Freedom Trail not just for tourists

By Larry Claflin Jr.
Staff writer

June 27, 2008 12:53 am

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Work out both body and brain by following along with "Boston's Freedom Trail: Trace the Path of American History" (Morris Book Publishing, $8.95). The 90-page book, put out by the Freedom Trail Foundation, is a guide to the 3-mile redbrick trail that winds through Boston and into Charlestown.

"Boston's Freedom Trail" is not only for tourists; locals will get a lot out of it, too. There are 23 sites and structures along the path, each with its own interesting history.

For instance, did you know that a star within a ring of cobblestones beneath the east balcony of the old statehouse marks the site of the first blood shed in the American Revolution? Or, were you aware that many gravestones in Copp's Hill, Boston's second-oldest cemetery, are pockmarked from musket balls and that some were used for target practice by the British?

You did? Well, I didn't, or maybe I forgot.

Each stop in the book, which is in its eighth edition, includes black-and-white photographs or detailed illustrations by Jack Frost. Also, is up-to-date contact information and admission prices.

Pick up "Boston's Freedom Trail: Trace the Path of American History" and you may learn — or in my case, re-learn — something.

Features editor Larry Claflin Jr. writes his "Get Outside" column regularly. He can be reached at lclaflin@salemnews.com.