Boston: Freedom Trail Small Group Walking Tour & All 16 Landmarks

4.93

(6382 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I didn’t expect the bricks to feel so uneven under my sneakers, but there I was, trying not to trip as our guide—Tom, born-and-bred Bostonian—waved us over by the Boston Common. He pointed out this bronze relief of two men shaking hands (I’d have walked right past it), and suddenly we were talking Puritans and 1630s instead of just “the Revolution.” It smelled like wet grass and city air, kind of sharp, and someone’s dog barked at a squirrel. That made Tom laugh—he said even the squirrels here have attitude.

The Massachusetts State House looked gold in the morning light, but honestly, it was the old gravestones at Granary Burying Ground that got me. Names I remembered from school—Samuel Adams, Paul Revere—right there in crooked rows. There was this hush for a second; even the traffic seemed to fade. We walked past King’s Chapel and the site of Boston Latin School (Tom joked he’d never have gotten in), then paused outside Old South Meeting House. He asked if we could imagine hundreds crammed inside arguing about tea taxes—I couldn’t, really, but I tried.

We wound through downtown, Faneuil Hall buzzing with food smells and street musicians warming up. The Boston Massacre site is just a ring of stones now; Tom told us how five people died right where we stood. Some folks took photos, others just listened quietly. My feet were starting to ache but I didn’t want to miss anything—not Paul Revere’s house tucked into the North End or Copp’s Hill Burying Ground overlooking the Charles River at the end. The wind picked up there; it felt colder somehow, maybe because you could see so much history stacked on top of itself.