Boston Freedom Trail Harvard Yard Harborwalk & Cape Ann - GPS Combo Tours

Boston Freedom Trail Harvard Yard Harborwalk & Cape Ann - GPS Combo Tours

You’ll find four GPS tours in one app - The Freedom Trail, Harvard Yard, Harborwalk & Cape Ann. This app offers a fully-guided experience - just like a local guide giving you a personalized, fully-guided tour.
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After you book the tour, we will email you the link to the APP and the TOUR PASSWORD.

FULLY-AUTOMATIC & OFFLINE: Each point of interest along the tour has a narrated story, narrated directions, and helpful images. As you walk along the path and approach a pin, it’s story will automatically pop up and start playing.

FASCINATING STORIES: Engaging, and entertaining story about each point.

FREEDOM TO TRAVEL: No scheduled tour timings, no crowded groups, and no rush to move along past stops that interest you.

PRE-TRAVEL PREPARATION
We recommend that you download the app & the tour while you have a good internet connection.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Pass By: Boston Common Visitor Center, 139 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02135-2417

The Freedom Trail is 2.5 miles (4 km) long and to walk it will likely take 90+ minutes.

Plan on it taking longer if you have children or want to spend more time at any of the sites.

The app offers a fully-guided experience - just like a local giving you a personalized, turn-by-turn, fully-guided tour. You will find the tour highly entertaining, thoroughly researched and prepared by local guides.

Each point of interest along the tour has a narrated story, narrated directions, and helpful images, gifs or videos. As you walk along the path and approach a pin, it’s story will automatically pop up and start playing. The stories are professionally narrated and prepared by local guides. Most stops also have additional stories that you can optionally choose to hear.


Stop At: Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, Corner of Beacon Street & Park Street, Boston, MA 02108

The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, located across Beacon Street from the State House, serves as a memorial to some of the first African Americans to fight in the Revolutionary War. African American men came to enlist from every region of the north, and from as far away as the Caribbean to have Robert Gould Shaw as their leader. Creating this memorial was a challenge of its own. Forty men were hired to serve as models for the soldier’s faces with Colonel Shaw on horseback.

The regiment solidified their place in history following the attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina on July 18, 1863. At least 74 enlisted men and 3 officers were killed in that battle, and scores more were wounded. Colonel Shaw was among the fallen. Sergeant William H. Carney, who was severely injured in the battle, saved the regiment’s flag from being captured. He was the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Park Street Church, One Park Street, Boston, MA 02108-4899

The 217-foot steeple of this church was once the first landmark travelers saw when approaching Boston. This church was founded in 1809. The site is known as “Brimstone Corner”, perhaps because the church once housed brimstone (a component of gunpowder) in its basement during the war of 1812. Its lofty architecture, designed by Peter Banner, reflects an even loftier mission of human rights and social justice.

A lot has happened here! Prison reform began in this church, women’s suffrage was strongly supported here, and some of the first and most impassioned protests against slavery were delivered inside these hallowed walls. "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", also known as "America", by Samuel Francis Smith, was first sung at Park Street Church on July 4, 1831.

Many important organizations were founded here, including the Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, Animal Rescue League of Boston, Handel and Haydn Society, and National Association of Evangelicals.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Granary Burying Ground, Tremont St, Boston, MA 02108, USA

Granary Burying Ground was established in the 1660s. It was named for an adjacent granary located where Park Street church is today. It is said that over 5000 bodies are buried here, but you won't find anywhere near that number of headstones because many bodies were buried together in family tombs.

For being in the center of the city the barren granary ground is a spectacularly calm place to come. Here you can pay your respects to important figures from the revolution including three signatories of the Declaration of Independence. John Hancock,Samuel Adams and Robert Treat Paine.

