I had done a course on American History, especially the American revolution, the fight against slavery and Civil War in 1976,at Allahabad University. That time this was a story on paper but today, I relived that period in Boston with the Boston Freedom trail. The first thing that stuck me is how nicely countries in the West(I had a similar experience in London, France, Netherland, Belgium) market their history and why we in India with such an ancient past are not able to market our history to tourists. The freedom trail is about four kilometers and it is marked with a red brick path and one can travel through Bus or on Foot with a guide or just wander on one's own. We preferred the guide and Mr. John our guide was dressed in the Clothes of that era and as he took us to sixteen spots, he made history come alive with his story telling,wit, humour, pulling our pictures and maps of that period from his bag. He took us to the oldest park set up in 1688,he introduced the figures of the revolution men like John Adams, Hancock, John Revere, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington. We saw the tea bricks that were thrown in the harbour for Boston tea party. We saw the place where the Red Coats massacred the Locals and finally also saw the Balcony from where the Declaration of Independence was read for the first time on 18th July, 1776 and continues to be read till the present times, ever year on July 4th.An amazing experience to see history from close quarters.Though a lot of new buildings and apartments have come over at the old structures and yet the way the History of the revolution was marketed to the tourists and to see how interesting it was made, was a fantastic experience.
