Walking the Freedom Trail in Boston Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. We disembark from the subway at Park Street. We will walk across the Boston Common, the oldest public park in the United States, to our first stop. As we walk, does anybody know the original purpose of the Common?

Answer: grazing of cattle

When Boston was all farm land, the farmers took their cows to the wide open grasses to feed. Legend states that Boston's crooked streets were cow paths from the farms to the Common. Ralph Waldo Emerson is even credited with saying: "We say the cows laid out Boston. Well there are worse surveyors". Unfortunately it is now believed this quaint story is nothing more than a myth and Boston's streets are merely the fruits of no urban planning.

2. Follow me up the hill, everybody! We are now at the steps of the "new" State House (Bostonian for capitol building), which was built in 1798. It was designed by America's first professional architect. Does anyone know this architect's name?

Answer: Charles Bullfinch

The "new" State House sits atop Beacon Hill on land formerly owned by John Hancock. The distinctive "Bullfinch Dome" is wood and was covered with copper in 1802. In the 1870s the dome was changed to 23k gold. The pub in the TV show "Cheers" is based upon the "Bull and Finch Tavern" and only five blocks down Beacon Street from here.

3. Everyone, please now turn and look across Beacon Street. You will see a frieze commemorating the first all African American army unit--the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. Denzel Washington fans will remember that unit as the characters in "Glory". The frieze itself was immortalized in the poem, "For the Union Dead". Do any of you know this Bay State poet's name?

Answer: Robert Lowell

Robert Lowell was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1917. He was US Poet Laureate from 1947-1948. "For the Union Dead" is often thought a response or complimentary work to Allen Tate's more well known "Ode to the Confederate Dead". Each deals with the incomplete social revolution following the Civil War.

4. Okay, everybody, we're walking, we're walking. Around this corner; and, we're stopping. You'll see through this fence that we are at the Granary Burying Ground. There are several famous people buried here including the purported "Mother Goose", Paul Revere and James Otis. Three of the five Massachusetts signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here: Robert Treat Paine, Samuel Adams and - can anyone name the third?

Answer: John Hancock

Josiah Bartlett (the namesake for the "West Wing" President) was born in Massachusetts, but moved to New Hampshire and represented that colony at the Continental Congress. He is buried in Kingston, New Hampshire. John Adams and his son, John Quincy, are interred at First United Parish in Quincy, Massachusetts. Elbridge Gerry, from whose clever cartography we get the word "gerrymandering", was the sitting Vice-President when he died in 1814.

He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery on E Street in Washington.

5. Follow me, everybody, down Tremont Street. We are now at the King's Chapel. This is the site of the oldest non-Puritan congregation in Boston. The bell was originally cast in the 1770s, but it cracked. It was recast in 1814 by what famous Boston metalworker?

Answer: Paul Revere

King's Chapel was built on Boston's oldest burying ground, since no one in town would sell land for a non-Puritan church. The structure was completed in 1754 and the congregation is a member of the Unitarian Universalists Association.

6. Now follow me down School Street. To the left you will see Old City Hall, built during the American Civil War. It is on the site of the oldest public school in America. Without looking at the plaque on the sidewalk, can anyone tell me the name of the oldest public school in America?

Answer: Boston Latin School

Boston Latin was founded in 1635 and has remained one of the top public schools in the country. Educated there were five signers of the Declaration of Independence, family patriarch Joseph Kennedy, Emerson, Bullfinch, and CNN's "magic wall" master John King. Benjamin Franklin and Louis Farrakhan are among the school's most famous drop-outs.

7. Gather 'round everybody. Here at School and Washington is the Old South Meeting House. It was here in 1773 that colonists met to plan the Boston Tea Party. When one unnamed colonist let out an Iroquois war call, the Sons of Liberty set off from here and stormed three ships, destroying their cargo of tea. What were the names of the three ships?

Answer: Dartmouth, Beaver and Eleanor

The hated tax on tea--and more importantly the law against buying it from anyone but the East India Company--caused consternation in Boston. In reaction to the monopoly handed to the Company by the British Crown, Americans refused to buy tea. The Company was going to unload the tea in Boston Harbor anyways; so, the Sons of Liberty destroyed what amounts to millions of dollars worth of tea in today's dollars.

Ever since that incident, most Americans have chosen coffee as their morning pick-me-up.

8. Everyone follow me down Washington Street, please. Here we are at the Old State House. Looking over here at the East facade on State Street you will see the statues of two gilded animals. One is a lion, the other is a mythical creature. Can anyone name what mythical creature it is?

