Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

At first glance, Boston Common doesn’t seem so remarkable. Sure, there’s a
bandstand, and a pond, and on the balmy September morning of my visit
the trees teased with glimpses of their flaming fall finery. But it’s much like
any other city park, populated by ordinary folk strolling, lolling, or browsing a
newspaper on a bench.
Except it’s not. This 50-acre (20-hectare) emerald swath is the oldest public park
in the USA, established in 1634 by Puritan settlers. It’s witnessed the hangings of
heretics and ‘witches’; it’s been trampled by redcoats; it’s hosted Judy Garland,
Martin Luther King Jr, Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev. And it’s the
starting point for possibly America’s most intriguing urban hike: the Freedom Trail.
This 2.5-mile (4km) route snakes between key historic sites, most relating to the
18th-century American struggle for independence. It’s also simply a fine walk – a
great way to introduce yourself to the buzzing heart of Boston, bars and markets as
well as churches and museums.
The first stop beckoned brightly just steps from the start point at Boston Common
Visitor Center: the gilded dome of the Massachusetts State House. Twenty years
after his famous nocturnal ride to Lexington, Paul Revere joined John Hancock in
presiding at the laying of the building’s cornerstone, and went on to copper-plate
its dome.
But though such monumental landmarks are impressive, more fascinating are the
sites that speak of the day-to-day lives (and deaths) of early Bostonians. Following
the line of red bricks embedded in the pavement, I ambled down Park St to its
namesake church and the adjacent Granary Burial Ground, where I paid homage
to pivotal patriots John Hancock, Samuel Adams and – there he was again – Paul
Revere. Those patriots are the big draws, but I found the earliest gravestones,
some decorated with winged skulls, more evocative still.