The Freedom Trail

The wedding went well--but on my mind at the moment is our trip into Boston today. We traveled along part of the Freedom Trail to see sights like Paul Revere's house, the site of the Boston Massacre (though there wasn't much to see, except in a nearby museum), Faneuil Hall and its nearby market, Boston Common, and the Old North Church, among other places. We also visited three different graveyards, where the graves were at least 300-400 years old, buried in the 1600s-1700s. Many of the slate gravestones had been chipped and weathered with age, some sunk into the ground from unstable soil. The people buried in these graveyards ranged from the revolutionaries such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, to African Americans and a few of their leaders, such as Prince Hall. There was also everyone inbetween--6 month old children, 90 year old men (which was an unheard of age back then), couples buried side by side, various important masons, etc. Many of the graves seemed to be sized by the age and importance of the person; the babies had tiny gravestones, and the older and more important people had larger gravestones. It was amazing to realize that so many of these people had died from diseases that we can cure easily today.

Photos: Above: Custom House Tower from a side street. It was a great day, and if it hadn't for the moderate wind leftover from Hurricane Ike, we would have been sweltering.

Right: Gravestones at the Copp's Hill Burying Ground. As you can see, some of the slate slabs have shifted position or been broken from age and weather.