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A Better Way to Enjoy Boston's Byways
The Freedom Trail that wends through historic Boston, MA is a self-guided tour, but benefits of a guide are immeasurable. This 2.5-mile hike follows a red brick line embedded in the city sidewalks.
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A BETTER WAY TO ENJOY BOSTON'S BYWAYS
Story by Rob DeMone
Publisher of TravelWise Online Magazine
Boston's Freedom Trail is a fantastic way to spend a day, or longer in the historic state capital of Massachusetts, USA.
This 2.5-mile self-guided hike follows a red brick line embedded in the city sidewalks. Along the way, the Granary Burying Ground, where buried among the 2,000 souls (in places stacked 10 deep) are three men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Here, too, is the modest marker noting the last resting of Paul Revere.
Further along Freedom Trail, Old State House stands like a jewel amid the concrete canyons of Boston. Not 50 feet away, marked by a stone circle, is the site of the Boston Massacre. A few blocks later, history takes a back seat to commercialism, and the stylish shops of Quincy Market, where brand names and labels offer a smorgasbord for the most polished tastes.
No trip along Freedom Trail is complete without a visit to the Union Oyster House, America's oldest restaurant. For the 170 years it has served meals, it proudly boasts the quality of its chowder. (Truth be known, the chowder's more true north of Boston, at Woodman's of Essex, where they know butter must be dolloped at the side of the bowl to melt like the sun into the ocean, and broth is properly made of milk, not cream).
At Union Oyster House, in a booth at the back of a second floor dining room, where the roof beams are aged, and the lights dim even at noon, a tiny plaque heralds this as John F. Kennedy's favourite during lunches there.
And the trail goes on, stopping at Paul Revere's house and Old North Church, from where it is said, he was to have lit lanterns warning of the approaching British forces, one if by land, two if by sea. Then on to cross the Charles and visit Bunker Hill and the USS Constitution, the longest serving commissioned warship in the U.S.
History lives in Boston. And continues to be made.
At the time of this writing, the city was in the grip of a massive project, (affectionately called The Big Dig, less affectionately known as the Big Money Pit), which eventually saw 10 lanes of highway put underground in a series of tunnels. It was a mammoth undertaking that had gripped the city for the past decade. What was to have cost $4 billion is now estimated to come in at $11 billion. But new problems have arisen since the tunnel opened to the public this year. Now massive flooding has closed the entire project while engineers try to figure how to plug the leaks. An inquiry into the delayied construction, cost overuns and ongoing structural problems has been called for by critics.
IF YOU GO:
Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism c/o Shandwick Canada Suite 500 160 Bloor St. East, Toronto, Ont. M4W 1 B9 Email www.mass-vacation.com
Sheraton Boston 39 Dalton St. (617) 236-6087 Undergoing a $23 million renovation this winter to modernize and expand facilities to meet incredible demand for meetings and conventions in Boston.
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