This year we chose Boston as the place for Mike to do his Continuing Medical Education. We decided to bring along our oldest 3, and visit my cousin, Lisa and her husband, Dave, who live there with their 6 children.
We saw the beautiful Boston fall leaves
We had a blast! We packed so much into each day, it amazed us all. The education and inspiration we got from each one of these days is equivalent to a month of formal learning, in my reckoning.
Good planning helped and so did super helpful hosts.
I mentioned in another post how our little cousins made their traditional dinner for us the first day. That day they helped lay the ground work for our walking the Freedom Trail by taking us to a couple key places ahead of time: The Minuteman Museum and the Old North Bridge.
I snapped a picture of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house as we drove by.
Then when we got to the Old North Bridge, this quote by Emerson was engraved in the pavement and was the first thing we saw as we crossed the street to get to the bridge.
"The thunderbolt falls on an inch of ground but the light of it fills the horizon"
My cousin Lisa’s husband, Dave explained the story of what happened at the bridge when we got there. This was the place where the colonists were stock piling arms and the British found out about it. They came to confiscate the weapons. By the time the British got there, the colonists had been forwarned and their numbers had steadily increased until they were a significant force with which to be reckoned. It was on this bridge that the first battle took place.
It reads "Here on the 19th of April 1775 was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression on the opposite Bank stood the American Militia. Here stood the Invading Army and on this spot the first of the enemy fell in the War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and In the Love of Freedom this Monument was erected in 1836.
This marked was to the side of the monument: Grave of British soldiers.
It reads, "They came three thousand miles, and died to keep the past upon its throne-Unheard, beyond the ocean tide. Their English mother made her moan." April 19, 1775
Here we are on the Old North Bridge. Isaac wanted to show the huge leaf he had just found.
Bridges are just fun, even if they don’t have tremendous historical significance.
What’s the name of that game where you drop a leaf or twig on one side and see if it comes out the other side?
There were a few leaf races on the side.
I took this picture of Raquel, Nathan, & Isaac and I was so intrigued by the boathouse behind them, we had to go check it out.
This is what it looked like on the inside.
And what’s more inviting to kids than a moving dock?
Calvin, Raquel, Jake & Lisa keeping balance
This statue is on the other side of the bridge. Later on our trip when we went to the Alcott house I learned that the man who created this statue was mentored by Louisa’s youngest sister May, the artist (think of Amy in Little Women).
After we had our fill, we headed over to the Minuteman museum.
The Minuteman museum had a brief, but fabulous multimedia presentation that outlined the events that began the Revolutionary War. I certainly did not remember the events of that night the British marched on Concord just behind Paul Revere.
The story was riveting.
The scenery was breathtaking.
We were ready to walk the Freedom Trail.
Stay tuned . . .
