Freedom Trail: Old City Hall, New Book Store & Old Corner Bookstore

King’s Chanel and Burying Ground lied along Tremont Street, so I backtracked towards School Street until the intersection of the street and Province Street where the Old City Hall sat:

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This building served as Boston’s City Hall for over a century starting from the mid 1800s, and has a French-styled facade.

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There’s a statue of Benjamin Franklin on the left hand side of the compound, with another statue of Josiah Quincy, the second mayor of Boston, on the other side.

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Continuing just a little down School Street was Starbucks, which had a lot of its stores around the city. Sorely tempted to go get a drink but I didn’t. The budget tourist.:)

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I thought the above institution’s name was fun: it sat along School Street! These days, to start a POSBank account I think you need a lot more money than that.:)

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At the intersection of School and Washington Streets sat the Old Corner Bookstore, which was first opened as a drug store in 1718 before turning into a book store in 1829. Many well-known authors of the day met here, though today the place is an exhibit for handmade furniture artifacts than any sort of actual book publishing business.

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This Chippendalde Side Chair cost a very cool USD2150.:)

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Along the intersection between School and Washington Street where the Old Corner Bookstore sat was a very new and modern Borders bookstore.:)

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Not very large with just two midsize floors occupied by the store, but nonetheless still lovely decorated and designed. There wasn’t much of a crowd at this time – late Saturday morning – and it was a welcomed chance browsing books without the usual rancor and noise from the similar store at Wheelock Place back at home. Picked up a couple of books here too.:)

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OK – in the next post, the walk of the Freedom Trail continues into Old South Meeting House and the Boston Massacre Site.