Freedom Trail Part 4: Faneuil Hall, an Escape Artist, and St. Stephens’ Church

The next segment of the Freedom Trail was a very long walk that took me about an hour to finish. Upon leaving the Old State House, the trail continued along Congress Street. Just further down this road is the current Boston City Hall (there’s a picture of it later in this post). On the right hand side is Faneuil Hall (below):

This hall is fronted by a statue of Samuel Adams, and is famous for the many public and patriotic speeches made in its meeting hall in the 18th century. Just beside the hall is Quincy Market, where a street artiste, Jason Escape, was performing an impossible escape routine.

I really liked his show, as did much of the other audience. I HDed most of the performance, converted it into MP4 and will send the performer the 20 minute recording.:)

The Quincy Market area is filled with many permanent shops, eateries, cafes and push carts. Lots of flower shops too – Ling would have loved browsing through this market area:

Continuing down the trail, I passed by a Green Dragon Tavern along Marshall Street. Very lovely decorated and designed frontend.

Just a little further down was Hanover Street, where the weekend market was in full swing with many fruit, vegetable and fresh produce shops were hawking their items. Bostonian version of the wet market.:)

The trail continued along Hanover Street, crossing two main roads: John F. Fitzgerald Surface Road and Cross Street, and two expressways: John F. Fitzgerald Expw and the Massachusetts 3A. The crossing is surrounded by the Christopher Columbus Park, where I saw a family at play on the lawn. The Boston City Hall is in the background of the picture too:

Just after crossing the four roads was a huge sign.:)

Continuing on the trail brought me to what really looked like Little Italy, with dozens of Italian establishments, and many residents and persons speaking Italian on the whereabouts. I wished I could mimic a Soprano accent, but my skin color would had given me away.:)

The trail brings explorers to the Paul Revere House, Boston’s oldest house. I didn’t go into it though as it was pretty crowded with visitors.

Continuing along Hanover Street eventually led me to St. Stephens’ Church (below left), made of red bricks with white pilasters on the front facade, and topped by a white clock tower. According to its Wikipedia entry, the church’s cornerstone was laid in 1802, and the building dedicated in 1804.

Above right is a statue of Paul Revere along Paul Revere Mall, with the Old North Church in the background. At this juncture there was a light drizzle that would get heavier as I continued on the trail. More on that later.

Video of Faneuil Hall:

In also, the map segment of my route.:)

Next post in the series: the Old North Church, Charlestown Bridge, and Copp’s Hill Burying Ground.:)