Paul Revere and the victims of the Boston Massacre are also buried here as is Peter Faneuil of the eponymous marketplace. One thing that frequently confuses and disappoints visitors is the enormous Franklin Oblast in the center of the burying ground. Visitors expect that this is where Benjamin Franklin is buried, but it is not. While his parents and relatives were buried here, he was buried in Philadelphia.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: King's Chapel, 58 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02108, USA

King’s Chapel, the first Anglican Church in Boston, was founded in 1686 and houses the oldest American pulpit in continuous use. The existing stone structure, designed by Rhode Island architect Peter Harrison, was completed in 1754 and built around the original, smaller wooden structure in order to hold worship without interruption during construction. The magnificent interior is considered to be the finest example of Georgian church architecture in North America.

The bell, forged in England, was hung in 1772 and cracked in 1814. It was recast by Paul Revere and still rings to this day to summon people to worship. Revere is quoted as saying it was the ”sweetest bell he had ever cast.”

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Statue of Benjamin Franklin, School St. at City Hall Ave, Boston, MA

Boston Latin School is the oldest public school in the 13 colonies. Boston Latin was founded in 1635 and what became the aptly named School Street, where it existed for about a century before it was torn down. Today the site of the original school is marked by this statue of Benjamin Franklin.

Boston Latin is most famous for its distinguished alumni including four Massachusetts born signatories of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Franklin, Robert Treat Paine, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams.

Three of those men went on to study at Harvard after finishing Boston Latin. The other was Benjamin Franklin. He dropped out to go to Philadelphia where he invented bifocals and the Franklin stove that bears his name (Clearly he didn’t need the education). It was a highly distinguished school with brilliant graduates and dropouts but refused to admit girls until 1972.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Boston Irish Famine Memorial, Washington St., Boston, MA

Funded by a trust led by Boston businessman Thomas Flatley, the Irish park was opened in 1998. This memorial has received contrasting reviews and has since been called "the most mocked and reviled public sculpture in Boston".

The statues are the centerpiece of the park. The two groups represent two families, one starved and ragged owing to the deprivations of the famine of 1845 to 1852, the other well-fed having found prosperity in America. It is said to emphasize the transformation from an "anxious immigrant" to a "future of freedom and opportunity" in America for the Irish, the first of a long line of immigrants to Boston and America.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St, Boston, MA 02108, USA

Old South Meeting House is a Puritan place of worship that was built in 1729 and today functions as a museum. It was one of the largest buildings in Boston at that time. It served as an overflow town hall when the much smaller Faneuil Hall was too crowded. It is most famous for being the site of four meetings that took place in 1773 to discuss the recently passed Tea Act.

In the final meeting, on December 16th, over 5000 people from Boston and the surrounding countryside met here. They carried out a protest of the Tea Act that has become a famous part of American History. They paraded from this Meeting House to Griffons Wharf and dumped 342 chests of tea overboard. The crowd had called for Boston Harbor to become a teapot and they made good on that promise.

Take a deep breath! You are standing in front of the house where the tea party actually began. The rest is history!

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Old Corner Book Store, 283 Washington St, Boston, MA 02108, USA

The Old Corner Bookstore, across the street where you are, is the oldest commercial building in Boston. It was built in 1718 as a pharmacy or apothecary shop. At that time, it was the center of American book publishing. It was the country’s literary Mecca.

From this place, publishers Ticknor and Fields introduced the world to Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Even Mark Twain was active here. Several bookstores operated from the first floor over the 19th and 20th centuries.

During the bookstore’s heyday, the corner of School and Washington Streets came to be known as "Parnassus Corner", a reference to the mountain home of the nine muses of Greek mythology. Scheduled to be demolished for a parking garage in 1960, Bostonians rallied to buy the property and restore it. Historic Boston Inc, currently owns the building.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Old State House, 206 Washington St, Boston, MA 02109, USA

This building was constructed in 1713 and still includes some of its original bricks. The Old State House was known as the townhouse and it was the seat of government power until the Golden State House took its place in 1798. This is where royal officials came to work and it was ideally situated at the top of King Street. King Street was the center of Boston's social, political and economic scene.

The Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians from the balcony, around the corner, on July 18th, 1776. Bostonians were so excited to be independent that they ripped two symbols of British authority from the building - the lion and the unicorn before throwing them into a bonfire.

