My initial view of The Old North Church as I walked Boston's narrow historical streets. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” St. Augustine
Travels With Maggie
Mostly Maggie and I bypass big cities in our travels, preferring instead less civilized settings, places where Canada geese honk as they fly overhead in the early hours of morning and coyotes can be heard howling off in the distance at night.
But Boston, with its historic background, is not a place to miss.
So on a fall day in 2006, I left my canine traveling companion behind at an RV park on the outskirts of town, and took the commuter train into the big city. I got off near where the Freedom Trail footsteps – actual footprints painted on the sidewalk – began and followed them back in time.
First stop was the Copps Hill Burying Ground, with grave markers dating back to the 1600s. A sign near the cemetery’s entrance gave me an idea of how Boston might have looked in earlier days. It noted that the Copps family had settled on this hill to be protected from “woolves, rattle-snakes and musketos.”
Boston’s sidewalk footprints led me to many other places this day, but the one I recall most vividly was the Old North Church. It was here, in 1775, that two lanterns were hung to let Paul Revere know the British soldiers were arriving by sea before he began his famous ride.
Basement window of a tea shop, reminding me, naturally, of the infamous Boston Tea Party. -- Photo by Pat Bean
I actually sat in one of the pews in this church, and a part of me actually felt those Freedom Trail footsteps were a time machine. I’m not sure I was totally back in the present until I opened my RV door later that afternoon and Maggie gave me her I need to go for a walk look.
I told her all about my day as we walked, and gave her treats when we got back to the RV.
Pat Bean's blog 
You took me back in time, Pat, though not so far as those footprints took you. Nearly twenty years ago the army sent me to Boston for two weeks to study in a Navy blood research lab. It was shortly before Christmas and Boston is a great city to be at Christmas time. I gotta admit that the short dark days were not my cuppa tea, though. *S* My sister then lived in Worcester so she came to visit over the middle weekend and took me around to a few places. The one that really stuck with me was Old Ironsides. Still commissioned, still home to sailors who give tours of the old ship. Thanks for taking me down memory lane. Sam
I grew up in Germany which is really old – I’m convinced that spirits inhabit old places. They just feel different somehow… it’s hard to put into words.
“Musketos.” I like that better than the spelling we use now. It seems more appropriate, somehow.
Boston is not one of my favorite cities, but I did enjoy the Freedom Trail and the history. The Old North Church stands out in my memory as well. Perhaps you’re right about the footsteps being a time machine.