King's Chapel and Beyond

King's Chapel and Beyond. The Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea. , The Walk to the Sea encompasses four centuries of Boston history. Beginning at the State House on Beacon Hill, overlooking Boston's ancient Common, the Walk passes among historic landmarks and skyscrapers. The Walk crosses ground that, centuries earlier, was not ground at all but an active harbor. Boston's history is tied to the sea, whose smells and sounds once pervaded the town. The Walk from summit to sea, spanning one mile and descending a hundred feet, brings that history to life., Mayor Thomas Menino dedicated the Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea in 2008. For more information, explore The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library (www.maps.bpl.org). , Around 1750, the present, stone version of King's Chapel replaced the wooden structure of 1688. King James II had ordered the wooden chapel built. It was the first Anglican church in Boston, erected on the old burying ground over strong Puritan objections. Puritan power had weakened, and James had appointed a royal governor to administer the colonies of Massachusetts.

Behind the wooden chapel was the Boston Latin School. The Boston Latin School is the oldest American public school still operating, though at another Boston location. The school trained many of America;s founders, including Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock.

On the site of the former Latin School now stands the Old City Hall, symbolizing the far more cosmopolitan spirit of Victorian Boston. Completed in 1865, it was an inspired example of the French Second Empire style, with its distinctive copper mansard roof, now a faded blue-green. The handsome building served until 1969, when the new City Hall opened nearby at Government Center., Reverse: , The Freedom Trail and The Black Heritage Trail , The Walk to the Sea intersects two other historic trails through Boston, the Freedom Trail and the Black Heritage Trail., Here, at Tremont Street, the red line of The Freedom Trail® passes in front of King's Chapel on its way to 16 national historic landmarks relating to the American Revolution. The trail begins at the Boston Common, two blocks south on Tremont Street. It passes through the old North End, where legendary patriots such as Paul Revere plotted to foil the British military strategy, and goes on to Bunker Hill and "Old Ironsides," the U.S.S. Constitution., The Black Heritage Trail begins across from the State House at the memorial to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment of Civil War fame. The trail leads to the west side of Beacon Hill, where Boston's vibrant nineteenth-century African- American community thrived. There, fugitive slaves found support and refuge on their way to freedom and leaders of the black community, such as Lewis Hayden, worked to support the abolitionist cause.