T H E   F R E E D O M   T R A I L

Boston, Massachusetts

Next to Park Street Church I find Granary Burying Ground, resting place for the famous and not so famous, approximately 8,000 individuals are interred here. Founded in 1660, it's the third oldest cemetery in Boston, and surprisingly, it has experienced a litany of name changes; New Burying Ground, South Burying Ground, Middle Burying Ground, Central Burying Ground. Come on people, get a compass, will ya!

Not one, not two, but three, yes, three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here. They are John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Robert Treat Paine. Scoring the plot of John Hancock is a pretty big deal. Think about it, when asked who signed the Declaration of Independence, who do you think of first? Exactly, you see my point. Signature hogs always get all the attention.

Believe it or not, the throwing of snowballs may have been the starting catalyst to the Colonial Revolution. On February 22, 1770, a pissed-off crowd gathered and threw snowballs at a Tory sympathizer's home, resulting in the homeowner shooting one of the throwers, a 12-year old boy. From this event, tensions rose sharply between the Colonists and the British, and on March, 5, 1770, British Troops shoot and kill 5 demonstrators, the killing is dubbed the Boston Massacre. Massacre? Would you classify the murder of 5 people a massacre? I think the Colonists hyped up the event just a bit to push their agenda of independence from England. In any event, the 12-year old and the 5 victims are buried together here in the cemetery. Additionally, the parents of Benjamin Franklin, as well as Paul Revere call Granary Burying Ground their final resting place.

This is interesting. Here's an advertisement of sorts. It's telling me -- Paul Revere is buried here, so, check out where he once lived.

Walking into the cemetery I encounter this first placard, it welcomes me to the historic sight. It talks about the kinds of folks who are buried here, the successive renaming of the cemetery and the reason for its current name, and specific people who are buried in the portion of the cemetery indicated on the map inset. A little taste of what is up and coming, as I make my way around the cemetery, the other placards will provide additional information about the history and target map the locations of some of the more important folks who are buried here.