Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Harriet Beecher Stowe. For many years this was the Globe Corner Bookstore, which
is now in Harvard Square (p. 206).
To continue on the Freedom Trail:
Turn right and walk 1 block.
3 School St. T: Blue or Orange Line to State.
Old South Meeting House
Look for the clock tower that tops this religious and
political gathering place, best known as the site of an important event leading to the
Revolution. On December 16, 1773, a restive crowd of several thousand, too big to
fit into Faneuil Hall, gathered here. They were waiting for word from the governor
about whether three ships full of tea—priced to undercut the cost of smuggled tea and
force the colonists to trade with merchants approved by the Crown—would be sent
back to England from Boston. The ships were not, and revolutionaries haphazardly
disguised as Mohawks cast the tea into the harbor. The meeting house commemorates
that uprising, the
Boston Tea Party.
You can even see a vial of the tea.
Originally built in 1670 and replaced by the current structure in 1729, the build-
ing underwent extensive renovations in the 1990s. In 1872, a devastating fire that
destroyed most of downtown stopped at Old South, a phenomenon considered evi-
dence of the building's power. An interactive multimedia exhibit,
Voices of Protest,
tells the story of the events that took place here.
The meeting house frequently schedules speeches, readings, panel discussions, and
children's activities, often with a colonial theme. Each December, it stages a reenact-
ment of the debate that led to the tea party—it's especially fun for kids, who can par-
ticipate in the heated debate. Check ahead for schedules.
To continue on the Freedom Trail:
Exit through the gift shop and look across Milk
Street to see
Benjamin Franklin's birthplace.
In a little house at 17 Milk St., Franklin
was born in 1706, the 15th child of Josiah Franklin. The house is long gone, but look
across at the second floor of what's now 1 Milk St. When the building went up after
the fire of 1872, the architect guaranteed that the Founding Father wouldn't be for-
gotten: A bust and the words
BIRTHPLACE OF FRANKLIN
adorn the facade.
Now backtrack on Washington Street (passing Spring Lane, one of the first streets
in Boston and originally the site of a real spring) and follow it to State Street.
310 Washington St.
&
617/482-6439.
www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org. Admission $5 adults, $4 seniors and stu-
dents with ID, $1 children 6-18, free for children under 6. Freedom Trail ticket (with Old State House and Paul Revere
House) $11 adults, $3 children. Daily Apr-Oct 9:30am-5pm; Nov-Mar 10am-4pm. Closed Jan 1, Thanksgiving, Dec
24-25. T: Blue or Orange Line to State St.
Old State House Museum
Built in 1713, this brick structure served as the seat of
colonial government before the Revolution and as the state capitol until 1798. From
its balcony, the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians on July 18,
1776. In 1789, Pres. George Washington reviewed a parade from here. The exterior
decorations are particularly interesting—the clock was installed in place of a sundial,
and the gilded lion and unicorn are reproductions of the original symbols of British
rule that were ripped from the facade and burned the day the Declaration of Indepen-
dence was read.
Inside is the
Bostonian Society's museum
of the city's history. The society was
founded in 1881 to save this building, which was badly deteriorated and, incredibly,
was about to be sold and shipped to Chicago. Two floors of exhibits focus on the role
of the city and the building in the Revolution and the events that led to it—a Paul
Revere print depicting the Boston Massacre and tea from the Boston Tea Party are on
