Day 8 October 23, 2024

Boston, Massachusetts

Oh, what a day!!! I always wanted to walk “the Freedom Trail” and now I had my chance …. except Pat’s knee had other ideas. So change of plans (walking the 3 -4 miles was not an option). If you know me, I’m always looking at the silver lining or the new open door …. I turned in my tickets for the Freedom Trail and booked a bus trip, a full day one. So, after a good breakfast we boarded our bus with Dick Jacobson, our tour guide, for the next 7 1/2 hours. Probably one of the best, most informative, enjoyable tours ever. I could have listened to Dick for a few hours more. He was great. I learned so much history. So my day in Boston wasn’t what I expected, it was so much better. One current Boston fact was “the Big Dig” the largest, most expensive highway project in the United States. Planning started in the 1982, funding approved in 1987, ground broken in 1991 and finished in 2007. It involved rerouting the interstate running through the center of Boston into the 1.5-mile Tip O’Niell Tunnel. adding 2 new bridges, another tunnel into Logan International Airport and filling in the old interstate space with greenspace and parks. The initial cost was estimated at 3 billion but as with most projects, they weren’t close … how about 24.3 billion. One cool trivia fact, while traveling in the tunnel, if the tile stripe is brown, you are traveling under land, if the tile stripe is blue, you are traveling under water.

Lexington, Massachusetts

April 19, 1775. The British were on a march from Boston Harbor to Concord to look for hidden guns and ammunitions on Barrett’s farm. But thanks to Paul Revere, his signal team and his midnight ride, the “local boys” were ready & waiting. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were actually in hiding in Concord and Revere thought they were they in danger, so they were notified and moved. But the British were unaware that they were even there. 15-minute skirmish of 100 Bristish soldiers on their way to Concord against about 70 local minutemen. Many had gone home because they got tired of waiting all night and no British had shown up. 8 Americans killed, 9 injured. 1 British injured before the Bristish retreated because they believed they needed to get to Concord. The major significance of this 1st skirmish, it was British subject against Bristish subject.

Concord Massachusetts

The British continued their march north with about 700 men on April 19, 1775. The British were divided and about 100 British were sent to the Old North Bridge where they encountered about 400 Minutemen. There were numerous fatalities, but this is where the phrase “the shot heard round the world” was born. It stands more for a shot for freedom than a physical shot. The British fell back and reassembled in Concord. The troops that were sent out to find the guns and ammunitions had failed, since the locals had been warned and had everything moved. The British began their march back to Boston, empty-handed and discouraged. Now, the minutemen from the outlying areas had been coming in, so their numbers were growing. They began picking off the British as they were retreating. By the time they got back to Boston, their number had been seriously depleted, and their moral destroyed.