TRIP #5, 2014--Shore...to...Shore

Shore to Ship and Ship to Shore
By 8:30 a.m. the traffic headed into Boston was already heavy.  It was a gorgeous fall morning and everyone was on the road.  Parking was at a premium downtown.  We thought early Sunday morning we’d find a spot with ease.   After almost getting stuck in a garage that charged $35 a day and driving around ten or twelve blocks more than once, we found parking at Government Center for $11 on Sundays.  Such a deal!

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway adds beauty and
color to downtown Boston.

But being in the garage meant walking everywhere.  Pictures probably tell it best.  We covered at least eight miles on foot.  But other than a few sentences about all the sites we visited, I’ll highlight three with more extensive information.  Suffice it to say, Boston was alive with activity and swarming with people by afternoon.  Temperatures climbed from a cool 54 degrees in the early morning when we arrived to a delightful 64 degrees by 4:30 p.m. when we finally headed back to the motel in Bedford.

Before Tip O’Neil, Speaker of the House in the U.S. government for many years, retired from public service, he pushed a bill through Congress to fund a major project in downtown Boston—rebuilding a section of highway underground.  That was his legacy to the people of his home state, Massachusetts.  Since our last visit here, the miles of overhead highway are gone.  They have been replaced by a Greenway that runs through the heart of the city--the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Gardens.  We walked several stretches during the day.

Samuel Adams stands outside the back of
Boston's Faneuil Hall,
often called the "Cradle of Liberty."

Faneuil Hall is the site of American liberty.  In the Great Hall upstairs town meetings were held and citizens voiced their opinions against oppressive policies of British Parliament.  “This is where the patriots were plotting and planning the American Revolution,” blared the guide on a tour trolley as it drove by.  That’s probably why the building, constructed in 1742, is often called “the Cradle of Liberty.”

Initially proposed and funded by Peter Faneuil, one of Boston’s wealthiest merchants of the 1700’s, the hall was intended to serve as a central food market and meeting place.  Meat, vegetables and dairy products could be purchased daily from regulated “stalls” on the lower level.  The large meeting room on the second floor became Boston’s town hall.  Noted speakers in the 1800’s included Frederick Douglas, Daniel Webster, Jefferson Davis and Susan B. Anthony.  Outside, a statue of Samuel Adams honors the traditions of liberty and free speech.  Today, with shops and small food stores down stairs, Faneuil Hall serves much the same purpose as it did in 1742.

Franklin's statue recalls
the native roots of this
American statesman.

We walked around the Old Custom House and the Old South Church.  In a park nearby, a statue called American Dream was a memorial to the victims of the Irish Potato Famine.  A million people died in Ireland; a ship sent from Boston with 800 tons of food saved many others.A bronze of Benjamin Franklin outside of Old City Hall remembered the Colonial leader who was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Robert Paine and Paul Revere are all buried in the 1660 Granary Burial Ground.

People at Brewer Fountain
Plaza jogged and relaxed in
shirt sleeves by late morning.

I learned that the skull and cross bones symbol on many tombstones is called “Death’s Head” and was a common non-religious symbol of the 1700’s.

By the Park Street Congregational Church we stopped at the Brewer Fountain Plaza to enjoy the sun.

The Parker House, a world famous hotel, is the home of Parker House dinner rolls and Boston cream pie.  The lobby had beautiful old furniture and woodwork.  I took pictures of the flower arrangements for Tara’s Floral Design classes—cymbidium orchids with feather grasses and boxwood.

A statue of Paul Revere
on horseback stands at
the entrance to the park. 

We photographed Old North Church from Hull Street and looked for the steeple where Paul Revere held the lanterns of April 18, 1775, that ignited the American Revolution.

The tower of Old North
Church rises above the
surrounding apartments.
 

Then we headed across the river to Charlestown for a tour of the U.S.S. Constitution, Old Ironsides, the oldest and finest commissioned warship afloat in the world.  Access was through airport-style security screening, one person at a time, but the screening allowed us to enter Charlestown Navy Yard.  Established in 1800, the naval yard served the fleet, especially during wartime, until its close in 1974.  The men and women of its workforce built more than 200 warships and maintained and repaired thousands.  During World War I, Charlestown specialized in repair of battleships, cruisers and destroyers.  These all-purpose vessels were built for escort duty, antisubmarine warfare and shore bombardment. 

Still commissioned and a national
treasure, the U.S.S. Constitution,
Old Ironsides, floats in the Boston Harbor.

Destroyers were built here, as well, until the end of World War II, when the time from keel-laying to launch was cut from 15 months to three months.  Workers here also built tank landing ships and destroyer escorts.

On board the U.S.S. Constitution, we climbed below deck.  The woodwork was gorgeous, and the ship is in excellent condition considering its age.  Sailors, dressed in uniforms from the 1800’s, guided visitors and told stories.  One sailor up on deck explained how the captain had ordered them to fly a British flag in order to scare away a U.S. merchant ship that would have actually been captured by real British warships nearby.  He also told us how sailors sweltered because of the black color.  They convinced the captain to paint the Constitution another color.  Finally, he agreed—white with one red stripe for fierce threat.  After they sailed the ship into an island port, all the natives laughed at the pink warship.  The red stripe had gotten wet and run.  It was a fascinating tour. 
Even some of the cannons on board had names.

An active-duty sailor
tells visitors about his ship,
the U.S.S. Constitution.

