Latest news with #PaulRevere
Time Out
11-07-2025
- Time Out
Two of the best trails in the world are in New England, says ranking
From urban walks to all-natural strolls, Massachusetts is home to trails of all types, a varied quality that was recently celebrated by outdoor discovery platform AllTrails, which included a Boston-based byway on its list of 25 trails to explore in 2025. Yes, along with Italy's Il Sentiero della Pace (The Path of Peace), Mexico's Cerro Pelón, New Zealand's Hump Ridge Track and Japan's Nachi Falls, the global list included Beantown's own world-famous Freedom Trail at No. 3 on its 2025 rankings. Easily spotted by the signature brick red 'line' marked along the sidewalk, the 2.5-mile trail through the heart of Boston passes by some of the city's most historic sites, made even more informative and intriguing by the 18th-century costumed guides. "Over the years, this urban trail has become a must-do in the city of Boston. While it may not offer the abundance of trees and wildlife that most nature trails provide, it offers a wealth of historical monuments to explore, including Paul Revere's house and the Old South Meeting House. Did someone say, the British are coming?" reads AllTrail's write-up of the Boston attraction, also citing the trail's free audio tour on the National Park Service website conveniently offering "a stop-by-stop overview of key historical sites." Along with the Massachusetts trail, our buddies over in New Hampshire also got some love thanks to the stunning Appalachian Trail, which the site ranked at No. 8 and dubbed "one of the most treasured thru-hikes in the world." Spanning more than 2,000 miles along the eastern United States, the trail has "welcomed countless adventurers, from its first solo female thru-hiker, Grandma Gatewood, in 1955, to the trail's first blind thru-hiker, Bill Irwin, in 1990," says AllTrails, but notes, "you don't have to be a hardcore backpacker to experience the magic of the Appalachian Trail."
Boston Globe
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Fourth of July celebrations start bright and early in Boston
Led by Mayor Michelle Wu, the procession, including the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums ensemble, will stop off at the Old Granary Burying Ground, the resting place of Revolutionary War heroes, to lay wreaths on gravesites. Paul Revere, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and Crispus Attucks, the first colonist killed by British troops during the Boston Massacre, among others, are buried at the site. The reading of the Declaration, formally known as The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, is slated for 10 a.m. from the balcony of the Old State House at 206 Washington St., the same balcony where the founding document was first read to Bostonians on July 18, 1776. Advertisement The Captain Commanding of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts will read the text. The USS Constitution Museum will be open for tours all day and Old Ironsides will set sail at 10 a.m. for its annual voyage from the Charlestown Navy Yard through Boston Harbor to Castle Island. The ship will fire a 21-gun salute when it passes Fort Independence on Castle Island at about 11:30 a.m. Advertisement At 12:30 p.m., the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums ensemble will take to the Summer Street Stage in Downtown Crossing for a two-hour concert. For those set on snagging the best possible seating for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, it's best to get there bright and early. The free concert doesn't start until 7 p.m. followed by fireworks at 9:40 p.m., but folks have been known to get in line as early as 6 a.m. According to Tonya Alanez can be reached at
CBS News
27-06-2025
- CBS News
Boston's Freedom Trail is one of the best free attractions in the country, USA Today says
Learning more about Boston and Paul Revere on the Freedom Trail Learning more about Boston and Paul Revere on the Freedom Trail Learning more about Boston and Paul Revere on the Freedom Trail The Freedom Trail in Boston has once again been named one of the best free attractions in the country by USA Today. The historic route featuring landmarks from the American Revolution was ranked at No. 6 on the newspaper's Top 10 list, beating out well-known destinations like Niagara Falls and The National Mall in Washington, D.C. The Loggerhead Marine Center, a sea turtle conservation site in Florida, was first in the ranking, which is determined by USA Today readers and editors. The Freedom Trail also made the "best free attractions" list in 2023. "Starting at the Boston Common and ending at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, the Freedom Trail offers historical insight into the city of Boston," USA Today writes. "It's easy to hop on and off of the Freedom Trail as it weaves throughout the city, highlighting some of Boston's most special places." Freedom Trail tours There are daily walking tour tickets available for purchase through the Freedom Trial Foundation. But anyone can follow the 2.5-mile red brick line that guides visitors to the different historic sites at no charge. The National Park Service offers a free, self-guided "Freedom Trail Audio Tour" that can be downloaded here. The 16 sites on the Freedom Trail are: the Boston Common, the State House, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel & King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston Latin School Site/Benjamin Franklin Statue, Old Corner Bookstore, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, the Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground, the U.S.S. Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument.
