In Boston, I'm like the accidental tourist, or rather, the imprisoned tourist. I go there each summer to make some progess on the longest doctoral campaign in history.

The British had about as much luck with Boston as I do with Boston University. Despite the presence of their navy, they couldn't finally subdue the colonists, the subject of many a picture below. The losing battle of Bunker Hill showed how much stomach the Colonists had to fight the greatest naval power (ok, their land troops were not in the same class) of the day.

Geography as much as anything else meant the end to British tea parties. The colonists dragged heavy guns all the way from Ticonderoga so that they sat on the heights about the city. With guns in that position they could menace the city below. The colonists, of course, hadn't considered this menace when they set up their city. From the sea, the probable means of attack for enemies such as the French, the city site offers good protection.

Anyway, walk those sites of yesteryear, open a Sam Adams without comment (I once made the mistake of observing to an outraged Bostonian that Sam Adams was a smuggler), and take the Freedom Trail.

They came to Boston for the harbor.

Hawthorne's Hester and daughter Pearl (from the Scarlet Letter)weren't among them but could of been. The Puritans, dour and serious about everything, especially religion, held to a tough moral code. Still, studies show some 20% of Puritan births came sooner than nine months after marriage.

They set up Harvard to train ministers

This is where Franklin was buried. Though he spent most of his life in Philadelphia, he too was the son of the Puritans. Puritan values figure heavily in works like Poor Richard's Almanac and the Autobiography.

James Otis was demanding the rights of Englishmen when others called for independence,
yet Bostonians considered him a radical in the early 1770s.

Samuel Adams's particular gifts lay in the ability to cause trouble when needed, the perfect man to lend his name to a beer.

Christopher Attucks, honored here, took the first ball in the Boston Massacre. Attaucks real
fame came in the 1970s when historians suddenly remembered that he was black.

This honors the other Massacre dead. John Adams,true
to his beliefs, acted as the soldier's lawyer.

This is the Old North Church. Here hung those famous
lamps: One if by land; two if by sea (river really).

At Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill), commander William Prescott drew his line in the sand for the brave to cross. Those who did withstood a furious assault from British crack grenadiers.

This weird looking, Roman-style, monument honors the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British expected (with pretty good reason) the Colonists to run. They didn't and claimed a kind of victory (since the British still took the hill).

Take the wheel and pilot the USS Constitution, called Old Ironsides, because British cannon shots during the War of 1812 simply bounced off its oaken sides.

The Democrats made such a thing of the 1 on 1 frigate (the cruisers of their day) battles of ships like this to get the public to ignore the effective< British blockade. BIG ships-of-the-line, which would make vessels like this scamper, enforced the blockade that led to the permanent ruin of New England's shipping industry.

Daniel Webster stands before the state capital. In his day, Webster's three hour speeches so impressed his audience that they thought he could out-talk the devil, the subject of the play: The Devil and Daniel Webster.

Horace Mann, among others, advocated mandatory schooling to teach children democracy. This also served (serves) to Americanize immigrants. Massachusetts led the world in the move to mandatory school attendance.

This gothic church serves the Christian Scientists.

This sign proclaims this as Christian Science Temple # 1.

The Christian scientists, followers of Marion Baker Eddy, believe, among things, that all illness is mental. They're not the first, nor last, Christian sect to come from Boston's theological heritage. You can see how they fit into the uncompromising Puritan tradition.

This destoyer honors all the destroyers who fought in World War II. The plaque claims that "cans" won the war. Certainly, they helped destroy Axis subs and protect vital supply shipments, a dirty but necessary job.

JFK and DRF stand together.

Cheers! or it Beers!

This is the Ironside Musem and modern harbor.

This shows a bridge-side view of Boston.

The sun begins to set on Hancock Center.

The sun continues to set.

"The sun never set on a better cause than this,"(Thomas Paine) the end of another virtual tour.

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