Destinations

Walking Boston'sHistoric Freedom TrailBy Chuck Leddy

Boston, known as The Cradle of Liberty, played a centralrole in the winning of Ainencan independence fromGreat Britain. Nothing shows this hetter than a leisure-ly afternoon walking tour of Boston's historic FreedomTrail. This writer showed up on a warm afternoon at the BostonCommon, a grassy park where 17th-century Bostonians wouldgraze their cattle. There today a targe group of history lovers(hailing from all over the United States, as well as a couple fromEdinburgh, Scotland) was met hy Revolutionary War hero Dr.Joseph Warren. He was dressed in hiack colonial breeches, whiteshirt and black vest, and wearing a tri-corner hat.

The good doctor (actor John Ferrara when he's not giving his-toric tours) introduces himself and explains that he'd been friendswith Paul Revere, and that he had helped defend Bunker Hillfrom the British on June 17,1775. (The patriot actually died thatday when he took a British musket ball during the enemy's fmalcharge.) Dr. Warren then takes us on the Freedom Trail, markedhy a painted red line on the sidewalk, and explains tbe signifi-cance of each historic site along the wayno easy task amidst thedin of passing Boston traffic.

First stop is Boston Common itself- We gather underneath atree, and tbe noted physiciim-turned-revolutionary leaderexplains how the Puritans had arrived here in 1630 and used thisgrassy park as a "common" gra^ng ground for their livestock, andtbat it would remain open to livestock until 1830. He furtherdescribes how tbe Common was used for tbe public banging ofwitches, heretics and criminals. Also, the city's stockades vrereplaced there, convenient for local Puritans to toss rotten vegeta-bles at such miscreants as Sabbath breakers, blasphemers andgamblers. When tbe hated British army occupied Boston in the1770s, notes Warren, they used tbe Common as a military camp.

We then walk to the golden-domed Massachusetts StateHouse, built in the 1790s on land ovmed by patriot merchantJohn Hancock, who would become the state's first elected gover-nor. The classical building was designed by Bostonian CharlesBulfincb, who later designed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dr.Warren belpfully informs us.

He leads us to nearby Park Street Churcb, where abolitionistWiUiam Lloyd Garrison gave a passionate antislavery sermon onJuly 4, 1829. A white supremacist mob gathered outside tbechurcb. Warren tells us, tben rusbed inside and surroundedGarrison. Tbey dragged the abolitionist from tbe pulpit andacross the street to Boston Common, where they gave him a sav-age heating tbat left him nearly dead. The beating didn't stop

John Ferrara leads tour groups through historic Boston, portrayingDr. Joseph Warren, one of the city's leading Revolutionaries.

Garrison's antislavery crusade:A few years later, he becamethe founding editor of TheLiberator, tbe nation's mostfamous abolitionist newspaper.

At the Granary BurialGround, next to the church,three signers of tbe Declara-tion of Independence areburied, along with some15,000 departed Bostonians.At the grave of Jobn Hancock,Dr. Warren gives us the scoopon how much Hancockloathed George Washington.Indeed, chuckles our bost,whenever Hancock and hiswife quarreled (wbich wasoften), Mrs. Hancock was fond

of telling her angry husbandwhat a fine and attractive manGeneral Washington was.

At Paul Revere's gravesitc.Dr. Warren remembersRevere's legendary midnightride, made famous in verse bypoet William WadswortbLongfellow. In fact, it was DocWarren who dispatched PaulRevere and fellow patriotWilliam Dawes to Lexingtonand Concord the night ofApril 18, 1775, after be hadreceived intelligence ahoutBritish troop movements.However, many of the detailswe learned in elementaryschool ahout Revere's famous

72 AMKRICAN HISTORY OCTOBER 2007 PHOTOS THEFREEDOWTRAIL.ORG. JOSEPH WARREN' LIBRARV OF CONGRESS

The RealJoseph WarrenDraped in a white Roman togaand under the scrutiny ofBritish Redcoats, patriot JosephWarren boldly took the pulpitat Boston's Old South Churchto deliver the annual BostonMassacre Oration, on March 6,1775. His biting and poeticwords had their desired effect:44 days later shots rang outfrom Lexington Green.

'Ourcountry isin danger,

but not to bedespaired of. Our

enemies are numerousand powerful;

but we have manyfriend