Walking Boston

David Hilbert

In the intimate and venerable city of Boston, the history lover can cut the shackles to the automobile and walk. Walk in the footsteps of Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams; walk cobble paths where rebellion and revolution forged our nation's first heroes; walk Boston's streets and relive America's struggle for freedom.

With two walks you can cover the city: walk east and trace The Footsteps of Famous Patriots; walk west and follow The Paths of Famous Artists.

Walk #1: The Footsteps of Famous Patriots

For convenience, start in Boston Common, the country's oldest public park, where Colonial cows once munched community grass. Here, you can follow costumed actor Don Watson as he talks about Puritan Boston. An example: "If a man kissed his wife in public on Sunday, he would be put in the stocks right here on the Common." John plays the part of Patriot James Otis, guiding visitors on the three-mile Freedom Trail to 11 places significant in Boston's history.

First stop: the Old South Meeting House, where on December 16, 1773, 5,000 Colonists rallied to protest England's tax on tea. Fired up by oratory and feeling the spunk of rebellion, 168 men in Native American garb stormed down to the docks and boarded three English cargo ships loaded with tea. Determined to prevent the cargo from entering the port, the rebels smashed open 342 chests of precious Darjeeling and hurled it into the salty waters of Boston Harbor.

Hardly amused at the loss of what would today be over a million dollars worth of tea, the British blockaded the harbor, forbade public gatherings and sent an army to occupy the city.

From the Meeting House, the trail leads past the Old State House, skirts the circle of cobblestones where five men fell in "The Boston Massacre" and then winds down the hill to Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of American Liberty." Here, in this public meeting house built in 1742, leaders Hancock, Adams, Paine and Revere stoked the fires of independence with their oratory in cries of "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Today, the second-story chamber echoes with the lectures of park ranger Julia Mize, such as "The child liberty was born here in 1764." Rangers retell the events leading up to the American Revolution in free hourly presentations.

From Faneuil Hall, the Freedom Trail continues to the North End and the oldest house in Boston, the 1680 home of Paul Revere. The aroma of coffee and freshly baked breads from the 80 or so restaurants and pastry shops in this lively Italian community might coax you to stop for cappuccino and cannolis at Mike's Bakery on Hanover Street. Or try a lunch of salmon piccata at intimate G'vanni's on Prince Street.

Once back on the trail, you arrive at the oldest church in the city, Old North, built in 1723. On the night of April 18, 1775, Robert Newman crept up the stairs to hang two lanterns in the steeple, a signal that 700 British soldiers were about to escalate the tension with the Colonists. The British boarded barges and headed up-river for the road to Lexington and Concord, intent on seizing muskets hidden by the Minutemen. Paul Revere, sent by the Governor to warn the Colonial militia, galloped toward Lexington spreading the alarm. Later that day, a fierce battle sent the 700 British troops scurrying in panic back to the safety of Boston, attacked from all sides by 1,400 swarming Minutemen who had rushed in from distant settlements.

Overlooking the church from the Copp's Hill Burial Ground, a former British garrison and cannon site, you can still see where Redcoat musket practice has left deep pock marks on several Colonial headstones. From this high ground, the British fired flaming cannonballs towards Charlestown, setting the homes afire during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Follow the path of those cannonballs across the Charles River to the granite obelisk atop Bunker Hill. At the crest of this hill on the night of June 16, 1775, two months after the battle at Concord, the Minutemen secretly dug an earthen fort. The following day, in an afternoon battle, they inflicted devastating casualties on what was at the time the best-trained and best-equipped army in the world. Although the 2,000 British soldiers eventually took the hill, the Patriots put half the attackers out of action. While suffering only 400 casualties themselves, they caused British General Gage to privately lament, "The loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear."

At the base of Bunker Hill, the Charlestown Navy Yard berths the oldest active commissioned warship in the world, the USS Constitution. During a sea battle in the War of 1812, the square-rigger, built in 1797, took on the name "Old Ironsides" when astounded British gunners saw their cannonballs bouncing off the thick planks of Georgia Live Oak that lined the hull.

Back to Boston on the trail, nearing your sixth mile, the last and most poignant stop should be the Granary Burial Ground, final resting place of Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine and John Hancock, three Boston Patriots who signed the Declaration of Independence. Sharing the burial ground are five victims of the Boston Massacre, including Crispus Attucks, the first black man killed in the Revolution.

