Built in 1741, Faneuil Hall was a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty political organization and served as a general meeting hall and marketplace. One of its most interesting features is a golden grasshopper that tops its weathervane. Legend says it was used during the War of 1812 to reveal spies. Anyone who could not answer, “What is on top of Faneuil Hall?” was further questioned, as all loyal patriots knew of the golden grasshopper.

Boston resident Dr. Thomas Crease first built what became known as the Old Corner Bookstore as his home and apothecary in 1718. For decades after that, it housed various booksellers and publishers, which is where it gained its name. Ticknor and Fields was the most famous publisher to take up residence here. The company was known for publishing many famous works, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

America’s oldest public school still in operation is Boston Latin School, founded on April 23, 1635. Although the location of the current schoolhouse has changed, the site of the original schoolhouse is on the Freedom Trail. It is marked by a statue of founding father Benjamin Franklin, a former student (although he did drop out before graduating). Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper also attended the school.

Named for the massive grain storage building that once stood next to it, Granary Burying Ground is one of Boston’s most famous graveyards. The graveyard was established in 1660 and has approximately 2,300 markers. Some of colonial America’s most prominent figures were laid to rest here, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence (Hancock, Adams, and Paine).

Dating to 1797, the USS Constitution is the country’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat. It earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812, when its crew battled the HMS Guerriere and the Constitution’s strong oak hull seemed impervious to Britain’s cannonballs. Today, the ship is open for public tours. It even sails through Boston Harbor on special occasions.

The Old South Meeting House was the largest building in colonial Boston. On December 13, 1773, some 5,000 men gathered at Old South for a debate on the British tea tax. With no hope for compromise, Samual Adams gave the signal to leave the meeting house and assemble nearby at Griffin’s Wharf to dump over 340 chests of tea into the harbor in an event that would later be known as the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Common was established in 1634, when Puritan colonists purchased 44 acres of land from European settlers for 30 pounds. The land was used for various purposes over the centuries, from local witch trials to a temporary camp for 1,000 Redcoats when the British occupied Boston in 1775. Today, the sprawling green space is home to peaceful gardens, a carousel, many historic monuments, seasonal ice skating, and more.

One of the oldest buildings in Boston, the Paul Revere House was built around 1680. It later became the residence of the American patriot (from 1770 to 1800) who famously alerted the colonial militia of oncoming British troops during the Revolutionary War. This is the only house on the Freedom Trail, and it now serves as a museum for visitors to learn more about Revere’s life and his involvement in the war.

The June 17, 1775, Battle of Bunker Hill is considered the first major battle of the American Revolution. The battle ended in a Redcoat victory, driving the Patriots out of Boston’s Charlestown peninsula. Fifty years later, the cornerstone of the 221-foot-tall Bunker Hill Monument was laid by famed Revolutionary War military officer Marquis De Lafayette. The nearby Bunker Hill Museum contains exhibits about the American Revolution and the founding of Charlestown.

Boston, Massachusetts, is home to a unique collection of historic monuments connected by a 2.5-mile pedestrian walkway known as the Freedom Trail. The 16 sites include churches, museums, houses, graveyards, battlefields, and other places of significance in early American history. Millions of visitors come here annually to walk in the footsteps of some of the most famous Americans in history, including many Founding Fathers.