids!
Our line of colonists standing up to the British soldiers.
And down go the colonists!
Jamal, our bus driver waiting for us to come back. What a great driver.
Stone circle in middle is site of Paul Revereʻs capture
We then went to our final site of the day, Concordʻs North Bridge. This is where the British went after Lexington to find the ammo the colonists had. At this point in time though the colonists knew something was happening and were pouring in from all over. They shot and killed some British soldiers here and started chasing them all the way back to Boston from here.
Grave of three British soldiers
Our dinner tonight was a scattered dinner meaning we could go where we wanted to. We were dropped off in China Town. I went to a place called Q. It was pretty great and even let you cook your own meat. Was good.
At the end of the day we got a surprise visit from Coach Ledger! Coach Ledger worked a few years at Kualapuʻu as a PE teacher and recently moved back to the Boston area. She moved cause she claimed love and a fiance and blah blah blah..... Was great to see her again. We need PE teachers Laura.......
Started the day by crossing this bridge into Boston and weʻll leave Boston the same way. Back to Woburn.
And since we got back relativly early the kids got to go swimming! Good fun but good lord my eyes burnt just being in the room not even getting in that chlorine pit.