The decommissioned destroyer U.S.S. Cassin Young floated in the next slip and was open for touring.  During World War II the Cassin Young carried ten torpedoes, each weighing 2,215 pounds.  A three-man crew programmed the course, speed and depth for each torpedo.  Fired, a torpedo could carry a 780-pound explosive charge three miles at 45 knots or 7.5 miles at 28.5 knots.  A single torpedo could sink a ship, but torpedoes are highly inaccurate and don’t always explode. 

Andy poses under the gun
batteries on the U.S.S.
Cassin Young.

A Fletcher-class destroyer, the U.S.S. Cassin Young and other destroyers like it were stronger and more versatile than previous warships. Weighing 2,050 tons, only 376 feet in length, and carrying diverse weapons, this was the Navy’s best all-purpose warship.   Commissioned in California in 1943, the Cassin Young operated in the Pacific from 1944 to August, 1945, and survived two Kamikaze attacks at Okinawa, causing the deaths of 22 Americans.  After emergency repairs in France in 1959, the U.S.S. Cassin Young returned to the U.S.   Showing her age, she was decommissioned on April 29, 1960.

It was fun to clamber around the tight spaces and imagine life on a destroyer.

Sightseeing is thirsty business.  By 2:00 p.m. we were more than ready for a break.  But a special town demands a special place.  

We might think about joining the Navy, if
we could serve on the U.S.S. Cassin Young.

“We’re going back to the tavern,” said Andy, “the one you saw earlier that’s the oldest tavern in America.”  It was at least a mile walk to the Bell and Hand, but we headed that direction toward Congress Street for beer and kettle chips.  “Old Jimmy” Wilson, Boston’s last town crier hoisted the first sign of the Bell in 1795 under the Exchange Coffee House in Congress Square.  The tavern gained a popular reputation for selling “the best ale in Boston.”  Relocated to Pi Alley in 1853, the ale house thrived on “Newspaper Row” and became a social hub for newspaper men, bankers, Harvard professors, artists and writers  Another move to Devonshire Street at Union and Hanover maintained these centuries old traditions.  Now it seems the Bell and Hand attracts tourists, at least on Sundays like today.

Perhaps to attract tourists, the Bell and Hand advertises itself
as the oldest tavern in America.

As we headed out for another few hours of Freedom Trail and our own “Walk Boston,” we passed through the Italian section.  “Do you remember Prince Spaghetti?” asked Andy. “Well, that’s the street.  We’re in Little Italy.”

Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill bound the Colonies to the course of independence.  On June 17, 1775, two months after Concord Bridge, the New England Provincials, subjects of the king, stoop up to the mighty British army for the first time in pitched battle.  New taxes, imposed by King George III on the Colonists for sugar and other goods to help pay down the British government’s huge war debt, angered the citizens.  They called it “taxation without representation.”

Resentment over the despised, albeit minimal , tea tax lead colonists to dump more than 342 chests of tea, valued at more than $1 million in today’s currency, into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773.

Parliament passed punitive measures:  a blockade of Boston Harbor, martial law in Boston, replacement of the civilian royal governor by General Thomas Gage, and the outlawing of all town meetings.  Colonists responded by creating a Provincial Congress outside of Boston and forming militia groups called Minutemen to train militarily.  The stage had been set for conflict.

A fitting memorial at one of the highest
points in Boston, Bunker Hill offers
a view of most of the city.

In a few short weeks after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, farmers, tradespersons, merchant from every level of society came by the hundreds to Boston.  Before long General Thomas Gage found his army encircled by 10,000 to 15,000 angry Colonials.

In the meantime King George III sent three of the best available generals—William Howe, John Burgoyne and Henry Clinton--to quell the discontent.  Together with Gage they agreed the hills of Charlestown and Dorchester Neck had to be seized and fortified to regain control of the rebellious New England Colonies. 

Their plans for fortification were foiled when the Committee of Safety found out and sent William Prescott and 1,200 men to Charlestown on the night of June 16, 1745.  Under the direction of Richard Gridley, they built an earthen redoubt on Breed’s Hill in one night.  It was visible to British sentries in Boston the next morning, who thought that a whole fort had been built overnight, a blatant challenge to British authority.

From on top of the monument, the 360 degree views
of Boston are amazing on a clear day.

As the 2,200 British regulars lined up for battle in Charlestown that afternoon of June 17, snipers in town fired at them.   The army set the town on fire and the battle began.  Two British surges failed.  On the third assault, with bayonets fixed and Marine reinforcements to bolster their ranks, the British entered the fort.  The Colonials, who had exhausted their ammunition supply, retreated and gave up the hill.  But the British “victory” was costly.  A thousand men died in the assaults, nearly half of the British forces in Boston.

Years later, the Bunker Hill Monument Association starred to build a granite obelisk to commemorate the sacrifice of so many on both sides.  The finished monument was dedicated on the anniversary of the battle in 1843, with more than 100,000 people in attendance, including veterans of the actual battle and then U.S. President John Tyler.

The new bridge adds a modern touch to a city of history.

We climbed to the top of Bunker Hill and then scaled the Monument.  It was 294 steep granite steps to the top.  “That’s the equivalent of climbing a 27-story building,” said Andy, as I puffed my way to the upper platform. 
But the view of all of Boston was worth the effort.  No wonder both sides wanted control in 1775.

It was a long way back to our Congress Street garage, but the sun warmed the open areas along the Greenway for block after block of open space where the dirty overhead highway had been.

The Greenway introduces open space
and beauty to those of the inner city.

Back at Little Red, we paid our parking and headed to the Italian North End.  Jammed with people and lined block after block, this classy old neighborhood was gentrified with three-story duplexes, open-air restaurants on the street and craft booths with jewelry and art.  I wasn’t meant to buy; there were no parking spaces anywhere!