ninety five
At 6 and 4, our girls, thankfully, know very little about war. What little they know has come from history books and historical fiction. Because of this, I was a bit hesitant about our site seeing trip today to the Bunker Hill Monument and Old Ironsides (and the Charlestown Navy Yard). I wondered about the questions they would ask about the battle. Would there be concerning museum exhibits that would lead to new (and maybe uncomfortable) discussions about war and death? Would they be totally bored and get nothing from it?
They have both been asking for months to climb the Bunker Hill Monument. We can see it on our approach to Boston whenever we drive into the city and it has intrigued them for some time now. I had used the winter weather as an excuse to put off a visit, but today seemed like the right time to head into Charlestown.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that we all had a great time. We wandered our way up to the monument and got our NPS Passport stamps. Catherine found a Magic Treehouse book in the gift shop that she has read and immediately made some connections (Revolutionary War on Wednesday). The three of us steadily climbed all 294 steps to the top of the monument and took in the views. Even Esme was able to point out and name several Boston landmarks and sites that she saw out the window.
After a picnic lunch at the foot of the monument we followed the Freedom Trail down to the water to visit Old Ironsides. The Visitor Center’s movie introduced the practices of dry dock ship repair and mechanized rope making to the girls and they were able to draw on that info during our walk outside. We saw a modern warship in dry dock, boarded the USS Constitution and had a tour of her three main decks.
We walked back to the subway station singing “The Ants Go Marching” in a weak attempt to forget about our sore feet and aching legs.
I don’t know why I was so worried about the ‘war’ topic!
Living in Massachusetts, the Revolutionary War will surely make more frequent appearances in our adventures. I know it will come up in conversation again and when it does we now have a small, but concrete, foundation to bolster our discussions. We’ve seen a model battlefield with tiny Redcoats and Rebels. We’ve learned that Old Ironsides is undefeated in her 33 battles and a handfull of military terms are now part of our lexicon.
Even though we didn’t reenact the Battle of Bunker Hill or delve into it’s ramifications for the British and American forces, we definitely had a brush with history today. We are fortunate in that we can return time and time again and each visit will bring new insight, at varying levels of understanding. I am so glad that despite the military history focus at these sites, we can (and will) continue to learn so much more from our experiences that will stay with us for far longer than our visits.
[You can see photos from the rest of our day here!]