Editor’s note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter . Get news about destinations, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, and where to stay. They call it the Freedom Trail .
A line that snakes through Boston, a walking tour that takes in all the must-see locations where modern America began. Sure, at just two and a half miles it sounds short, but with so many “firsts” to see, you’ll need more than a day to do it justice. One of those “firsts” is where the Freedom Trail begins.
Boston Common is America’s very first public park. It was first set aside in 1640 for military training and grazing cattle before it became what it is today, a place to while away time and get acquainted with Boston’s rich history. This place is, after all, where you’ll find the story of America on every corner, where revolutionary zeal led to the fight for independence from the British.
One of the Freedom Trail’s most important stop-offs is the Old South Meeting House, where many of the assemblies of those revolutionaries took place, including one before the Boston Tea Party — a 1773 taxation protest that saw chests of tea dumped in Boston’s harbor, triggering a series of events that would turbocharge American independence. Today you can even head down to the water for a full-scale reenactment, with actors channeling their inner revolutionary and delivering word-for-word speeches. It’s stirring stuff and reveals why it was no surprise that it.
