10/8/2011

We wanted to go into Boston today and Jim didn’t think we should take the pickup truck so we got tickets for the train. We parked the truck at the Braintree station rode the train to Park station, which is next to Boston Common. Boston Common has been used as a pasture, military drill ground, gallows site, troop camp and now is a center for civic activity.

We walked all day and saw a lot of sites. The first was the Massachusetts State House. Next was the Boston Athenaeum. It is a private library dating from 1807. The private library of George Washington is in their building. The public could go into the 1^st floor only to see paintings and statues. We went in King’s Chapel and the adjoining burying ground which dates from 1749. The sanctuary has a raised pulpit shaped like a wine glass. The bell inside is the largest ever cast by Paul Revere. Instead of pews in a row there are private boxes that families paid annual fees for. This was to keep them warm in the cold winter from the drafts. They would bring heated rocks in with them and place their feet on them. They would sit close together, bring blankets, or, bring their dogs.

The Old Granary burying ground was a block away so we went there too. Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock are buried there. Also, Mary Goose, who is credited with being Mother Goose. We stopped at the Old South Meeting House built in 1729. This is where the Sons of Liberty started their revolution against the British that led to the Boston Tea Party. We went into the National Park Service visitor center. We walked the Freedom Trail through town to all of these sites.

We stopped at the Old State House where the Boston Massacre occurred in 1770. When we rounded the corner we saw a wreck with a car upside down and it turned out to be a movie being shot. This movie stars Kevin Bacon and Jeff Bridges and is going to be named R.I.P.D. We watched for a while but didn’t see either actor. We walked to Faneuil Hall which is part of the National Park Service. This was a public market and town meeting place. We had lunch at a bar in Quincy Market and watched the Texas/Oklahoma game while we ate. (Texas lost big time!) Quincy Market is a large shopping and dining complex in a Greek revival building built in 1825.

We kept on walking and toured Paul Revere’s house, Boston's oldest clapboard house. This is where Paul Revere began his legendary ride. Also, we went in the Old North Church. This is the church where the lanterns were hung when the British were coming -- one if by land and two if by sea. Then we went down the block to the Copp’s Hill burying ground. I was very tired and we walked to the edge of Boston Harbor to take a look at the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides). We will go back to visit it.

We went to the nearest train station and rode it back to Braintree station, which is the end of the line and where the truck was parked. After returning to the Casita I walked to a site down from us and talked to a couple from Colorado who have a Scamp. A Trillium is parked across from them and a Boler is one road over from us. One camp near us had carved about 10 jack-o-lanterns and they were lit with candles. They did a really good job.