*To read Part #1, click here

After the Massachusetts State House, the next stop along the Freedom Trail is Park Street Church.  The church is probably best known for being the site of William Lloyd Garrison’s first public anti-slavery speech, as well as the location where the song “My County ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the very first time.  The thing I noticed most about the church was its steeple, which at 217 ft, towers over Boston Common.

Next door to Park Street Church is the Granary Burying Ground.  As weird as this might sound, this was the first stop along the trail where I got really excited.  Yes, it’s a cemetery.  But more importantly, it’s a cemetery where important figures in the American Revolution are buried: Samuel Adams (one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a political philosopher), John Hancock (signer of the Declaration of Independence, former Governor of Massachusetts, and the origin of the colloquialism “John Hancock” in the U.S. to mean ‘signature’), and Paul Revere (silversmith and patriot, most famous for his “Midnight Ride”, as made famous by Longfellow), among others.  H- is not a big fan of reading lots of informational signs and plaques (she prefers to read up beforehand), so she was ready to move on pretty quickly, but B- and I really enjoyed walking around and reading up on all the U.S. Revolutionaries we learned about many, many years ago in school.

The next stop after the Granary Burying Ground was King’s Chapel and Burying Ground.  Sadly, King’s Chapel was closed, so we just toured its Burying Ground instead.  Yes another cemetery.  This one had fewer famous figures, but still very neat historically.

 For Part #3, click here