Do not trust old men you meet in cemeteries.
This is solid advice anytime and anywhere, but it holds especially true in Boston`s Granary Burial Ground, where we had the pleasure of being amused and confused by a geezer who gave a 10-minute lecture on the history of the cemetery, one of the oldest in the U.S. and a stone`s throw from Boston Common.
He was dead wrong when he said that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about the patriot Paul Revere and his midnight ride solely because the two were related. He was off quite a bit when he told us that one of the denizens of the cemetery had been killed during the Civil War, because a plaque just a block away proved that it wasn`t so.
His contention that all the contents of Faneuil Hall could be seen in the National Park Service Visitor Center at 15 State St. was wrong, too. (Faneuil Hall is being renovated, and the contents are not currently on display. It should reopen in the spring of 1992.)
To be fair, the anonymous old fellow did get a few things right: Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and a host of other historical figures, including the real Mother Goose, are buried somewhere on the grounds. No one knows exactly where, because the headstones were rearranged over time to allow a lawn mower to pass neatly among them.
He was right when he told us that Revere never did finish his famous midnight ride (the honor actually belongs to Dr. Samuel Prescott.)
And he certainly was correct when he maintained that Boston is one of the country`s most fascinating cities, with plenty to interest the first-time visitor and the old Boston hand.
Several of the city`s features make it especially alluring to the weekend traveler, which we were recently.
For one thing, Boston is a remarkably easy city to get around in. Forget driving; the streets were built for horses, not cars, and are uncomfortably cramped. And Beantown drivers live up to their reputation for high-speed, hair-raising tactics.
The local trains, known collectively as the ”T,” are simple, convenient and inexpensive at 85 cents a fare. You can save by buying a fistful of tokens that will last an entire weekend.
If the weather`s nice, walk. The heart of Boston is so compact you can get from one part to another easily by hoofing it. Longer expeditions, such as heading to Cambridge, require a train ride.
Most first-time visitors to Boston get a free history lesson by walking the famous Freedom Trail. You can start a free guided tour at the National Park Service`s Visitor Center, or you can hook up with a tour at any point along the way. Or you can walk it yourself-the 3-mile trail is marked by a red brick or painted line along the sidewalk.
We chose a combination of all three methods, going our own way for most of the time but listening in and sometimes tagging along when one of the tours passed by.
They say the trail could take all day, but we spent only a few hours on it. We did see several noteworthy sites, including Paul Revere`s home, the Old State House and a memorial to the 54th Massachusetts, the all-black infantry regiment immortalized in the motion picture ”Glory.”
Another, less-well-known trail marks 16 sites of particular importance in black history, including the African Meeting House, the oldest black church in North America, and the Boston Massacre monument, dedicated to Crispus Attucks, a black man killed by British troops.
Maps of both trails can be picked up at the park service center.
Shoppers will want to veer off the trail at Quincy Market, just east of Faneuil Hall. It`s crammed with boutiques selling everything from pocketknives to gigantic copper gongs.
Faneuil Hall, which was donated to the city in 1742, is being restored. You can peep at it through telescopes in the visitor center, but that`s about all. It is to reopen this year.
If you`re famished, you can refuel at dozens of fast-food stalls in Quincy Market. There are no Big Macs to be found, though-it`s much more eclectic, offering pizza, gyros and seafood, along with hot dogs and ice cream, and a multitude of other goodies.
Nearby Durgin-Park is a traditional Boston favorite for prime rib and baked beans. Try it if you must.
For our money, though, you should troop a few blocks north on Union Street, where you`ll find the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the U.S. (since 1826).
Order a half-dozen fresh, salty oysters and a beer, and you`ll be set. Daniel Webster used to sit at the very same semi-circular oyster bar, eating oysters and drinking a tumbler of brandy and water with each half-dozen.
If you`re in the mood for Italian, the city`s north end has inexpensive Italian restaurants, most of them very good.
By this point, you`ll probably want to stagger back to Boston Common, where you can rest, enjoy some peanuts and people-watch. Nearby is Beacon Hill, full of architecturally interesting homes.
A second day could be spent taking the T to more remote sites, such as Cambridge, home of Harvard University and scads of outstanding bookstores, or the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science and Hayden Planetarium.
Depending on the season, you could even watch the Red Sox in Fenway Park. Or you could rent a car and head off to the hinterlands. Cape Cod, several Revolutionary War sites and Maine are all in easy reach.
There`s too much to see and too much to do all in one weekend. But we`ll be back.
