After our first day in downtown Boston was spent walking along much of the Freedom Trail we planned to spend the next day north of the Charles River. So while we walked the first portion of the trail in order we technically completed the rest backwards, but thankfully the order you walk the trail doesn't really matter.
We planned to go to
Bunker Hill first as we knew access to the monument was regulated by timed (albeit free) ticketing. Did you that the battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought on Breed's Hill?
On June 17, 1775, New England soldiers faced the British army for the first time in a pitched battle. Popularly known as "The Battle of Bunker Hill," bloody fighting took place throughout a hilly landscape of fenced pastures that were situated across the Charles River from Boston. Though the British forces claimed the field, the casualties inflicted by the Provincial solders from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire were staggering. Of the some 2,400 British Soldiers and Marines engaged, some 1,000 were wounded or killed.
Fifty years after the battle, the Marquis De Lafayette set the cornerstone of what would become a lasting monument and tribute to the memory of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The project was ambitious: construct a 221-foot tall obelisk built entirely from quarried granite. It took over seventeen years to complete, but it still stands to this day atop a prominence of the battlefield now known as Breed's Hill. Marking the site where Provincial forces constructed an earthen fort, or "Redoubt," prior to the battle, this site remains the focal point of the battle's memory.
--from
Boston NHP website
After we got out of the metro station we had to head up a rather steep hill. It made for good exercise pushing the stroller!
Before too long we caught our first glimpse of the monument through the trees and buildings.
We entered the grounds via the Massachusetts Gate.
Thankfully there was a ramp so we didn't have to carry the stroller up the stairs.
Across the street is the Bunker Hill Museum, but it wasn't quite open yet, so we waited on the grounds for a while.
There was plenty of space for the kids to run around and play.
The building next to the base of the monument is also historic, being the Bunker Hill Lodge completed in 1901.
When the monument was dedicated in 1843 there were still a few veterans able to attend the ceremony.
The statue in front of the monument is Colonel William Prescott, the commander of the Patriot forces who is commonly believed to have told his men "Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes."
As we waited for the museum to open I walked around the grounds and saw the other gates starting with the United States Gate.
Some helpful signs like this were scattered around to indicate where fortifications once stood.
Next was the New Hampshire Gate.
Last was the Connecticut Gate.
Finally we were able to get tickets for the climb, only to discover that if you there first thing in the morning you didn't need timed tickets. I still asked for a ticket just so that I could keep it as a bookmark (and I'm still using it seven months later). There is a warning sign before you begin that lets you know you'll be climbing 294 steps, something not for the faint of heart or those with medical conditions--there is no elevator up or down.
A small memorial that predates the monument is preserved inside the base.
We paused several times on the way up. I'd forgotten how many stairs there were, so at 175 I was thinking that we were still quite a ways from the top instead of being over half-way there.
Looking back at my Fitbit's data for that day it shows that I climbed 18 floors between 9:30 and 9:45.
View north towards the Mystic River.
View west towards Interstate 93.
View south towards downtown Boston.
View east towards the Charlestown Naval Shipyard.
Before too long we headed down. There were a bunch of kids at the top as part of a field trip and some of them passed us on the way down. There wasn't too much room on the stairs, but there was enough room to pass people if you took care.
When we got to the bottom we entered the lodge and saw this statue of General Joseph Warren, who died during the battle.
The girls then sat and listened to a lecture given by a ranger.
We next walked back over to the Bunker Hill Museum to spend a few minutes touring the exhibits.
A variety of different styles were proposed for the monument before the final form was selected. Initially the commission thought they wanted columns as portrayed by many of these proposals, but they eventually settled upon the current obelisk form in 1825.
After perusing the gift shop we left the area to head towards the Charlestown Naval Yards and our final stops along the Freedom Trail. You can view the pictures above and more
in this album.
~Matt
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