My Scout Troop is going on our councils Traveling Comporee on Columbus Day weekend. There will be 4 busloads of people, and on Sunday we will have from 10:00 AM to 6:00PM to wonder the city as we please. My troop, and I imagine pretty much all the troops there, will be doing the Freedom Trail. We will be given a map that morning, but I would rather be prepared ahead of time.
I did do the Freedom Trail when our Council went there in 2002. But I don’t remember much of it, and we were following someone who seemed to know where they were going. We may not have that luxury this time, so I want to get some ideas.
From what they told us so far, we will be taking a subway from MBTA Riverside Station to someplace near the USS Constitution. If the line isn’t insane, we want to board it and take the tour if possible.
We will have breakfast at camp, but will need to eat lunch and supper in the city (and there will be no meal when we get back to camp at night). We will be seeing Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market since they are on the trail. So I guess one of those would be a good place for one meal (or 2 if need be). But I would also like to have some ideas for other restaurants on or close to the trail. I was able to find a few on Google, but I also want to get ideas from you guys. I think we would be looking for a pizza place or a burger joint. Someplace where we can sit down but that isn’t fancy. We will each be given $20 for food, so we would like the keep the total of both meals at or around that mark if we can.
Then at 6:00 we will be meeting for a tour of Fenway Park. They still don’t know if we will need to make our own way there or if the busses will pick us up near the trail. If we will need to make our own way to the field, on the map it looks like it is only around 1.5 miles from the Visitor Information Center, so it shouldn’t be a bad walk. But they also mentioned giving us “charlie cards” for the subway. Are those good for multiple rides? Would it be easy and quick for us to take the subway there?
Also, if anyone knows of any highlights on or near the trail that we should see, please let me know.
This is a burger joint I like. The locations are perfect for you; Park Street is right at the end of the Freedom Trail, Kenmore Square is a stone’s throw from Fenway Park.
Closest subway stop to the Constitution is probably North Station.
From downtown to Fenway Park, I don’t know what to tell you. From the Common to Fenway is a nice walk, but I don’t know how tired you’ll all be after the Freedom Trail, or how much time you’ll have. And the various cards, tickets, and passes on the subway are pretty complicated. You can buy your tickets early and store enough value on them to pay for the trip, but if you wind up walking, I don’t think you can get that money back. Be sure to know the route if you do walk.
Boston will likely be crowded on Columbus Day weekend, and it’s a long walk (although it doesn’t look it on a map). The Freedom Trail starts in the Common and winds its way around. The Constitution (and Bunker Hill) are at the far end of the trail, and removed from the rest of the trail (So much, in fact, that they don’t feel as if they’re part of it). If there are lines at the Constitution and its associated museum, you may end up spending quite a bit of time there. If you go to the Constitution and Bunker Hill, you can make a day of it without seeing anything else. I’m very serious – don’t count on seeing thwe whole Freedom trail in a day, unless you plan to simply walk along it and look at a lot of things from the outside.
There;s not much to eat around the Constitution, but once you get into town there are plenty of places. Quincy Market at Faneuil Hall has a huge number of restaurants. Particularly running down the middle. Beware – some are surprisingly expoensive. But there are places like Regina’s pizza where you can get something relatively cheap. There are a lot of places in the Downtown Crossing area (Between the Old State House and the start of the Freedom Trail) that are relatively uinexpensive, as well
Walking to Fenway after spending the day at the Constitution and/or the Freedom Trail may not look like much on the map, but you’ll feel it. You may want to take the Green Line from Park square (or elsewhere on the Common) nto the Fenway Park stop. Beware again --the green line splits into multiple lines You want to get on the “D” line train:
I don’t know where the tour of Fenway Park meets, but it’s probably quicker to get off at Kenmore. (Any B, C, or D train will do; just not the E.) It’s just across the Turnpike; you just have to know where.
When you say “busloads”, do you mean school-bus? Are we talking 30-40 people? Because that will be a problem for ordering food because few of the places can handle that many without reservations. In that case I recommend Faneuil Hall because it’s like a high-brow food court. The problem will be finding a place for everyone to sit. If it’s a nice day I suggest bringing the food to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which is a park between the North End and Faneuil Hall. You’ll probably walk though it going to Faneuil Hall from the Constitution.
Robot Arm is correct: the Kenmore T is closer to Fenway Park. Be warned that after the game the Kenmore T will be extremely crowded; if you’re worried about losing kids wait a while first.
You can get Charlie Cards for the T. You can “charge” them with money and it will be automatically deducted each time you use it. One nice thing is that you can use one card to pay for many people–you tap the card at the turnstyle, let someone through, and tap it again for the next person. (This will deduct a fare for each tap.)
