The Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail was established in 1951, when journalist William Schofield proposed connecting Boston’s Revolutionary War landmarks into a single pedestrian route. The finished trail runs 2.5 miles from Boston Common — the oldest public park in the United States, dating to 1634 — north through downtown Boston, across the Charles River to Charlestown, ending at the 221-foot Bunker Hill Monument. A red line of bricks and paint marks the route through the city’s streets and sidewalks.

The sixteen official sites include the Massachusetts State House (1798), Park Street Church (1809), the Granary Burying Ground (where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock are buried), King’s Chapel, the Benjamin Franklin Statue, the Old Corner Bookstore, the Old South Meeting House — where Samuel Adams gave the signal that launched the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 — the Old State House, the Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House (the oldest surviving structure in downtown Boston, built ca. 1680), the Paul Revere Mall, the Old North Church (where two lanterns hung in the steeple on the night of April 18, 1775 to signal Revere’s ride), Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), and the Bunker Hill Monument.

The walk begins at the Boston Common Visitor Information Center at 139 Tremont Street and takes roughly three to four hours to complete at a touring pace. Each site is interpreted by National Park rangers and independent guides, and the Old North Church and Paul Revere House offer their own exhibitions on colonial Boston, the Midnight Ride, and the opening days of the American Revolution.