Last Day

Today was our last day in Boston and so we went to the last sights we hadn't seen yet.  We started off our day by going on the Swan Boat ride in the public gardens.  Since Janae and Stefan have gotten hooked on the recording of the Trumpet and the Swan (Thanks to our dear friend, Chris Venditti), they really wanted to pay  homage to the swan.  It was a beautiful morning accompanied by the sweet sounds of a steel string guitar street musician.  We enjoyed the quietness and beauty of the park and then strolled over to church services at Park Street Church.  As providence would have it, I started talking to the young man next to me and found out he is from Colorado Springs, goes to Village 7 Church and his mom teaches at ECA secondary.  They were a young couple that had just graduated from Grove City College and his lovely wife Emma is starting her PhD program in biostatistics at Harvard.  We also met another group of great young people from Ithaca that were in Boston going to school at Gordon College.  We loved this church and met so many people.  We were the last ones to leave today because we couldn't stop talking.

Randy(from Colorado Springs) and Emma Schwager

The Swan Boat

The Public Gardens

 After we left church, we visited the Old South Meeting House. This was built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house.  The congregation included famous colonists such as Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams and Phillis Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish a book.  Old South meeting house served as in Puritan tradition as both a meeting house and church. It was beautiful inside and the children loved doing a scavenger hunt to find historical facts and items. On December 16, 1773 more than 5,000 colonists crowded into the meeting house to participate in a fiery debate about the tax on tea.  When final attempts at compromise failed, Samuel Adams cried,"This meeting can do no more to save the country!"  This served as a secret signal to the Sons of Liberty, who were sitting in the back.  They raced to Griffin's Wharf, and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor (Boston Tea Party).  Notice the sounding board over the pulpit.

Old South Meeting House

 We then went over via the water ferry to visit Bunker Hill.  We all made the trek to the top for the beautiful view.  We sat in on a wonderful lecture by a park ranger. Fascinating.  Mark and I have learned so much!  We have immersed ourselves in Revolutionary War History and are ready to clear our brains out a bit.  We head to Maine in the morning.

Bunker Hill Monument

View from the top of the Monument

USS Cassin Young

We finished our marvelous day by going through the Quincy Market for supper.  This is a first rate food court that has all the best foods from Boston in one long hall.  The children had chowda and Mark and I had the best Chinese we've ever had and a swordfish kabob.