Revere statue by Cyrus Dallin
Celebrating Paul Revere’s midnight ride on April 18th, 1775, this statue stands near Old North Church in Boston’s North End. The famous ride began with “two if by sea” and ended near Lexington, early on the 19th. Patriot’s Day, and the Boston Marathon, take place on the monday following.
Old State House, snow © Steve Dunwell
The Boston Massacre occurred on a snowy evening, March 5, 1770, in front of the Old State House. Troops occupying Boston to enforce the new British taxes fired into a mob of about sixty rowdy Bostonians, wounding eight and killing five. Crispus Attucks, an African-american, was among the first to die.
Gun Deck, USS Constitution, by Google-Street View
Interior views of “Old Ironsides” USS Constitution are now available on Google Street View, so you can look around, up and down, and visit below decks on this amazing ship. The quality is excellent. Go to www.maps.google.com and search for “USS Constitution, Boston, MA”, then click “street view”…a great way to visit the ship before it goes into drydock for a 3 year rehab.
Old South Meeting House © Steve Dunwwell
241 years ago. December 16, 1773 – A great crowd gathered at the Old South Meeting House to hear speeches protesting new taxes on imports, including tea. Shouting “Boston harbor a tea party tonight,” they went down to the nearby docks. Thinly disguised as “Mohawks”, fifty men boarded three East India ships – Dartmouth, Beaver and Eleanor. Breaking open 342 chests of imported tea, they dumped the lot into the harbor. The “Intolerable Acts” soon followed as punishment.
State House, Boston, MA
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.
Battle of Bunker Hill
June 16, 1775. The Battle of Bunker Hill. British troops attacked the fortified hill top, with disastrous results. The colonial militia was finally pushed back, but the British suffered 800 injured and 226 killed. This painting, by John Trumbull, is in the Yale Art Museum.
on Memorial day, consider the 54th Regiment of African-American soldiers, led by Col. Robert G. Shaw. They went south on May 28, 1863, to fight in South Carolina. Their first attack, at Fort Wagner, was a disaster. Monumental bas-relief by Augustus St. Gaudens, on Beacon St.
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.
Tombstone 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.
On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to the public for the first time in Boston, from the Old State House, at 1PM. Colonel Thomas Crafts was the reader.