Walks & Trails
The Freedom Trail®
2.5 miles · About 1.5 hours of walking; half a day or more with stops inside
Access Downtown, brick and concrete sidewalks with curb cuts and gentle grades; beyond Haymarket the North End’s streets narrow, Copp’s Hill and Breed’s Hill are steep, and the monument’s 294 steps have no elevator. Step-free alternative at the end: the Bunker Hill Museum and the Navy Yard are level, and the ferry dock has ramps.
Hours and prices Each ticketed stop below carries its hours and admission; the full table is Sights at a Glance.
Walk the Freedom Trail because no other 2.5 miles in America hold so much of the Revolution: meeting houses where colonists debated, burying grounds where they rest, the balcony where Boston first heard the Declaration of Independence, Paul Revere’s house, and a warship still in commission, 16 official sites strung on a red brick line set into the sidewalks. Follow the line in order and you finish across the water from where you began. The One Day plan in Itineraries follows this route with lunch and dinner built in.
The route heads north through downtown past the Old State House and Faneuil Hall, threads the North End’s narrow streets to Old North Church and Copp’s Hill, then crosses the Charlestown Bridge to the Navy Yard and climbs to the monument. The easiest way back is the MBTA ferry from the Charlestown Navy Yard to Long Wharf, a short ride that lands beside the New England Aquarium. Or walk back over the Charlestown Bridge into the North End. The downtown half and the Charlestown end also split neatly across two days.
Know before you go
- Park Street station (Red and Green Lines) sits beside the start on Boston Common. At the far end, Community College on the Orange Line is the closest subway stop to the Bunker Hill Monument, or take the ferry from the Navy Yard back to Long Wharf.
- Pick up maps at the Boston Common Visitor Information Center, 139 Tremont Street, or at the National Park Service visitor center inside Faneuil Hall. The Park Service runs another in the Charlestown Navy Yard.
- Guided tours are easy to find: the Freedom Trail Foundation leads walks with guides in 18th-century costume, park rangers lead tours seasonally, and the NPS app carries a free audio tour.
- Wear sturdy walking shoes. Brick, cobblestones and the climbs up Copp’s Hill and Breed’s Hill add up over 2.5 miles.
- Pick your day. USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument open Wednesday to Sunday only, so the Charlestown end does not work on a Monday or Tuesday, and the State House tours run on weekdays. The ferry back is the MBTA’s F4, Navy Yard to Long Wharf, $2.40 one way, paid by ticket or cash aboard (CharlieCards are not accepted).
- If you buy one ticket, make it the Old State House: $18, and the same ticket covers Old South Meeting House. The Paul Revere House is the bargain at $6, Old North Church is $10, King’s Chapel asks $5 for a self-guided visit, and the USS Constitution Museum suggests $15 but takes what you give. The ship itself is free.
- Eat in the North End, between stops 12 and 13: Galleria Umberto on Hanover Street sells Sicilian pizza by the square at lunch until the trays are empty, and the pastry shops and cafés of North End are a block in any direction.
Walks & Trails · The map
The Freedom Trail®
Map key
- 1Boston Common
- 2Massachusetts State House
- 3Park Street Church
- 4Granary Burying Ground
- 5King’s Chapel and King’s Chapel Burying Ground
- 6Boston Latin School Site and Benjamin Franklin Statue
- 7Old Corner Bookstore
- 8Old South Meeting House
- 9Old State House
- 10Boston Massacre Site
- 11Faneuil Hall
- 12Paul Revere House
- 13Old North Church
- 14Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
- 15USS Constitution and USS Constitution Museum
- 16Bunker Hill Monument
Stop by stop
Boston Common
139 Tremont St (Visitor Information Center)
Hours 6:30 a.m.–11 p.m. · Admission Free
The trail starts on America’s oldest public park, set aside in 1634 and still about 50 acres of open ground below Beacon Hill. Bostonians grazed cows here until 1830, more than a thousand redcoats camped on it during the 1775 occupation, and the Quaker Mary Dyer was among those executed here. The red line begins at the visitor center on the Tremont Street side; follow it uphill toward the gold dome.
In this book: Boston Common
Massachusetts State House
24 Beacon St
Hours Mon–Fri 8:45 a.m.–5 p.m.; free tours 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m. · Admission Free
Charles Bulfinch designed the new State House, completed in 1798 on land that had been John Hancock’s cow pasture; Samuel Adams laid the cornerstone in 1795. The dome started out as wood, was sheathed in copper by Paul Revere in 1802, and got its first gold leaf in 1874. Docent tours are free. In the House chamber, look for the Sacred Cod, the carved fish that serves as the chamber’s mascot.
