Discovering the backbone of America’s revolution in Boston

Old and new in Boston


With championship pro-sports franchises, an historic tea party, a famous pie and chowder and the setting for a top television comedy, I wasn’t sure what my focus would be, when I booked a trip to Boston.

Granted, visiting Boston at the end of winter after a month of record-setting snow storms probably didn’t give me the most positive impression of the city, but I found a hook for my tour. I made it my mission to discover the Freedom Trail.

The State House

Billed as a “one-of-a-kind American experience,” the Freedom Trail links a cluster of buildings and historic sites in downtown Boston that celebrate the American Revolution.

With the spirited and engaging storytelling by tour guide Brian of Free Tours by Foot, I learned about the key activities of more than 200 years ago leading to America’s independence such as the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Paul Revere’s messenger ride in 1775.

 The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile, red-lined route linking 16 historically significant sites – meeting halls, churches and graveyards. Promotional material says “every step tells a story.”  The red-brick line was a little difficult to follow at times when it disappeared into a pile of snow.

Other highlights of this trip:  great coffee and Italian baked goods in the North End (Little Italy); a tour of the Samuel Adams brewery; a Celtics basketball game at the TD Garden; a surprisingly enjoyable Blue Man Group show in the theatre district; a quick walk around the Harvard University Campus and sampling four bowls of clam chowder. 

Old North Church

Bunker Hill Monument

 

Harvard campus
 

Predictably, I did make a stop in the bar that inspired the Cheers TV sitcom. Nobody knew my name.

Historic Halifax

Halifax has been on my list of places to visit for years in order to see the spot where my parents and sister landed decades ago to start their life in Canada.
 
As more than a million people did between the end of World War 2 and 1971, my family arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax.

Unfortunately, Canadian Museum of Immigration is closed for renovations.  But I was able to imagine what my father, mother and sister felt when they arrived in Canada after a long boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean. 

The experience is shown in a new statue called The Emigrant.  The bronze and marble monument depicts an emigrant leaving his home country to start a new life in Canada.

Speaking of the Atlantic, I certainly had a great stroke of luck when I signed up at the visitors centre on the harbourfront for a tour of Peggy’s Cove.  I showed up for my 2 o’clock tour to find that I was the only participant. Only in Halifax, would a tour run for just one person!

 

My guide, Blair Beed, is a Halifax historian.  He runs Dtours Visitors and Convention Services. For $40, I enjoyed an excellent adventure along the shore to Peggy’s Cove with its rugged coastline, fishing village and famous lighthouse.  What a way to experience the Halifax area with a one-on-one conversation with a great storyteller.

No visit to Halifax is complete without sampling the local seafood.  I did my part with five bowls of fish chowder.  Every bowl was different with a variety of creamy textures and flavours and seafood.  My highlight meal was a lobster clubhouse sandwich at the Stubborn Goat Gastropub.

There must have been more than a half a pound of lobster stuffed into the sandwich!

In addition to seafood, Halifax is home to fine beers including the famed Alexander Keith’s.  Another benefit of travelling in the low season, only half a dozen folks were on my tour of one of the oldest commercial breweries in North America. So we had plenty of fun participating with the actors who took us back in time to the mid 1800s to learn about Keith and the brewing process.  The tour included two glasses of beer. 





Joseph Howe statue at Province House

And as I do in capital cities, I visited the legislature. Legislators have met every year since 1819 in Nova Scotia’s Province House, making it the longest serving legislative building in Canada.  As I was the only tourist on a rainy Monday afternoon, the commissionaires let me wander around the building. 

Inside the N.S. Legislature

I learned about Joseph Howe, a newspaper editor who was acquitted of libel in 1835. He is noted in history as a defender of freedom of the press and a champion of responsible government in Nova Scotia.

In the words of a popular folk song, here are a few more pictures as I say "Farewell to Nova Scotia!"

 

Georges Island in Halifax Harbour

 

Farmers Market on a busy Saturday morning

  

The Halifax skyline