Beginning of the Freedom Trail: Boston Common Begin your tour of the Freedom Trail at Boston Common, land purchased in 1634 as a militia training field and for the feeding of cattle. During the battle of Bunker Hill the British set out for Charlestown from the Common.

Statue of George Washington in Boston Common

Boston Founded in 1660

Massachusetts’ State House The gold-domed Massachusetts State House sits at the crest of Beacon Hill, overlooking Boston Common. Designed by Charles Bulfinch and completed in 1798, the "new" State House is still the home of the Massachusetts legislature.

Monument to 54th Massachusetts Regiment, a black regiment that served in the Civil War Located opposite the State House is the monument to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment,

Granary Burying Ground, where many notable Americans are buried, including Patriots John Hancock, Paul Revere, James Otis, Robert Treat Paine, and Samuel Adams. Also buried here are the victims of the Boston Massacre, as well as whole families of settlers ravaged by fire and plague.

Names of famous people buried in Granary Burying Ground

Gravesite of Paul Revere He is buried in Granary Burying Ground.

Statue of Ben Franklin Located in the courtyard of Boston's Old City Hall, this portrait statue commemorates one of the city's most versatile sons, Benjamin Franklin. Bronze tablets depict Franklin's career as a printer, scientist, and signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Peace Treaty with Great Britain

. The event that sealed Old South's place in history is one of the key events that sparked the Revolution-- The Boston Tea Party. When rumblings started to shake the colonies and the Revolution was imminent, patriots flocked to Old South, the largest building in colonial Boston, to debate the issues of the day. They argued about the Boston Massacre, and they protested the forcing of American sailors into the British Navy. And then, on the night of December 16, 1773, they acted. Over 5,000 angry colonists gathered at Old South to protest a tax on tea. After hours of debate, Samuel Adams gave the secret signal that launched the Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians, raced to Griffin's Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

Built in 1713, this historic landmark served as a merchants' exchange as well as the seat of colonial and state governments. In 1761 James Otis opposed the Writs of Assistance here, inspiring John Adams to state "then and there the child independence was born." A cobblestone circle beneath its balcony marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians.

Faneuil Hall This old market building, first built in 1742, sits at the site of the old town dock. Town meetings, held here between 1764 and 1774, heard Samuel Adams and others lead cries of protest against the imposition of taxes on the colonies.

Quincy Market

Paul Revere’s Home Boston's oldest residential neighborhood, the North End, contains some of the city's oldest buildings. The Paul Revere House is the oldest in downtown Boston. Built in 1680, it was owned and occupied by Paul Revere and his family most of the time from 1770 to 1800.

Cobbled street in front of Paul Revere’s home.

A Statue of Paul Revere

Built in 1723, Christ Church is better known as "Old North". It is Boston's oldest church building and still an active Episcopal Church. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized Old North's role at the start of the Revolutionary War in his poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." On the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the steeple to warn Charlestown patriots of the advance of British soldiers.

Old North Church

Steeple of the Old North Church

Begun as a cemetery in the 1660's, this site overlooking the Charles River was used by the British a century later as an emplacement for the cannon that fired on the Americans on Breed's Hill. Buried here are Cotton Mather and Edward Hartt, builder of the USS Constitution. Robert Newman, black educator Prince Hall, and blacks who worked in the shipyards of the North End are also interred within these ancient grounds.

U. S. S. Constitution Following the Revolution, the nation's citizens proved their willingness to defend their newfound freedom and economic independence through the development and support of a navy. From 1800 to 1974, Charlestown Navy Yard built, repaired, and outfitted U.S. naval vessels. Today the yard is home to USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, and the USS Constitution Museum.

U. S. S. Constitution

"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" This legendary order has come to symbolize the conviction and determination of the ill-equipped American colonists facing powerful British forces during the famous battle fought on this site on June 17, The battle is popularly known as "The Battle of Bunker Hill" although most of the fighting actually took place on Breed's Hill, the site of the existing monument and exhibit lodge. Today, a 221-foot granite obelisk marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution.

Bunker Hill Monument

"Don't fire until you see the white of their eyes!" This legendary order has come to symbolize the conviction and determination of the ill- equipped American colonists facing powerful British forces during the famous battle fought on this site on June 17, The battle is popularly known as "The Battle of Bunker Hill" although most of the fighting actually took place on Breed's Hill, the site of the existing monument and exhibit lodge. Today, a 221-foot granite obelisk marks the site of the first major battle of the American Revolution.

Statue at Bunker Hill Colonel William Prescott The Battle of Bunker Hill pitted a newly- formed and inexperienced colonial army against the more highly trained and better-equipped British. Despite the colonial army's shortcomings, it was led by such capable men as Colonel William Prescott, Colonel John Stark and General Israel Putnam, who had experience fighting alongside the British in the French and Indian War. Although the British Army ultimately prevailed in the battle, the colonists greatly surprised the British by repelling two major assaults and inflicting great casualties. Out of the 2,200 British ground forces and artillery engaged at the battle, almost half (1,034) were counted afterwards as casualties (both killed and wounded). The colonists lost between 400 and 600 combined casualties, including popular patriot leader and newly-elected Major- General Dr. Joseph Warren, who was killed during the third and final assault.