In this book: Massachusetts State House
Park Street Church
1 Park St, at Tremont St
Hours Sun worship 8:30 and 11 a.m.; Freedom Trail exhibit closed until June 2027 · Admission Free
Peter Banner designed this 1809 church on the site of the town granary, and its 217-foot steeple was the landmark that told arriving travelers they had reached Boston. The corner is called Brimstone Corner, either for the fire-and-brimstone preaching or for the gunpowder kept in the basement during the War of 1812. The hymn “America,” better known as “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” was first sung here on July 4, 1831.
In this book: Park Street Church
Granary Burying Ground
Tremont St, beside Park Street Church
Hours Daily about 9 a.m.–4 p.m. · Admission Free
Laid out in 1660 on a corner of the Common and named for a grain storehouse next door, the Granary has about 2,300 markers but an estimated 5,000 burials. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, James Otis, Peter Faneuil and the five Boston Massacre victims are here. The tall obelisk in the middle honors Benjamin Franklin’s parents; Ben himself is buried in Philadelphia.
In this book: Granary Burying Ground
King’s Chapel and King’s Chapel Burying Ground
58 Tremont St, at School St
Hours Chapel Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. in Oct, reduced hours in winter; Sun Morning Prayer 11 a.m.; burying ground daily about 9 a.m.–4 p.m. · Admission Chapel $5; guided tours $10–$15 adults (entry included); burying ground free
Founded in 1686 as Boston’s first Anglican church, King’s Chapel worships in a granite building by Peter Harrison, finished in 1754, and in 1785 it became America’s first Unitarian church. Its bell, cast by Paul Revere and Sons in 1816, still rings. The adjoining burying ground holds Governor John Winthrop and the Mayflower passenger Mary Chilton.
In this book: King’s Chapel and King’s Chapel Burying Ground
Boston Latin School Site and Benjamin Franklin Statue
45 School St, outside Old City Hall · Free
America’s first public school opened on April 23, 1635, and a mosaic in the School Street sidewalk marks where its schoolhouse stood. Five signers of the Declaration of Independence studied at Boston Latin, though Benjamin Franklin left without finishing. His bronze statue stands a few steps away in the courtyard of Old City Hall. The school itself is still going, now in the Fenway, and has admitted girls since 1972.
Old Corner Bookstore
283 Washington St, at School St
Hours Exterior only · Admission Free
Thomas Crease built this brick house and apothecary in 1718, on ground where Anne Hutchinson once lived, and no commercial building in Boston has stood longer. In the mid-1800s it was home to Ticknor and Fields, publisher of Walden and The Scarlet Letter; that story is told on The Boston Literary Walk. Historic Boston Incorporated bought it in 1960 to save it from a parking-garage plan. The ground floor is a Chipotle, so take in the gambrel roof from across Washington Street.
In this book: Old Corner Bookstore
Old South Meeting House
310 Washington St
Hours Daily from 10 a.m., closing at 5 or 6 p.m. by season (6 p.m. in Oct, 5 p.m. Nov–Dec); closed Thanksgiving, Dec 24–25 and Jan 1; occasional event closures · Admission $18 adults; $16 seniors 65+; $10 ages 6–17; 5 and under free; one ticket also covers the Old State House and includes the Ruckus! show
Built in 1729 as a Puritan meeting house, Old South was one of the largest buildings in colonial Boston, big enough for the thousands who packed in on December 16, 1773, to protest the tea tax. When the meeting ended, the crowd headed for Griffin’s Wharf and more than 340 chests of tea went into the harbor. Phillis Wheatley worshiped here. Saved from demolition in the 1870s, it opened as a museum in 1877.
In this book: Old South Meeting House
Old State House
206 Washington St, at State St
Hours Daily from 10 a.m., closing at 5 or 6 p.m. by season (6 p.m. in Oct, 5 p.m. Nov–Dec); closed Thanksgiving, Dec 24–25, Jan 1 and Jan 5–6, 2027 · Admission $18 adults; $16 seniors 65+; $10 ages 6–17; 5 and under free; one ticket also covers Old South Meeting House
Built in 1713 as the seat of royal government, the Old State House has outlasted every other public building in Boston. On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to the crowd from its balcony, and Bostonians afterward tore the lion and unicorn, emblems of the Crown, off the building. The pair up there now are replacements. Revolutionary Spaces runs a museum of the city’s colonial and revolutionary years inside.
