Boston & Old Town Trolley Tour

Yesterday at the campground office I bought tickets for the Old Town Trolley Tour of Boston. The regular price for seniors is $31, but at the campground office I paid $26 for each ticket and we got a brochure showing a map of Boston and the route of the Trolley Tour. We were up early this morning to drive to the MBTA subway station at Alewife which is about 15 miles SE of Hanscom. We parked the car at the parking garage ($5 for the day) and followed other commuters from the parking garage to the subway station. There we paid $2 each for a ticket at a ticket vending machine. We rode the Red Line subway to the Kendall/MIT station (I had gone on the MBTA's website and found all the information I needed regarding parking and the subway schedules). We chose the Kendall/MIT station because one of the Old Town Trolley stops was right near there.

Our first stop on the Trolley Tour was at the Massachusetts State House. The cornerstone was laid July 4, 1795 by Gov. Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. The State House was completed in 1798 and is on the former site of John Hancock’s cow pasture. It's the oldest building on Beacon Hill and is one of the oldest state capitals in continuous use.

From Boston, MA

We then walked down to the Granary Burying Ground which is the 3rd oldest burying ground in Boston. There are 2345 gravesites in the Granary Burying Ground. Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin's parents are buried there.

From Boston, MA

We walked through part of Boston Common before heading to the Trolley Stop. The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum should have been our next stop on the tour, but we were told that there had been a fire and it was closed for renovation. Our next stop was at Quincy Market where we ate lunch at Cheers (a recreation of the Cheers from the TV show).

From Boston, MA

We then visited Faneuil Hall which was built in 1742. It's called the "Cradle of Liberty" - town meetings were held here where colonial Boston patriots met to rally against the British oppression. From there we walked over to the Old State House. It is Boston’s oldest surviving public building. On July 18, 1776 Bostonians heard the first reading of the Declaration of Independence from the balcony. Here on March 5, 1770 five colonists were killed by British soldiers and that action became knows as the Boston Massacre -a key event leading to the American Revolution.

From Boston, MA

We got back on the Trolley and our next stop was at the Paul Revere house. It was built ca 1680 by Robert Howard who was a wealthy Puritan merchant. Paul Revere bought the house in 1770 and sold it in 1800. We couldn't take photos inside the house, so I bought some postcards and I've scanned them so I could include them with the photos that we did take.

From Boston, MA

Our next stop on the Trolley Tour was at the USS Constitution Museum. Here we saw exhibits detailing the history of "Old Ironsides" during peace time and in war. She was launched October 21, 1797 in Boston and cost $302,718. She was restored in 1997 and sailed under her own power for the first time in 116 years. The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Her hull is made of live and white oak - 24" thick in some places. We then walked over to the USS Constitution to go onboard for a tour. We had to go through a security check and then wait for our Navy tour guide. The USS Constitution is undergoing a restoration now and her masts had been removed for painting. Once onboard we could only be on the upper deck, but she is still very impressive.

From Boston, MA

After our tour it was late afternoon and decided to pass on walking up the hill to see the Bunker Hill monument. While we were waiting for the next Trolley to come, several Duck Tours came by and everyone "quacked" when they passed by. We rode the Trolley back to the Kendall/MIT subway station. On the way we passed the oldest firehouse still operating in Boston, Fenway Park and the Christian Science Mother Church. We got to the subway station (bought 2 $2 tickets from ticket vending machine) in time for the 5 p.m. commute, so we rode standing up and shoulder to shoulder with the other commuters. Then back to the car and then home to the RV.

We highly recommend the Old Town Trolley Tour and they do have a package where you can buy tickets good for 2 days instead of touring Boston like we did in 1 day. We want to go back sometime to visit the USS Constitution, the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum (when they aren't being renovated), Bunker Hill and to see some of the other sights we missed.