We actually got up at a reasonable hour and took an Uber to the USS Constitution. Built in 1797 the USS Constitution is the oldest active naval ship still afloat and it is one of the original ships of the US Navy. It is still listed as a fully active ship of the US Navy and is crewed by active US Navy sailors. The ship is a true piece of American history and we got to look at her cannons, below decks where the sailors and marines lived and ask questions to the very nice sailors crewing the ship. This is also a great homeschooling lesson for Olivia although I suspect that the main thing that she will remember is why bathrooms on ships are called “heads”. On old sailing ships there were no bathrooms so sailors would go to the front of the ship or the “head” of the ship and just do their business over the side. Sailing ships would always try to have the wind blow from behind the ship to the front to move so the front of the ship was usually downwind of the rest of the ship.
After a quick lunch at a nearby 7-11 we went to Bunker Hill, one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War. There was a ranger there telling the tale of Bunker Hill and how the defenders waited until they could see the whites of their eyes before opening fire.
From there we took in the lovely architecture of Charlestown before following the Freedom Trail through Boston. The Freedom trail is marked by a red line running through the streets of Boston and we followed it to view some of the most historical places.
We passed the statue of Paul Revere, saw the church steeple that had the two lanterns, saw Paul Revere’s house, passed the Union Oyster House again, went by the site of the Boston Massacre and the location where the oldest public school in the United States used to be before ending up in Boston Commons. It was getting dark by the time we got to Boston Commons but it is just a few blocks from Chinatown where we went for dinner.
Since Boston is such as compact, walkable city, it was also just a few minutes walk back to Rover. The next day dawned overcast and threatening to rain. We managed to walk to Chinatown for lunch before returning to Rover to head out of Boston. It was Monday and the parking lot where we were staying at charged $5 a day for weekend but $25 a day for weekdays so it was time to move on, plus it was time to start looking for a place to empty our sewage tanks and refill water. Late in the afternoon after doing some homeschooling, we left Boston and drove to a Walmart near Salem, Massachusetts.
To see more of our wonderful weekend in Boston check out our video!