Unless your kids are different from most they’ll probably be bored with the Freedom Trail except for Bunker Hill, USS Constitution, and the location of the Boston Massacre (boys love blood). Which is probably good because you won’t have time to do more than that. The BM site is about 5 minutes from Faneuil Hall. There’s a new Tea Party museum which I hear is nice but it’s not free.
Sorry, I didn’t mention it because I thought it would be understood for a trip like this, but we will all be on our own when we get dropped off in Boston. Each troop will be going there own way. Some troops could choose to walk around together, but I can;t see more than 20 or so people being in a group, so restaurants won’t be slammed with a bus of people all at once.
And we are taking Martz buses, which I think hold 54 people.
And being as the trip costs $225 per person, I’d say that only kids who are interested are going. And you don’t think we will have time to do the whole trail? I have read that the trail only takes around 4 hours, with time stopping at points of interest.
And they changed the plan. Instead of dropping us all off at the Riverside Station and having us take the train into the city they are going to drive the buses in and drop us off, but they didn’t say where.
I hope since they are dropping us off that they will drive the buses back in to pick us up and save having to walk to the Red Sox field.
I know when we were there in 2002 that we went to the top of the tower (thats the Bunker Hill one, right?), saw the Constitution (I think it was closed that day, but I know we didn;t go on it) and walked the rest of the trail. I (think I) remember going into Paul Revere’s house, I know we ate at Faneuil Hall. It seems like we got around. I guess we didn;t go in as many places as we could have.
How many people were with you when you did that? Your OP said that you had a “scout troop”, and I know from experience thsat maneuvering a group of people – especially adolescent males – will take a lot more time and effort than simply a group of four or so. If you could get a whole troop (10-15 kids) through the Constitution, the Bunker Hill monument, Paul Revere’s House, and through the whole Freedom Trail (even if you didn’t go in anywhere else), I congratulate you. If you had the energy and gumptioon to walk to Fenway Park from the Common after that you’re impressive.
I agree that it’s pushing things timewise to do everything in the time allocated (and you do want to take the subway back rather than walking if the bus isn’t going to pick you up). Some places like Old North Church or the cemeteries you can pop in and look around real quick, but some places, like the new Statehouse and Paul Revere’s house are guided tours that are time consuming. We spent most of a day on the Freedom trail. There were no lines at the Constitution and we still missed the Old South Meeting House and the Old Statehouse.
In 2002 we had around 12 people in our group. This time there are only 4 total from my troop, but we will be walking it with another troop, so maybe 12 or so. I don;t know how many are going from the other troop. Maybe less.
And we didn’t do Fenway park last time. As I recall, the buses picked us up someplace and took us to an IMax.
Yeah, I’d still suggest Kenmore. Walking distance looks about the same, but it’ll probably be easier to find your way from Kenmore, and you won’t need to wait for a D train.
Here’s a google map of the area. You’ll come out of the subway on Commonwealth Avenue (Comm. Ave. to the locals, Rte 2 on the map). The BU bookstore, with the huge Citgo sign on top, is on the north side of the street. Walk west, then south on Brookline Ave. over the Turnpike, look up Lansdowne St. to see the back of the Green Monster, left on Yawkee Way and Gate D is near the intersection with Van Ness.
These are scouts, right; Is there an urban navigation merit badge?
I So Wish I knew Boston better. All I can really do is add some advice on kids on scouting hikes (which is so common place, I’m probably wasting your time). Packs. Scouts always bring packs, so dry sandwiches at the earliest shop that will open & maybe 2 20oz bottles of water in each? (If a scout gets crabby & headachy on a hike, many times its dehydration. Have them drink a half bottle of water while you watch. You’ll have your old scout back in 5-10 minutes.)
Loose settings on your boot knots, a spare pair of dry wool sox each, and these kids are ready to do 10 miles easily (20 if you inspire them). Drop packs on a shady spot that seems good between sites, chow down & drink water, clean up after, and there’s lunch. And, for the love of Og, take pictures!
One last thing. Scouts are Scouts, but they are kids too… and there’s a reason why gift shops are always the last stop at the museum. Unless its an opportunity that can’t be duplicated, try to steer a course where they spend their ‘camp money’ at the end of the hike.
And know that for this trip alone, you’re an Awesome Dad. Well Done!
i’ve walked the freedom trail, and fenway park to the common. not the same day, freedom trail was sat., fenway was sun. both are long walks, thinking back i would say fenway to common’s was longer, or it seemed so, because we only stopped once for a refreshing beverage (very cold gaterade).
the freedom trail was start and stop, and sitting down here and there. if i remember properly the freedom trail is 7 miles from start to finish.
walking both on one day will need many hours and a massage and hot tub/jacuzzi to recover. i don’t know what badge has massage and jacuzzi in its requirements.
The hot bar/salad bar/pizza bar at the Whole Foods on Cambridge St is not too expensive and widely regarded as one of the best grab-n-go spots in the Beacon Hill area. (The lunch rush is MADNESS)