Eric’s Dream

…..American History comes to life

I made it to Boston last night, but found myself near the heart of the city faster than I expected, which isn’t where I wanted to be late at night.  I will be sleeping in my car for most of the remainder of the trip and I don’t like sleeping near city neighborhoods I’m not familiar with, so I backtracked about 20 miles to a rest stop to sleep for the night.

I awoke at sunrise and headed downtown Boston. I figured sightseeing would use all of the daylight hours and I was right.

Boston skyline from the Bunker Hill monument

My first stop was Fenway Park. It is one of the most historical pro baseball stadiums in the country and the Chowderhead Mecca. For those of you who don’t know what a chowder is, it’s a commonly used nickname for Boston sports fans.

Next, I headed over to the Bunker Hill Monument. It rises almost 300 steps to a peak of over 200 feet into the sky.  It stands far above everything in the Charlestown area of Boston. The steps are quite tiring and they spiral smaller and smaller as you near the top.  It makes for a tight passing between the people coming down and the people going up.  My legs were burning and it was the best leg workout I have had since the mountains out west.  The view of downtown Boston was beautiful and worth the struggle to the top.

I then headed down to the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) to see the oldest commissioned warship in the world. It is over 200 years old and part of the original Naval order by George Washington.  It’s pretty neat walking through a ship that has seen so much history. The following link opens up in another window and talks a lot about the history of the ship.

(http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/historyupdate.htm)

Today, the ship sits next to Paul Revere’s landing spot after he eluded the watch of British ships while crossing the Charles River into Charlestown, where he began his famous midnight run.

Not a lot of attention is brought to the landing spot and it is by pure chance that I found the small plaque commemorating the landing spot. I wasn’t looking for it, I happened to catch it as I rounded a building while heading to view the USS Constitution.

USS Constitution

I left the harbor that claimed Old Ironsides, along with the Canadian Coast Guard, and began my drive into the downtown district.

I passed markets filled with activity. Quincy Market seemed to be the big one. The entire street was lined with vendors and shoppers looking for good deals on just about any kind of food you could want.

After making a few wrong turns, thanks to the useless GPS system in my car, I managed to find a spot to park.  Like most downtowns, it was a parallel parking spot with a meter to countdown the minutes.  I popped a handfule of coins into the meter and started my high-speed walk through downtown.

According to my GPS, I was within a few blocks of the Boston Massacre Site. I stumbled onto a corner with a very old, historical looking building on it.  There were tour guides dressed as colonist telling stories to large groups of people. I tried listening in, but grew quickly tired of the guides “jokes.”

One thing that all tour guides seem to have in common is the innate ability to tell bad jokes.  I suppose it’s part of the entertainment, but it seems as if the only reactions they get for their jokes is the “hardy-har-har” laughter.  While they keep the mood light spirited, and that’s to be appreciated, I find it a little annoying when I’m trying to eavesdrop.

Shortly after my arrival, the flock of tourist was led down the street, which left me all alone to figure out where the Boston Massacre happened.

Site of the Boston Massacre

I walked down an alley and back and forth across the street before I decided to head towards the Visitor Center located nearby. I told the lady I was looking for the Boston Massacre location and she chuckled.  She said it’s hard to see, its only marker is a spot in the middle of the road just outside the building. WHAT, one of the most famous events in American History is marked only by a small cobblestone circle in the middle of the road? Yes, this indeed was the case.  I think my biggest complaint about Boston would have to be the “lack of signs commemorating” these MAJOR events that helped inspire and win a revolution that changed the course of human history. The Boston Massacre was an event that fueled animosity between the colonists and British to levels so high that it would only be resolved with a war for independence six years later. I found it to be incredible that I would have to ask a “historian” where this took place, especially since I stood 20ft from the actual location.

The woman at the visitor center also explained to me the history of the “old” building that stood across the alley and directly in front of the Massacre spot.

It was the Old Statehouse. The statehouse had as much historical memories as anything in this country. It was built in the early 1700’s, and it is on the Old Statehouse’s balcony that the Royal Governor pleaded to the rioting colonists to calm down after the British troops open fired on them in 1770.

The Old Statehouse balcony is also home to the very first public reading of the newly written Declaration of Independence in July of 1776.  I could only imagine what it must have been like standing amongst the cheering crowds as the Declaration was read.  They had no idea how much they were changing the future of the entire world.

I stood in thought looking up at the Old Statehouse Balcony until the sounds of horns and revving engines snapped me out of my deep daze.

I quickly jaunted down the street to look for other historical landmarks.  I saw a few statues along the way, but what caught my attention the most were the sounds of drums and clapping crowds.

I let my ears guide me a few blocks to the spot of a small crowd. It was here, in the shadows of Fanueil Hall and a Samuel Adams statue, that I listened to a guy playing buckets and pans as if they were the most finely tuned drums ever.  I have heard street performers in the past, but this was more impressive than anything I have heard before. He played at a lightning’s pace without a break for the 10 minutes I walked up to the spot and continued for at least another 30 minutes until I was gone.  I wasn’t alone in my amazement, many others had stopped to listen as well.  He never missed a beat and it was some of the best entertainment I have heard in awhile.

I later drove around a very packed Boston Commons (which is a scaled down version of New York City’s Central Park) and began my search for the infamous statue of Paul Revere on his horse.  It wasn’t on any of the tourist maps, nor was it in my GPS. This famous statue that gets airtime whenever the New England Patriots play on Monday Night Football was nowhere to be found.  I had to find it and the sun was setting fast.  I decided to call the Park Service and ask about its location.  They directed me to the neighborhood and mentioned how easy it is to miss, they weren’t kidding.

I drove right by it twice without noticing.  It is between a couple of buildings and shielded from the road by the trees. Thankfully, I was aware that it was near the North Church (the infamous.. one if by land, two if by sea location.)

Now, the trick is to find a parking place.

I drove up and down the narrow streets looking for an open parking place, but it was getting tougher and tougher due to the swarms of people beginning to fill the restaurants of the Little Italy section of Boston’s North End. The smell of Italian filled the air and my hunger and frustration began to overwhelm me.

I ended up parking over a half mile away. It wasn’t a straight shot, it was down a few blocks, right a few more blocks, and then left again.  As I parked, I noticed stares from a local carrying things from her car towards the building I parked in front of.  I asked her is there was an issue with me parking there and she said it was by permit only.  I thought to myself how I didn’t have time for this, it’s getting dark and I want to see the statue and North Church.  She warned of the ticket happy police pacing the street, but we decided that I would be ok if I put my hazzards on and hurried.

downtown Boston

I understand that a little over a mile (roundtrip) isn’t far to walk, but it still takes a good 15-20 minutes and I needed to do a little viewing before returning as well. With that in mind, I ran!

I think I scared a couple of restaurant patrons as I ran towards them as they stood in line waiting to get inside, but it had to be done, I was running out of daylight and I didn’t want a ticket.

I arrived at the statue as a group of tourist finished listening to the history of the church and statue. I walked around as quickly as possible before running back to the car, narrowly beating the ticket police, but losing to the setting sun.

I had managed to spend from sunup until a couple hours after sundown walking the streets of Boston and I still feel like I missed a lot.

Luckily, the stadium was lit up for pictures and viewing, but there would be no getting inside because of how late it was.

I will return to Boston someday. It is truly one of my favorite cities so far. I still find myself missing the natural beauty and hiking of out west, but Boston is definitely worth visiting…especially if you’re interested in the Revolutionary Period of American History.

I’m sure Rhode Island and Connecticut have a lot to see, but I’m out of time and money, so I need to hurry through them to before arriving at my next stop, Middletown, N.Y.

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