Macon (CA 132) - Naval Cruise Book

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i V i -cs- jr To the south of Scollay Stjiuire you visited F:inueil Hall, well named the Ciadle oi Liberty, lor hcie took place some ol the earliest and most stirring mass meetings ot Boston patriots who were determined that Americans shotdd govern themselves without interference from the British Crown. The impassioned voices that made their demantls lor Ireeiloni within these walls were the voices of a new nation calling her sons to light for liberty. And, of course, you stopped at the Durgin Park Restau- rant, home of some ol l oston ' s best h)od — all fresh from the market streets below. ' ou lel.ixed by sludfling your feet on sawdust-covered Uocjrs amidst .in imusual atmosphere which Durgin Park has maintained lor over 150 years. At night there w-as the busy bustle of the Washington Street area, with its familiar neon signs — JOE and NEIMO ' s, WAL- DORF, GOLDEN NUGGET, P.VL.VCE, STATITR, GARY THEATRE. . nd then there was City Scpiare with the lamiliar Jack ' s and the Morning Glory. All these were the places you remember seeing so often. Yes, tliere were many days and nighls in lioston that you mused over Boston ' s glorious histoiy while your inmiediate sur- roundings were those of a modern meiropolis with its ir.iliic its excitements, its luuricd exisieiuc. ' u appu( i.ucd the dual personality of this lily. nu gicw slran.m ' lv .illaduil to Boston and knew you ' d miss it when the ship got undeiw.iv lor the Mediterranean. Ifc- ' «j ' .-In 17 i

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Just outside the gate you found an historic monument which linked your present Navy duty aboard the MACON to the illustrious past of which Boston boasts. That monument, of course, is the now familiar United States Frigate CONSTITU- TION. Built by Edmund Hartt and launched on 20 September 1797, OLD IRONSIDES, as the 44-gun frigate is familiarly known, first put to sea in 1798. She won historic glory in many of her approximately forty battles, but especially for her victory over the British Frigate GUERRIERE in the War of 1812. She was restored to her former condition by the school children of the United States. The CONSTITUTION is still an officially commissioned ship of the U. S. Navy and flys the flag of the Commandant FIRST Naval District. Nearby, in Charleston, is a granite obelisk, a two hundred foot monument to the Battle of Bunker Hill. You knew the story of how the Yanks, badly outnumbered, withdrew from the field only after their ammunition was gone. But the courage these early colonists had shown struck a spark for the spirit of independence. You ' d gone on liberty or shore leave and you ' d found that all roads seem to lead to Tremont Street and the Boston Common, a large centrally located park containing nearly fifty acres. This ground was set aside for common use as a cow pasture and train- ing field during the 17th century. On the Common the Soldier Monument reminded you that here, on Flagstaff Hill, the British Artillery was stationed during the siege of Boston. Here the British mustered before the Battle of Bunker Hill and here also gathered contingents for colonial expeditions against Louisberg and Quebec. In colonial days, according to tradition, pirates, witches and Quakers were hanged on the Old Elm which was near the Frog Pond. Freedom of speech is a tradition of the Common, and anyone with a grievance or a message mav mount one of the benches and lecture to all who care to attend. Just up Tremont Street on the hill you sighted Peter Banner ' s masterpiece — the Park Street Church — built in 1810 on the site of the Granary where the sails of the CONSTITUTION were made. Henry James once described it as the most inter- esting mass of brick and mortar in America. Here William Lloyd Garrison gave his first anti-slavery address on July 4, 1829 and on the same day three years later America was first sung publicly. Nearby you found the King ' s Chapel — the first Episco- m[ Church in Boston, which, after the Revolution, became the first Unitarian Church in America. On nearby School Street, you saw the site ol the first public school in the United States. This school, built near the present City Hall, was the origin of the Boston Latin School. Its hard benches were occupied by many famous men of the jjast such as Emerson, Samuel Adams, Rev. Cotton Mather, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin. The Boston Latin continues today as a public school, Init is now located in a different part of the city. Soon you came upon the Paul Revere house, the oldest house in Boston, probably built in the 1670 ' s. It was the home of Paul Revere from 1770 to 1800 and it was this house he pre- sumably left for the Bos ton Tea Party in 1773, disguised as an Indian. And, of ((jurse, he was living here when he set out on his historic ride to Lexington in April 1775. O d ironsides

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ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT