Page Updated: January 17, 2024
Freedom Trail
Boston’s Freedom Trail - Boston MA
Boston’s Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red brick ribbon that snakes through the streets and sidewalks of the city while passing a collection of 16 locations pivotal to the birth of America.
Churches, meeting houses, and graveyards all have a story to tell. And together, along with museums and historical markers, these sites recount the history of America’s fight for independence.
Boston has a crazy number of small group walking tours. We chose to a self-guided tour which wound up working perfectly. We loved the fact we had the freedom to jaunt off trail anytime we saw something intriguing that interested us. It worked really well for us.
For our self-guided tour, we used the Freedom Trail app. The app has a number of tours for various places around Massachusetts including Boston Harborwalk, Lexington, and Salem Witch Trails. Each tour has a separate fee. You just purchase the tour you’re interested in.
Boston Common
You can travel the trail in any direction you want, but the official start of trail found in Boston Common, America’s oldest public park. The site was established in 1634 and over the centuries has grazed livestock, seen witches hanged, and housed 1000 Redcoats.
Today, it provides fun and relaxation for both Bostonians and tourists and has a large collection of bronze statues throughout the park.
Granary Burying Ground
The tour passes a total of 3 burying grounds that can be explored: King’s Chapel Burying Ground - the first graveyard in the settlement of Boston, Copp’s Hill, and Granary. Once part of Boston Common, the 2-acre Granary Burying Grounds contains 2300+ gravestones, 200+ tombs, and an estimated 5-8K people - including notables like Paul Revere, John Hancock, and all 5 victims of the Boston Massacre.
The majority of sites along Freedom Trail are free, but a handful of locations, like Old North Church, require admission for in-depth exploration. Of the sites requiring fees, we chose just one - Paul Revere’s House.
USS Constitution was one of the biggest highlights of the entire tour and all of Boston. The Ship is free to visit but does require security screening and valid form of identification. Walking the decks of this American icon was a surreal experience.
Bunker Hill Monument
The end of Boston’s Freedom Trail Tour is Bunker Hill Monument. Though the cornerstone to the obelisk wouldn’t be laid until 1825, the site marks the location of the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Visitors can climb the 294 steps to the top of the monument and see distant views of Boston, Boston Harbor, and surrounding neighborhoods.
As stated earlier, Boston’s Freedom Trail is officially 2.5-miles long; but there is a lot of unspecified walking at each historical stop. We started our day at 8:30am — 7 hours and 9 miles later, we reached Bunker Hill Monument.
Those unable to complete Freedom Trail by foot, can make use of Old Town Trolley’s hop-on/hop-off feature. The trolley stops at several trail locations and is the perfect way to hear even more about the area.
scenes from Freedom Trail
-b&b
Muldoon Park
New England Holocaust Memorial
