I love the Freedom Trail so much, it is such a fun way of exploring all the amazing historical sites of Boston. I love seeing the brick trail throughout the city as well as these special markers. If you haven't ever been to Boston, The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile-long path through downtown Boston, it passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States.
We had visited 8 of the 16 sites so far, and we had two more left to see that day. First up was the Old North Church.
This church is the oldest standing church building in Boston and is the location from which the famous "One if by land, two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent. This phrase is related to Paul Revere's midnight ride, of April 18, 1775, which preceded the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution.
In April 1775, Paul Revere told three Boston patriots to hang two lanterns in the steeple. The lanterns were displayed to send a warning to Charlestown patriots across the Charles River about the movements of the British Army. Revere and William Dawes would later deliver the same message to Lexington themselves, but this lantern method was a fast way to inform the back-up riders in Charlestown about the movements of the British; these back-up riders planned to deliver the warning message to Lexington and Concord in case Revere and Dawes were arrested on the way.
The meaning of two lanterns, "One if by land, and two if by sea" has been forever memorialized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Paul Revere's Ride". One lantern was to notify Charlestown that the British Army would march over Boston Neck and the Great Bridge, and two were to notify them that the troops were taking boats across the Charles River to land near Phips farm (the British Army would take the "sea" route; thus, two lanterns were hung). The two lanterns were hung for just under a minute, to avoid attracting the attention of the British troops occupying Boston. After receiving the signal, the Charlestown Patriots sent out a rider to Lexington, but this rider did not reach his destination and his identity has disappeared from history, having possibly been captured by a British patrol.
But the warning was delivered miles away to dozens of towns, first by Revere and Dawes on horses, and then by other men on horses and men who rang church bells and town bells, beat drums, and shot off warning guns.
Prince was a cat that visited the church everyday and would help greet visitors, he became the unofficial mascot of The Old North Church. He was so well known they even made a fun mobile scavenger hunt where Prince serves as your guide.
According to General Lafayette, this is the most accurate likeness of George Washington.
Treasures from the gift shop that I found interesting, but didn't buy.
I feel like I need to print out these rules so I can refer to them regularly, I especially need reminding about "never buy what you don't want because it's cheap" I am a sucker for good deals.
As we were leaving the church, we were met with the inviting smell of freshly made chocolate which led us to Captain Jackson's chocolate shop. We were right on time for a live demonstration of how drinking chocolate used to be made!
After grinding the cocao beans into a paste, other ingredients were added such as cinnamon, grated orange peel, chili flakes, salt, vanilla bean seeds, and nutmeg.
We all got a sample of what their recipe tastes like, and it was so delicious.
IT was fun looking through all the unique chocolate offerings in their gift shop, there were several things I wanted to try. I ended up with a chocolate bar with big chunks of candied ginger, and basil cayenne chocolate caramels, which had a surprisingly strong kick to them, but were still delicious.
Statue of Paul Revere on his Midnight Ride.
After learning about Paul Revere's midnight ride at the North Church, we continued to learn more about this revolutionary hero by visiting his home.
Paul Revere was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord.
At age 41, Revere was a prosperous, established and prominent Boston silversmith. He had helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service ended after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame.
Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade. He used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. In 1800, he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.
Pictures weren't allowed inside his home, but they had a mini museum by the exit that had exhibits of Revere's Silversmith career.
For dinner that night, we had reservations at Limoncello, which happened to be just about a block away from Revere's house. Mom, Dad and I had eaten here last time we were in Boston just a couple of years earlier, we loved it so much we thought the rest of the family would love it too. To see my pics from our first visit to Lemoncello, CLICK HERE It's a family owned restaurant that serves the best, home cooked Italian food.
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