Answer: Unicorn

The Old State House served as the colonial government house from 1713 to 1776 and the State House until 1798 when the "new" State House was completed. It was Boston's City Hall from 1830-1841. The gilded lion and unicorn are representative of the Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

9. Please gather here in the median of Devonshire and State. Look down and you will see a ring of cobblestones. This is the site of the Boston Massacre. Who was the first person to die in the Boston Massacre?

Answer: Crispus Attucks

On March 5, 1770 soldiers guarding the Old State House were accosted by a mob. The mob began throwing snowballs and rockets at the soldiers. Twelve soldiers thought they heard the order to fire and felled Crispus Attucks, an African-American colonial, and four others. Eight soldiers were eventually charged with murder. With the assistance of their attorney, John Adams, the soldiers were found innocent as they thought they were following a legal order.

10. Everyone, follow me down Congress Street. Our next stop is here at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. This Georgian style building was originally the town's main marketplace. What gilded animal is represented on the building's distinct weather vane?

Answer: Grasshopper

The market building was opened in 1742. On the ground floor there are shops and the upper floors are meeting hall. During the Colonial Period, meetings in the main hall on the second floor became so radical that it is often referred to as the "Cradle of Liberty". The distinct grasshopper weather vain is based on the grasshopper at London's Royal Exchange.

11. Now please follow me through the Haymarket--the city's main vegetable and meat market--into the North End. Our first stop in this Italian-American neighborhood is 19 North Square: Paul Revere's house. This building has a distinction other than being the home of the midnight rider; can anyone tell me what it is?

Answer: It's the oldest building in Boston.

Built in 1680, the house was old when Paul Revere purchased it in 1770. The Revere family owned the property from 1770 until 1800. Watch your head while you're inside!

12. We've been walking for a while, let's stop and get a refreshing Italian Ice before our next stop, the Old North Church. (Make mine a cherry). The steeple of the Old North Church was used to communicate information to Paul Revere before his ride. Who can tell me what was the medium for that communication?

Answer: Lanterns

"Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, 'If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm'."

-"Paul Revere's Ride", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

13. Many people know the Longfellow poem "Paul Revere's Ride". However, does anyone know the collection of poems from which it came?

Answer: Tales of a Wayside Inn

Like Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", the "Tales of a Wayside Inn" are a set of stories in poetry told by a group of strangers. These strangers are met at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The collection was originally published in 1863. The Wayside Inn is still in existence. Any who are visiting the Minuteman sites in Lexington and Concord should make a stop there.

14. Our next stop will be across the harbor in Charlestown. Here in the old Navy Yard is the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world. Yet she was due to be scrapped in the mid 19th century. Whose 1830 poem "Old Ironsides" raised awareness and saved the ship?

Answer: Oliver Wendall Holmes

The poet Oliver Wendall Holmes was the father of the Supreme Court Justice of the same name. His poem saved the 44-gun from the scrap heap. The USS Constitution was commissioned in 1797. The over-sized frigate played a major part in victory over the Barbary States in the early 19th Century and over the British in the War of 1812.

She sails around Boston Harbor twice a year, July 4th and a practice run towards the end of June. It is an impressive sight to see the modern tankers and cruise ships give way as this national treasure sails about the harbor.

15. Follow me, everybody, up the hill to our last stop--The Bunker Hill Monument. The obelisk, like the battle it commemorates, is not actually on Bunker Hill. Can anybody name the hill atop which it sits?

Answer: Breed's Hill

On June 17, 1775 the British under General Howe attempted to break the Colonials' Siege of Boston. He moved his troops across the Harbor and attempted to take the high ground on Breed's Hill. While it was a tactical victory for the British, the battle proved the Colonial militia could fight the greatest army on Earth.

The Siege of Boston eventually ended on March 17, 1776 when the new Colonial Commander-in-Chief, Virginia's George Washington, placed guns from Fort Ticonderoga atop Dorchester Heights and forced General Howe to evacuate the city.

This brings an end to our tour of the Freedom Trail. I'll walk you down to Bunker Hill Community College subway stop for a return trip downtown. Tips would be appreciated.

Source: Author pericles34

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Pagiedamon before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

In 1976, the City of Boston laid down a red line on the sidewalk throughout the city. Following the red line will take the walker to many famous historic sights in the "Hub of the Universe". I'll be your tour guide with trivia questions as we walk.

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