Steeds in the Garden State: July 2011

We've wanted an excuse to go to Boston for a while and we finally found one last week while Melissa was here visiting. It's only a 4 hour drive from NYC but we hit Friday rush hour traffic and it took us about six and a half. We wanted to do all of the historic touristy things in Boston and they make it really easy to do. All you do is follow the Freedom Trail, which is literally a red brick line that weaves throughout the city's downtown leading you to all of the sights.

Bridget waiting in the grass while we made our plans for the day

One of our first stops was an old graveyard where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin's parents are buried. The Puritans that settled here often carved skulls with wings on their headstones so it added an extra creepy touch.

The freedom trail path

The actual steeple where Paul Revere hung the lanterns as a warning that the British were coming

Paul Revere's family pew

Sitting on a donkey. I have no idea why there was a statue of a donkey in the same plaza as the statue of Benjamin Franklin.

The USS Constitution first set sail in October 1797 and is the oldest warship still afloat in the world.

On board the USS Constitution a.k.a "Old Ironsides". It was made of live oak, which is so dense that during it's first battle the cannonballs just stuck into the sides and bounced off.

At the USS Constitution museum. The ship's crew was allowed only 4 hours of sleep per night and they had to do it in these hammocks.

Walking around the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood

Bridget climbing the steps at Harvard

On the steps in front of one of the Harvard University libraries

The following day we decided to visit Salem, MA, the site of the infamous witch trials. It was such a cute, friendly little town that we actually enjoyed it more than Boston.

The town has constructed an outdoor memorial for the victims of the witch trials. Each victim has a stone bench engraved with their name and date of death. We are sitting on the bench for Bridget Bishop who was the first person tried and convicted of witchcraft during "the frenzy".

Giles Corey was the only victim who was pressed to death rather than hanged. He was in his 80s and was very wealthy. If he entered a plea of not guilty and then was found guilty he would have forfeited all his possessions so he refused to enter any plea at all so that his decendants would still inherit his fortune. The court was obviously not impressed so they ordered that he be pressed under stones until he entered a plea but instead he just kept saying "more weight" and died without ever entering a plea.

City Hall. This is the site where the first victim, Bridget Bishop, was dragged by a mob, tried, and convicted by the audience in attendance which acted as her jury.