Robert Wheeler - The Boston Freedom Trail: In Words and Pictures

Copyright 2019 by Robert Wheeler

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wheeler, Robert, 1963 author. | Solo, Anna, photographer.

Title: The Boston Freedom Trail in words and pictures / Robert Wheeler ; photography by Anna Solo ; foreword by Jim Koch ; preface by Dan McCole.

Description: New York City : Skyhorse Publishing, [2019]

Identifiers: LCCN 2018056827 | ISBN 9781510743779 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Freedom Trail (Boston, Mass.) | Freedom Trail (Boston, Mass.)Pictorial works. | Boston (Mass.)Pictorial works.

Classification: LCC F73.37 .W54 2019 | DDC 974.4/61dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018056827

Cover design by Qualcom

Cover photograph by Anna Solo

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4377-9

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4378-6

Printed in China

Lovingly dedicated to Emma and Helen.

Educate your children to the habit of holding passion and an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future.

Benjamin Franklin

C ONTENTS

F OREWORD

By Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Company and brewer of Samuel Adams Boston Lager

When you live in Boston, as I have since 1967, its easy to take The Freedom Trail for granted. Its even easy to curse its small, circuitous streets and cobblestone paths. Locals often overlook the red brick line that guides curious visitors through the city. But as Bostonians, we all have our moments when we stop and pause in awe of the history that surrounds us.

I had one of those moments of awe when I was starting The Boston Beer Company and was searching for a name for my signature brew. Friends had given me sheaves of possible names when I recalled my high school history teachers favorite figure from the American Revolution, Samuel Adams. I clearly remembered why I became captivated with Adams: it was his unyielding fervor and his unwavering drive for independence; it was his progressive thinking and his determination to stay in the fight, even against overwhelming odds. For me, his name is synonymous with American pride and independence and freedom. And like me, Samuel Adams came from a family of brewers. I will always remember that spring morning when I gathered my courage and forced myself to take the elevator to the lobby, to walk down State Street, and to make my first terrifying sales call to introduce Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

If Boston is, as Oliver Wendell Holmes claimed in 1858, the Hub of the Universe, then Faneuil Hall is the hub of Samuel Adams life. I hope that both Bostonians and visitors alike who walk the Freedom Trail will enjoy this beautifully written book. I am honored that Robert Wheeler asked me to write this foreword. I feel that when reading these expressive paragraphs, and when gazing upon these evocative photographs, one will never again overlook the grand significance of historic Boston and its awe-inspiring Freedom Trail.

Cheers!

Jim Koch

P REFACE

By Dan McCole, Southie Watercolorist

As an Irish American having grown up in South Boston, I have much pride in the major role Boston, my City on the Hill , played in the fight for freedom from the British Crown. As a graduate of Bostons Vesper George School of Art in 1952, I have spent a good part of my life painting those images of the cityits people, its architecture, its harbor, its traditions and celebrationsthat inspire and resonate.

Through his new book, Robert Wheeler breaks with tradition by bringing to life the bravery, the hopes, the risks, and the edgy promise of a new country for a people who bet their lives on a free society. The words and images within this important book are based on his passion, and his keen observation, as he takes us behind and underneath the physical beauty of the bronze plaques, sculptures, and burial grounds, and fleshes out the lives of a people who were willing to die in order to live free.

As I step along with my life, moving into those more graceful and contemplative years, I am reminded that lasting art reaches into the heart of the observer, thereby keeping images and events fresh and alive. Bostons rich and charismatic Trail, as seen through these lyrical vignettes and these moving pictures, keeps the torch lit, and reminds us of the precious cost, and the beauty, of true and lasting freedom.

Best and Always,

Dan McCole

I NTRODUCTION

The beauty and allure of Bostons Freedom Traila trail that winds itself through modern buildings, busy traffic, and hurried peopleis endlessly captivating, forever surprising, and worthy of contemplation and celebration. There is simply no other city in America that exposes and reflects as much history, and it is the enduring presence of Bostons historical past that makes it an essential destination. This citys past, and that of the entire American experience, can be discovered on each corner and contains fascinating stories of both unanimity and rebellion in the lives of real people struggling to find liberation and dignity in the New World. Those who established a Republic and who envisioned a future governed by and for the people in those early years of the 1770s, were following the philosophy and spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, or Reason, that had first been conceived on the European continent by such writers as Locke, Hume, and Voltaire. These men during this Age believed in, and advanced through a rational and scientific approach, the ideals of liberty, of a constitutional government, and of the separation of church and state. The commitment to the ideals of Enlightenment can be seen in the founding documents of the new Republic, and in the great halls where the ideas of the Revolution were first debated and declared. Bostons Freedom Trail is a constant reminder of the perils of confronting the powerful and, throughout its many twists and turns, one is constantly reminded of the predominance and tyranny of the British monarchy. Due to the power of King George III and his determination to subdue his American colony, colonial rebelsour Founding Fatherswere considered malicious and often referred to as extremists, even terrorists. Those menPaine, Adams, Jefferson, Hancock, Franklin, Reverebacked by strong and resourceful women, were subject to being hanged for their treasonous denunciations. As a group of thinkers with very radical ideas about liberty, the odds of creating a successful American Revolution, and bringing to power a Constitution based on progressive thinking, were long indeed. But with courage, perseverance, intelligence, and at times simple luck, these undaunted men succeeded in uniting and transforming the country, and later, the world. In addition to its tribute to official historic sites relating to the American Revolution and independence, this famous trail includes other memorials to resistance against world oppression and for liberation, and to Americas own post-1783 struggles with freedom and dignity. For example, one will encounter the Shaw Memorial on Boston Commonjust steps away from the Black Heritage Trail that winds its way through the living history of Beacon Hilland one will come upon the Holocaust Memorial near Faneuil Hall. This trail is everlasting, absorbing American events as its own and continuing its homage to freedoms tradition. The elusive soul of a city is certainly not to be grasped so easily, but the spiritual and intellectual history of Boston, and the founding of the United States of America, beckons one to walk this trail. As you read through this guide, give pause to the absolute beauty and significance of freedom, and deeply reflect upon those who first had the courage, the vision, the perseverance, and the grace to ensure such freedom. After all, America isin so very many respects, and in its essencethe first child born of the Age of Reason.