In the 19th century, the Old State House served for a short time as Boston's City Hall and then became a commercial space with the exterior of the building covered in billboards. Thankfully today the Old State House functions as a museum celebrating Boston's revolutionary history.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Boston Massacre Site, Corner of State and, Congress St, Boston, MA 02109, USA

The Boston Massacre took place in front of the balcony, and the site is now marked by a cobblestone circle in the square. Allow us to set the scene…

It was the night of March 5th, 1770, at 9 o'clock. A crowd of between 60 and 200 men gathered here. They began threatening the lone soldier guarding this building who then called Customs House. Eight more soldiers came to support him. By then, the crowd was throwing rocks and snowballs at the soldiers. They were taunting the soldiers to fire their muskets.

One of the objects thrown hit the shoulder of a British soldier and his gun accidentally discharged into the crowd. When his gun fired, the other soldiers also fired their guns into the crowd. At the end of the shooting, three men lay dead and two died later. This became known by rebels as the Boston Massacre. This name was chosen to stretch the truth as part of a propaganda effort. The British simply refer to this event as the riot on King Street.

You decide! A massacre or a riot?

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Faneuil Hall Marketplace, 4 S Market St, Boston, MA 02109, USA

Faneuil Hall has been around since 1742 and is known as the Cradle of Liberty. Peter Faneuil was a merchant. His wealthy uncle said that he would only bequeath his massive fortune to Peter if he agreed to never marry. Peter compiled and used his inherited money to build this building.

The bottom floor functions as a marketplace and the top floor was a town hall. Famous men during the American Revolution made their way through Faneuil Hall. For example, the victims of the Boston Massacre had their funeral held here and Samuel Adams led protests against the Tea Act here.

Today Faneuil Hall functions in much the same way as it did in the 18th century. The bottom floor is still a marketplace and the top floor has the Great Hall. It is a beautiful space were both local and national politicians have given speeches. The real difference between the two is that the building today is nearly double the size of the original. Famed architect Charles Bulfinch expanded this building in 1885 to its current size.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: The New England Holocaust Memorial, 98 Union St, Boston, MA 02129, USA

On the way to the next stop on the Freedom Trail, you will see the New England Holocaust Memorial on the left. While not a typical Freedom Trail stop, it is an important and interesting monument. It is dedicated to the Jewish people who were killed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

The memorial consists of six glass towers under which visitors may walk. Engraved on the outside walls of each tower are groups of numbers representing the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. Inscribed on the inner walls are quotes from survivors of each camp. Underneath the towers, steam rises up through metal grates from a dark floor with twinkling lights on it.

Each tower symbolizes a different major extermination camp (Majdanek, Chełmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Bełżec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau), but also represent menorah candles, the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust (one million per column), and the six years that the mass extermination took place, 1939-1945.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Haymarket Pizza, 106 Blackstone St, Boston, MA 02109, USA

Also not one of the designated Freedom trail stops the Haymarket. It is an open-air market where vendors sell fruits, vegetables, and seafood at very low prices. The market is open "from dawn to dusk" every Friday and Saturday. If it is open, you may want to stop by to pick something up.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Rose Kennedy Greenway, JFK Surface Road, Boston, MA 02111

Another non-Freedom trail stop on the way is The Rose Kennedy Greenway. It is a linear park that stretches over several downtown Boston neighborhoods. It consists of landscaped gardens, promenades, plazas, fountains, art, and specialty lighting systems that span over one mile. Officially opened in 2008, Greenway sits on the Big Dig.

Big Dig is a series of long, complex, and technologically challenging tunnel highway projects. With the highway relocated to the underground tunnels, the leaders of Boston seized the opportunity to enhance Boston's city life by providing additional parks and gardens called Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: The Paul Revere House, 19 N Square, Boston, MA 02113, USA

Paul Revere's home. Yes! It still stands today. It was constructed around 1680 and he purchased it in 1770. He left on his famous Midnight Ride on April 18th, 1775 from this house securing himself and his residence a place in America's history.

