Evacuation Day – Dorchester Heights

Washington at Dorchester Heights

Washington at Dorchester Heights

Evacuation Day and St. Patrick’s Day align in Boston, marking the departure of the British March 17, 1776. This ended the “Siege of Boston”. George Washington seized Dorchester Heights, fortified it with cannons, and surprised the British 2 weeks earlier. Painting by Gilbert Stuart.

Boston Common aerial photo Freedom Trail

Boston Common aerial view, Boston, MABoston Common, autumn, looking East. The Freedom Trail starts at the Visitors Center, near the corner of Park St. and Tremont St., (top left in this view)

Bunker Hill monument aerial photo

Aerial photograph looking over the Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, towards Boston, MA. The USS Constitution is at left. The famous battle took place June 17, 1775, on Breed’s Hill, on the right side of this photo.

Copps Hill Burying Ground photo

Copps Hill tombstoneTombstone of William Hough, 1714. Copp’s Hill, the Town’s second burying ground, was established in 1659 on a hill named for shoemaker William Copp. The site soon rivaled the Common as a public venue, hosting such spectacles as the 1704 execution of seven pirates. Cannons mounted near here shelled Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775.

Mass. State House painting, Freedom Trail

Designed by Charles Bulfinch. Cornerstone laid on July 4, 1795, with Paul Revere and Gov. Sam Adams presiding. This view is from a banjo clock, ca. 1870. Painted on glass, it shows the view from the Boston Common.  The original dome was copper, from Revere’s workshop.

Copps Hill burying ground photo

Copps Hill tombstoneTombstone of William Hough, 1714. Copp’s Hill, the Town’s second burying ground, was established in 1659 on a hill named for shoemaker William Copp. The site soon rivaled the Common as a public venue, hosting such spectacles as the 1704 execution of seven pirates.

Bunker Hill monument aerial photo

Photograph looking over the Bunker Hill Monument, Charlestown, towards Boston, MA. The USS Constitution is at left.

Mass State House painting

the Massachusetts State House, as shown on a Banjo clock ca 1860Designed by Charles Bulfinch. Cornerstone laid on July 4, 1795, with Paul Revere and Gov. Sam Adams presiding. This view is from a banjo clock, ca. 1870. Painted on glass.

Park Street Church photo

The Park Street Congregational Church replaced the Town granary on the Common’s eastern corner in 1809. Peter Banner designed this brick Georgian structure with a 217-foot steeple, inspired by the latest London architecture.

Latin School marker photo

Latin School site, School St., Boston, MA Freedom Trail

In 1635, Boston established the first “public” Latin or Grammar School in America, resolving that Philemon Purmont, a shopkeeper, “be entreated to become a schoolmaster for the teaching and nourtering of the children with us.” The original Latin School was demolished in 1844 to make way for City Hall. This plaque decorates the sidewalk nearby.