When many of us hear the word "trail" we think of a path through the wilderness, but in Boston, we have a very unusual trail. It is called the Freedom Trail. It is a red brick path that includes many of the historic sites where Americans began their fight for independence. One stop along the trail is the State House, which is where the governor and the state legislature work. This historical building, which Oliver Wendell Holmes called "the Hub", was built and designed by Charles Bulfinch in 1795. It was built on land that had originally belonged to the Revolutionary patriot and first governor of Massachusetts, John Hancock. The State House is easily recognized by its gold dome. Originally, Paul Revere and Sons coppered the dome in 1802 to prevent water leakage. Some seventy years later, the dome was gilded with 23 carat gold leaf at a cost of $2,862.50. Located across from the State House is the Boston Common, the oldest public park in the United States. This land was purchased in 1634 and used as a cow pasture, a militia training field, and a public punishment site. It was there on the Common that the British troops assembled before their famous Battle of Bunker Hill.
Another site along the trail is the Old North Church. Built in 1723, it is Boston's oldest existing church. It was in its steeple that Robert Newman hung two lanterns ("One, if by land, two, if by sea", as written in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere") to warn the patriots in Charlestown that the British were crossing the harbor on their way to Concord. Nearby is the oldest surviving home in Boston, the Paul Revere House. It was from there, on that same night of April 18, 1775, that Paul Revere departed on his world-famous horseback ride to warn the residents of Lexington and Concord that the British were coming.
Finally, the Freedom Trail ends at the Bunker Hill Monument located in Charlestown. This monument honors those brave patriots who fought against the British, withdrawing only after their ammunition was gone. It was at this battle where General Putnam, the patriot leader, exclaimed, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!". The battle itself was actually fought on nearby Breed's Hill on June 17, 1775. Construction of the obelisk-shaped monument on Bunker Hill began June 7, 1825, 50 years after the battle.