Revere had 16 children, but mercifully they didn't all live under the same small roof at the same time. Revere sold the house in 1800. The house has changed a lot since revere sold it in the 19th century. Thankfully this historic home was converted into a museum that opened to the public in 1908. It is still available to visit today.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Old North Church & Historic Site, 193 Salem St, Boston, MA 02113-1123

This is Christ Church, but it is more popularly known as Old North Church. It is most famous for being the site of Paul Revere's two lantern signal on the eve of the American Revolution.

In 1775, Old North Church steeple was the highest point in Boston making it the ideal location to send a signal across the harbor to Charlestown. Contrary to what some people think, this was not a signal for Revere but rather from Revere.

Paul had gotten word that the British were going to be traveling by sea. So he told Robert Newman and John Pulling to hang two lanterns in the steeple. The lights were only up for a few seconds but just long enough for the people in Charles Town to get the signal and get a horse ready for Paul Revere. When Revere arrived on the banks of Charlestown, he was able to quickly change horses and rode to Lexington and into the history books!

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Hull St, Boston, MA 02113, USA

Copp's Hill burying ground is in the north end. Thousands of people are entombed here. It was a place for the less affluent including craftsmen, mechanics, and artisans. During the 1770s Copp’s Hill was a favorite hang out for the British soldiers because of its height.

It was the ideal location to aim cannons down at Charlestown before the Battle of Bunker Hill. Soldiers also love to take target practice on the gravestones here. A favorite marker was that of Daniel Melcombe, a man who had heavily resisted British taxes. His grave still shows those bullet holes, a visible reminder of the British occupation of Boston and their resentment towards the people here.

Duration: 5 minutes

Pass By: USS Constitution Museum, Building 22, Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship in American history. It was first launched in 1797 and famously earned the nickname of Old Ironsides during the War of 1812.

While the ship was constructed in Massachusetts, it spent years in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire before politicians worked to bring her home to Massachusetts on her 100th birthday. Here's a fun fact. Paul Revere, who often seemed to be at the center of many things in Boston, designed the copper fastenings for this ship.

Stop At: Bunker Hill Monument, Monument Sq, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA

The Bunker Hill Monument was erected to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was among the first major battles between British and Patriot forces in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was fought on June 17, 1775.

The monument was completed in 1842. A statue of Dr. Joseph Warren, a fallen patriot, and freemason, was commissioned to pay particular respects to his sacrifice in the battle.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Harvard Hall, 1465-1483 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Old Yard:

this is the middle of the yard and it is called the old yard. Harvard was founded in 1636 but it was not called Harvard College at the time. It was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and it actually didn't get its name, Harvard until two years later, when a wealthy man by the name of John Harvard passed away and donated money, land and his entire book collection.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: John Harvard Statue, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

The statue was cast in 1884 by Daniel Chester French, the same artist who cast the statues of sitting Lincoln in Washington DC. He was a very renowned artist and this is actually the third most photographed statue in the United States after the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial.

Duration: 10 minutes

Pass By: Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

A lot of people think that this is a church. It is actually a secular place that happens to very much resemble a church. It was built in 1870 as a memorial to the Harvard affiliates who lost their lives during the American civil war.

Stop At: Widener Library, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Harry Widener was a class of 1907 and this library opened in his memory in 1915. The library holds over 6 million books-that is over 50 miles of books! You could run two marathons inside the library and not pass the same book twice! It is a huge and extensive collection and because most of the collection is underground, it leads to a very insensitive story at Harvard.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Harvard Science Center Plaza, 1 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

This is the Harvard Science Center. The Ford family donated the money to build it and as you can see, there are many floors and levels to the science center. It is said that technology gets more complex as the floors rise.