New York Times
22-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Happy Birthday, Money
America has a bounty of 250th anniversaries to celebrate these days. On April 18, I went with my 9-year-old son to watch a re-enactment of Paul Revere's famous ride. The next day, we were among thousands of patriotic Americans at Lexington at 5 a.m., ready for the Redcoats to arrive and hear the shot heard around the world. June 22 is perhaps an even more consequential semiquincentennial, even if there are no re-enactors or commemorative gatherings. On this day in 1775, the Continental Congress invented a new currency and authorized the printing of $2 million. This currency proved to be both a blessing and a curse for the war effort. It's not mere history: Both the successes and the failures offer crucial lessons about how monetary and fiscal decisions affect the economy, and how they shape the credibility of the nation as a whole. Those lessons have resonated through all the intervening years of independence, expansion, conflict, depression, war, reinvention and more. Today the prospects for our currency are starting to turn ominous again. The Continental currency, like the Revolutionary War, had its origins in Massachusetts. For most of history, money had been tangible: gold, silver, wampum, salt blocks, jewelry beads. Paper in the form of private bills of exchange or promissory notes was rare (China and Japan are the notable exceptions here), used mainly by merchants and bankers, and generally able to be converted into some underlying commodity. That changed in 1690 when Massachusetts had a problem paying its bills from a failed expedition against French Quebec. London would not reimburse the costs. The raid itself captured no plunder. So the colony's resourceful government did something that was effectively unheard-of in the Western world: It created 7,000 pounds in its own 'bills of credit,' basically paper currency, with only a vague promise that they would be paid back (but a guarantee that they would be legal tender for tax payments). It created what was effectively fiat money. Although the Massachusetts experiment was, in many ways, a failure, contributing to decades of inflation, it was the model that the Continental Congress drew on when it needed to raise funds to equip the newly created Continental Army. In theory, the $2 million of 'bills of credit' it ordered up (initially in denominations from $1 to $20) were like bonds, entitling the bearer to be repaid in silver or gold at a future date, albeit without any promised interest or a plausible mechanism to raise the precious metals in question. In practice, the paper looked and functioned like currency today, complete with distinctly American imagery, the label 'the United Colonies' and the ability to serve as a medium of everyday exchange. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
10-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
Riding Into The Light Of Our Times
American silversmith, engraver, and Revolutionary patriot Paul Revere (1735 - 1818) rides to warn ... More the people of Massachusetts that the British troops were advancing by boat, April 1775. Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five. These opening lines of 'Paul Revere's Ride' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are familiar to American schoolchildren. And so they—including me—grow up knowing the story of Paul Revere riding from Boston to Lexington to warn the Patriots that the British troops were headed their way. What followed the next morning were the 'shots heard round the world,' sparking the American Revolution. For most, however, Revere faded into quaint memory, a hero not quite forgotten but not well remembered. Fortunately, The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America, by Kostya Kennedy, brings Revere to life fully, making him not simply a patriot for his time but a beacon for our time, too. Revere was well-known in his time. Kennedy cites author Malcolm Gladwell's depiction of Revere as a "connector," that is, someone who met and mingled well with others, and so became a trusted resource. Everyone knew Paul Revere is a refrain that echoes throughout the book. How he became so well-known by everyone from leading Patriots like Sam Adams and John Hancock to British military officers, including General George Gage, is worthy of exploration. His traits are instructive to this day. Connector. A respected tradesman, Revere became a Mason, a not uncommon association for Colonial Americans, including some of our Founding Fathers. He was loyal to his lodge and headed it. There, at the meetings, he became steeped in the patriot resistance to the Crown's imposition of punitive taxes. Some of Innovator. Revere's father was an immigrant from France who embraced the Colonial American ways, becoming a silversmith, a trade he passed along to his son. Revere used that skill to teach himself to become an engraver and later a dentist, fashioning implants for his patients. He also learned to roll copper, becoming a bellmaker and munitions maker during the War of 1812. Stamina. We know Revere for his 20-mile Ride that fateful night in April 1775, but Revere made many more rides, in particular, riding to and from New York and onto Philadelphia and back to Boston, a journey of 700 miles. He was carrying messages from Committees of Correspondence discussing how they would react to ever-tightening coercive acts by the Crown. As an expert horseman, Revere had the skills to keep a steady pace and stamina to ride night and day, stopping occasionally for an overnight rest and to switch horses. Courage. During Revere's Ride, he knew full well that someone like him could be stopped and detained and even slain if he were caught. And just outside Lexington, he was stopped by British officers who could have shot him on the spot. When they queried him, he told them exactly where he was going and why. Honesty was his trademark, and he was not about to lie, even to save himself. The officers instead stripped the bridle from his horse, Brown Beauty, leaving Revere to walk into Lexington rather than ride. Citizen. Revere was a Patriot. He lived his love of country through service to the cause of Liberty, yes, but also to service to his community. He practiced this as a tradesman, a member of his church, and a lodge master—a true communitarian. These traits Revere demonstrated made him a trusted man in a dangerous time. We can take from his example that we should be open to change, find ways to maximize our skills, and stand true to our values. "It was Revere at the start and center of it all," writes Kostya Kennedy. It was Revere, booted and spurred, who raised the resistance, who helped deliver the first, fateful stand."
