Boston, Granary Burying Ground

It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.
Samual Adams

Boston’s Freedom Trail starts at Boston Common, and takes you on a few stops before you get to Granary Burying Ground, Boston’s third oldest cemetery and the final resting place of five victims of the Boston Massacre, as well as three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samual Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine (that guy!). While the cemetery has only 2,345 grave markers, it’s estimated that as many as 5,000 people have been buried here.

This stop on the Freedom Trail is why I don’t do group walking tours. I need to wander on my own, ponder my own existence, and take lots, and lots, and lots of photographs. This doesn’t lend itself to the tour guide’s timeline. Thank goodness for the app WalknTours. This GPS audio walking tour app has the entire Freedom Trail, with a funny and knowledgeable guide, who can be paused whenever I need to stop and take a moment, or stop and have a beer. But I digress. I found Granary Burying Ground fascinating, and the headstones are marvelous. If I wasn’t going to be turned into a tree when I die, I would want one of these headstones.

If you want to read more about the trip, I log my travels on Find Penguins: Regis College, May 2022.