The students jokingly say that since the technology gets more complex, that must mean that the higher up you take your classes in the science center, the more intelligent you are.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 600 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02210, USA

This is the Federal Reserve of Boston. It sees an incredible volume of money passing through its doors daily. On an average day, about 6 million bills and 2 million checks are processed here. The building’s not typically what comes to mind when you think of a federal reserve, is it? It’s certainly imposing, but in a modern way, that contrasts deeply with the Neoclassical South Station just to the right.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: James Hook & Co, 440 Atlantic Ave, Boston, MA 02210, USA

The Stamp Act Riots:

In 1765, the new British Prime Minister George Grenville needed a way to raise revenue. Britain had just gained vast swatches of the American west from the French and needed to find a way to defend their hard-won land. Settling a large army in the colonies was the only answer, but it was a costly one. Who better to pay for this than the American colonists who would benefit the most from the new land? Thus, the Stamp Act was born. The Act declared that all legal documents must carry a special stamp. The stamp would be taxed separately from all other taxes.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Rowes Wharf Garage, 30 Rowes Wharf, Boston, MA 02110, USA

John Rowe was a successful merchant who first developed this wharf in the colonial era. But wait just a minute! His story’s way more interesting than that!

Rowe was actually an active smuggler. He was notorious for dodging British trade restrictions and doing illegal business with off-limits ports. Not only did Rowe flout the laws by smuggling, but he also helped incite the Stamp Act Riots of 1765!

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Way, Boston, MA 02210, USA

Built-in 1999, the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse is more than just a fancy chamber for judges and lawyers. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer once said, “The most beautiful site in Boston does not belong to the judges, it does not belong to the lawyers, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to the public.”

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Harbor Towers, 65-85 E India Row, Boston, MA 02110, USA

The Harbor Towers are the city's tallest residential building.

Designed in the Brutalist architectural style, the towers look harsh and forbidding. Brutalism was all the rage in the 1970s. Today, the style polarizes observers. Some people see a kind of strange beauty in the sparse, overbearing structures. Others see, well, just plain ugly buildings! These days, you can always identify the style anywhere by its grim, fortress-like appearance.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: New England Aquarium, 1 Central Wharf, Boston, MA 02110, USA

The New England Aquarium is at the end of the pier. Inside the aquarium, you’ll find every kind of marine life imaginable, much of which lives in an enormous central tank called the Giant Ocean Tank. This tank certainly lives up to its name since it holds a staggering 200,000 gallons of water. In fact, it was once the largest circular tank in the world!

The tank’s simulated coral reef is home to sharks, eels, sea turtles, stingrays, and much more. You can catch the strange and colorful creatures from any angle. You can even watch divers enter the tank to feed its inhabitants!

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Boston Harbor Cruises, 1 Long Wharf, Boston, MA 02110, USA

The Long Wharf is a national historical landmark. Built in the early 1700s, the wharf once extended a half-mile into the harbor. This allowed massive ships, which needed deep water, to dock here. The fact that boats still use this wharf makes it the oldest functioning wharf in America!

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Cape Ann, Cape Ann, Massachusetts

- Gloucester History
- Fisherman’s Memorial
- Perfect Storm
- Fort Point
- Gloucester HarborWalk
- Maritime Gloucester Museum
- Cape Ann Whale Watch
- Niles Beach
- Beauport
- Eastern Point Lighthouse
- Good Harbor Beach
- Pebble Beach
- Rockport
- Hatchet Hannah's Dry Town
- Regional History
- Motif #1
- The Blizzard of 1978
- Bearskin Neck
- Front Beach
- Pigeon Cove and the October Gale
- Granite Pier
- Cathedral Rocks
- Halibut Point State Park
- Harvey Reservation
- Plum Cove Beach
- Shipwrecks of 1839
- Annisquam Lighthouse
- Goose Cove Reservation

Duration: 2 hours

Pass By: Maritime Gloucester, 23 Harbor Loop, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA

Museum of Sea History

Pass By: Gloucester Harbor, Gloucester, MA, USA

A stroll along Gloucester’s beautiful harbor.

Stop At: Niles Beach, 20 Eastern Point Blvd, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA

When you are here enjoy the view of the capital of the state.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Eastern Point Lighthouse, Eastern Point Boulevard, Gloucester, MA

This Lighthouse has been here for more than 200 years.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Cape Ann, Rockport, MA 01966, USA

A small town that you can visit on your drive

Duration: 15 minutes