Around the US,  Boston

The Freedom Trail – South End

February 5, 2019 /

Boston Common is a lovely park, and a great place to either start or end a walk on the Freedom Trail. If you are traveling by car, there is a parking garage under the park. Or public transportation is a great way to get around. The park is large, and has two areas – don’t miss either one!

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Costumed tour guide in Boston Common

The Freedom Trail is 2.5 miles long, and because we had children with us we decided to see it in two parts. You can read about the North End of the trail here.

For the South portion of the trail, we decided to take a Freedom Trail Walk into History tour to give us the inside scoop on the events of the past. It was really fun to have a costumed guide tell us stories about colonial times as if he had lived it!

We learned that John Hancock had a cow pasture that now features the Massachusetts State House. (And that Massachusetts is actually a Commonwealth rather than a State.)

We spent some time in Granary Burying Ground and visited the gravesites of our guides friends: Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock.

It started to rain while we were in the burying ground, which somehow seemed fitting.

We visited the Old South Meeting House, and learned about the time our guide and 5000 other colonists met there to oppose the tax on tea, resulting in the Boston Tea Party.

Next up was the Old State House, originally the seat of British government in the colony know as Massachusetts Bay. Our guide told us about the night he and some other colonists had a confrontation with British soldiers on the street in front of the Old State House, and how his unarmed friends were killed by the soldiers.

Our tour ended at Faneuil Hall, where the colonists protested the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. We bid goodbye to our colonist guide, and thanked him for sharing some details about his life.

We really liked the Walk into History Tour. Unfortunately, because of Covid, tours are suspended until further notice. However, you can still experience the Freedom Trail with the guidelines posted here.

Faneuil Hall was actually built as a marketplace in 1742, with the meeting hall not the main focus. However, it soon became the meeting place for the town’s government. The Faneuil Hall visitor’s center is normally open to the public daily from 9 to 6. The Great Hall is open from 12:30 to 5:00. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company Museum on the fourth floor is open Mon – Fri from 9 to 3:30. All are available at no charge. However the visitor’s center is temporarily closed because of Covid.

Faneuil Hall is one of two National Park visitor’s centers on the Freedom Trail.


There are so many things to do in Boston with your family! What is your favorite?

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