Want to feel better about America?

We picked right now in this troubled time to visit Boston, where our nation's inspiring story began. In 18 photos, we show that it's still great seeing, walking, really feeling "The Freedom Trail."

Chuck Offenburger and Mary Riche with historical interpreter and guide Timothy Sean Patrick Donovan, who was portraying John Hancock, the thrice-elected governor of Massachusetts and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We posed in front of Faneuil Hall, which has often been called “the cradle of our liberty.”

Chuck Offenburger, in front of Old North Church, where lantern signals in the steeple alerted colonists that British soldiers were moving and the American Revolutionary War was about to begin. (Photo by Mary Riche)

Here’s the historical plaque halfway up the steeple of Old North Church.

The way “The Freedom Trail” is marked from Boston Common, through the historic sites where the American Revolution stirred and to Boston Harbor.

As “John Hancock” was pointing out to us, in the day or two after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, it was read out loud from the balcony of the Old State House of Massachusetts, the first state capitol building, located right behind him. See the next of these two photos by Mary Riche.

The Old State House of Massachusetts, now surrounded by more contemporary buildings. See that balcony on the second floor? That’s where every July 4, the Declaration of Independence is still read out loud to a crowd below on the plaza.

A huge statue of Paul Revere on his famous “Midnight Ride,” warning the colonists that the British troops were stirring, and that it was time to go to war.

An inspiring view of the statue of Paul Revere with the steeple of Old North Church shining above the trees. (Photo by Mary Riche)

Lunch time on The Freedom Trail — Mary Riche shows that we were about to dine at “The Bell In Hand Tavern,” which claims to be the “oldest continually-operating tavern in America, dating back to 1795.

The “oldest continually-operating tavern in America” in this building wedged into the historic North End of Boston.

On Saturday, Oct. 21, the second day of our stay in historic Boston, we visited the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum at Columbia Point in the South Shore neighborhood of the city.

Here we are, in the lobby.

A great early photo of the whole Kennedy family, taken in London in 1938, where President John F. Kennedy’s father Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had just started serving as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.

And so began the 1960s.

The other side in that ’60s presidential election.

Crowds still hang on every word of President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, which is played in full at his presidential library and museum. You can see the words printed across the bottom of the screen as the President speaks them in the video.

Mary Riche, in the center of the towering atrium. The JFK library and museum was designed by a young, relatively-unknown architect I.M. Pei, who oversaw the construction and opening in 1979. Pei, who is still at work today, is now recognized as one of the greatest architects of our era.

We had a great seafood dinner on Friday, Oct. 20, with our friend and Des Moines native Deb Holman at the famous Legal Sea Foods - Harborside. Deb is a veteran principal in Boston area public schools, and we had a great conversation with her about life today in the historic city. Here she and Mary Riche are shown about to share (with Chuck Offenburger) a big piece of iconic Boston Cream Pie.

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A NOTE TO MY READERS: Hi everybody! Many of you know that I am now writing my Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger columns as a member of the “Iowa Writers Collaborative.” In July 2022, Julie Gammack, of Des Moines, founded this organization of independent Iowa journalists to make available more reporting and commentary about events and issues in this state, particularly because of the shrink of legacy media here. Our line-up of writers is below here, and I am proud to be associated with all of them. Please consider subscribing to their work, either for their modest subscription prices or for free — your choice. If you subscribe, their work will come to you via email and you won’t miss any of it. Thanks!

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby, Keep’n it Rural, Lake City

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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