After a day on the trail you are sure to want food for things other than thought. Near the Old State House, you can find gourmet eats with an incredible harbor view from the 33rd floor of 60 State Street at The Bay Tower Restaurant, consistently rated tops in romantic dining. In Chinatown, near the Theater District, crowded local favorite China Pearl offers dim sum, or take in sophisticated Chinese-American at P. F. Chang's China Bistro. Nearby, go elegant at the Four Seasons Hotel's Aujourd'Hui or their Bristol Lounge serving French and American cuisine along with their popular afternoon English tea.

For seafood, try the venerable 1826 Union Oyster House raw bar, just three feet from the trail. This is where Daniel Webster often downed mounds of Wellfleet Oysters on the half shell.

Walk #2: The Paths of Famous Artists

Wined, dined and sated on history, are you ready for a second walk: the Trail of the Artists? Starting again in Boston Common, a walk through the flowered and tree-lined paths of the Boston Public Gardens, famed for the swan boats and spring flowers, will take you west on Newbury Street and its glitzy boutiques, fine art galleries and sidewalk cafes. The Copley Society, America's oldest art association, sponsors exhibits that once included the work of John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Winslow Homer and James McNeil Whistler. Such private galleries as the Wentworth, Dyansen, and the Galerie d'Orsay carry on the tradition, along with the Guild of Boston Artists, whose roots go back to Tarbell, Benson and Gammell.

One block to the south, the fountain and gardens of Copley Square rim the Gothic Trinity Church, which reflects in the mirrored 62-story John Hancock Building.

A half block west, John Singer Sargent celebrated religion with a huge 1890's mural project at the Boston Public Library. Half a block to the south, the entrance to the Westin Hotel leads to a mile of glassed-in atrium, housing fine shops, hotels and restaurants. Within the walkway, the Marriott Hotel offers a brunch where the chef will cook your omelet to-order, or try the fish at the Legal Seafood Restaurant, both consistently ranked the best dining in Boston. Want fresher? Try the Sushi Bar on the second-floor atrium of the Marriott.

Enter the Prudential Building's glass-enclosed mall, which leads to the 50th-story skywalk observation deck. You can almost hold the city in your hand as you absorb its intimate and walkable nature.

The south exit of the Prudential Mall leads to the 14-acre plaza of the Christian Science Church's World Headquarters. Beyond the fountain and reflecting pool, the church offers free tours of the cathedral interior and one of the largest pipe organs in the U.S., with 13,290 pipes.

Four blocks west, on Huntington Avenue, you'll find Boston's Museum of Fine Art housing the largest group of Monets outside of Paris" complemented by some of the best in Medieval, Renaissance, Impressionist and Modern paintings. You'll even find Ancient Egyptian, South American, Chinese and Near Eastern artifacts, a huge collection of Japanese art and another monumental Sargent mural, started in 1910.

Just a short walk west, the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum offers Sunday concerts amidst Mrs. Gardner's collection of Renaissance art displayed just the way she left it in her four-story Venetian-style villa. Lavish turn-of-the-century dinner parties at the mansion attracted cultural luminaries including Sargent, Whistler, Julia Ward Howe and Henry James, the guests chatting amidst Mrs. Gardner's collection of Rembrandts, Botticellis and de la Robias.

Back south on Massachusetts Avenue past Kingdom Fine Art, a B&B dedicated to art and Epicurean delights, and then east on Boylston Street where the Institute of Contemporary Art mounts some edgy shows that often defy easy description.

East three blocks to Fairfield Street and then north four blocks to the footbridge over the highway will take you for a walk along the banks of the Charles River. A mile east, visit Community Boating, where experienced sailors can rent a 19-foot Rhodes and sail the Charles for the weekend.

Back over the pedestrian bridge at Community and you are at the foot of Beacon Hill. Although antique shops, old bookstores, bakeries and coffee shops might slow your progress south on Charles Street towards Boston Common, you could make a right at the corner of Charles and Beacon and go a half block to visit Cheers Pub for a nostalgic brew at the bar amid all the memorabilia from the famed TV comedy. Boston's subway system whisks the traveler to places inaccessible to walkers, making Cambridge and its art museums near Harvard Square, the House of Blues and its Gospel lunches, ethnic restaurants and the glass-flower collection at Harvard University's Natural History Museum, all available from the station at Harvard Square. A dollar gets you on the Red Line to the Kennedy Memorial Library, and on the Green Line to the long-time home of baseball's Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Still have legs? Board the island shuttle at the Aquarium and enjoy a day of island-hopping in Boston Harbor. Fort Warren, the first of five stops, dates to the Civil War and once held prisoner Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy. Each island has walking trails, history and, of course, a resident ghost. Boston offers so much-and offers it so conveniently-that you might just settle in and never want to leave this intimate and walkable city.

Freelancer David Hilbert lives in Massachusetts. This is his first article for the ASU Travel Guide.