In this book: Old State House
Boston Massacre Site
State St at Congress St · Free
A circle of granite pavers at State and Congress streets, in front of the Old State House, marks where British soldiers fired into a jeering crowd on March 5, 1770. Five people died, Crispus Attucks first among them. Paul Revere’s engraving, based on a drawing by Henry Pelham, turned the street fight into propaganda, and John Adams defended the soldiers at trial. This was King Street then; it became State Street in 1784.
Faneuil Hall
1 Faneuil Hall Sq
Hours Great Hall Wed–Sun 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; closed for city events · Admission Free
Merchant Peter Faneuil, whose fortune rested partly on slavery, gave Boston this market hall in the early 1740s. Colonists protested the Sugar and Stamp Acts here, and the hall came to be called the Cradle of Liberty. The ground floor is still a market and holds a National Park Service visitor center; upstairs, the Great Hall hosts ranger talks and naturalization ceremonies. Look up for Shem Drowne’s golden grasshopper weathervane.
In this book: Faneuil Hall
Paul Revere House
19 North Sq
Hours Apr 15–Oct 31 daily 10 a.m.–5:15 p.m.; Nov 1–Apr 14 10 a.m.–4:15 p.m., closed Mon in Jan–Mar; closed Thanksgiving, Dec 24–25 and Jan 1 · Admission $6 adults
Built about 1680, this is the earliest building left in downtown Boston and the only official trail site that was a home. Paul Revere owned it from 1770 to 1800, and his family lived here when he rode out on the night of April 18, 1775. Later it was a tenement for immigrant families, then opened as a museum in April 1908, one of the country’s earliest. Notice how the second story juts out over the first.
In this book: Paul Revere House
Old North Church
193 Salem St
Hours Tue–Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun 12:30–5 p.m.; Monday hours vary by season · Admission $10 adults (Discovery Pass)
Christ Church, as Old North is formally named, went up in 1723, and no older church building survives in Boston. Its steeple carried the most famous signal of April 18, 1775: two lanterns, meaning the regulars would cross the Charles by boat. Tradition gives the climb to two men, the sexton Robert Newman and the vestryman John Pulling. Years before, a teenage Paul Revere had rung the tower’s bells. Inside, look for the high-walled box pews; roughly 1,100 people are buried in the crypt below.
In this book: Old North Church
Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
45 Hull St
Hours Daily about 9 a.m.–4 p.m. · Admission Free
Laid out in 1659 and named for shoemaker William Copp, this hilltop is the North End’s colonial burying ground. Cotton and Increase Mather, Old North sexton Robert Newman, Prince Hall, founder of Black Freemasonry, and Edmund Hartt, builder of USS Constitution, are here, along with many free Black Bostonians. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, British cannon on this height fired on Charlestown. Find Daniel Malcolm’s gravestone, pocked by British bullets.
In this book: Copp’s Hill Burying Ground
USS Constitution and USS Constitution Museum
Charlestown Navy Yard
Hours Wed–Sun 10 a.m.–4 p.m. · Admission Free; photo ID required 18+
Old Ironsides slid into the water in 1797 from a shipyard in Boston’s North End, and no commissioned warship afloat anywhere is older; U.S. Navy sailors still crew her. She won the nickname on August 19, 1812, against HMS Guerriere, when British cannonballs seemed to bounce off her thick oak sides. Going aboard is free, but expect a security check, and visitors 18 and over must show a passport or a federal or state photo ID. The USS Constitution Museum across the pier, open daily 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m., asks a suggested $15 and takes what you give; its hands-on decks are the best part of the Navy Yard for children.
In this book: USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”)
Bunker Hill Monument
Monument Sq, Charlestown
Hours Wed–Sun 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (1–4 p.m. Oct 13–May 28) · Admission Free
The trail ends on Breed’s Hill, where the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, the first major battle of the Revolution. Lafayette laid the cornerstone of the 221-foot granite obelisk in 1825, and it was dedicated in 1843. Climb the 294 steps for the view, then cross the street to the Bunker Hill Museum. The National Park Service runs both, and admission is free.
In this book: Bunker Hill Monument