Boston “Glory Stones” Tour

This is sample tour schedule of trips that DCEA leads

DAY ONE – Travel to Boston

Those flying into Boston will fly into Logan International Airport. It will take some time for everyone to arrive and pick up their luggage and load the bus or vans. We will be highly flexible today knowing that what is not accomplished today can easily be accomplished tomorrow. No problem, Mate! Those coming by automobile or van will enjoy a breakfast at your hotel and be ready to go by 8 AM. We will travel up I-81 through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, across New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The next two nights we will stay in the vicinity of Plymouth Massachusetts in either the Holiday Inn Express at Raynham or the Hampton Inn in Plymouth. There will be ample restaurants in the vicinity. Lobster Hut, Isaac’s on the Waterfront, Hearth ‘N Kettle Restaurant, are available but Mamma Mia’s works best for lunch. The Roobar is suggested for early bird specials or dinner and Water Street Café if breakfast or lunch is your desire. I would suggest ice cream at Friendly’s close to Raynham.

DAY TWO-Plymouth, Mayflower 2, and Plimouth Plantation

Today we will travel to Plymouth and view the area the first Pilgrims trod. We will view Plymouth Rock and the excellent replica of the Pilgrim ship, Mayflower 2. This is a most emotional morning realizing what our forefathers and mothers endured making this distant voyage from Holland and England.

Mayflower 2 – Probably the greatest eye opening exhibit on this tour. One can hardly grasp the danger and the dankness of having 102 people aboard this craft for 66 days through all kinds of weather and rough seas. Household belongings and animals were also aboard. People were not allowed on deck as the rolling seas made it too dangerous. Can you imagine the despair that could have been there? The Pilgrims rise several notches in my book! Today don’t forget the great little shops and ice cream parlor across the street there in Plymouth. Restaurants are noted in DAY ONE.

Plymouth Rock – Just a few steps south of the Mayflower 2 Exhibit. Supposedly where the Pilgrims first step forth on shore in Plymouth.

Remember in the Pilgrims day all this area was inhabited with Indians, the true native Americans. There is a short travel to Plimouth Plantation for the day and to our hotel for our first night in Metropolitan Boston. A reasonable hotel in Boston is a Hyatt Place located in the suburb of Medford just north of downtown Boston. There is ample parking for automobiles and several eating establishments within walking distance. The hotel also has free shuttle service to and from the nearest Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, known as the T) subway station. A good restaurant tonight would be Salvatori’s but may be a little expensive. Ask to have dinner in the old bank vault (note the history).

DAY THREE-Boston Freedom Trail

Getting as early a start as possible we travel to Boston Commons by way of the Boston T and purchase the Freedom Trail Audio History Package for under $20 per person (You may be able to download this on your phone now). This allows everyone to walk and hear at their own pace (although not leaving sight of our group, PLEASE!), and to also have a remembrance tool when back home of the sites and history of the area. The Freedom Trail is a must see in downtown Boston. Faneuil Hall is a good halfway point on the Trail and has a few eateries in the area. We found a good cheeseburger and fries in a pub (air-conditioned) around the corner to the right, at the end of the outdoor shopping mall (Sissy K’s). There are also Cheers (where everybody knows your name), Sam La Grosso’s, and Downtown Crossing, 21 to get decent food.

Sites along the way include:

  • DL Moody’s Place of Salvation on Court Street (a little off the trail)
  • Boston Common-America’s oldest public park-Site of the Boston Massacre
  • Beacon Hill-State Capital
  • Granary Burying Ground-Final resting place of Revolutionary War heroes and victims of Boston Massacre and John Winthrop
  • King’s Chapel-Anglican Church where Billy Graham preached
  • Old South Meeting House-Political gathering place prior to American Revolution
  • Old State House-Colonial government center and site of first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, July 18, 1776
  • Faneuil Hall-The Cradle of Liberty
  • Paul Revere House-Revere owned house from 1770 to 1800
  • Old North Church-Famous for the two lanterns telling of the British taking the water route to Lexington and Concord; Oldest church in Boston and still active Episcopal church-inside is brief history of church’s role
  • Cops Hill Burying Ground-Puritan Pastors Increase and Cotton Mather’s graves and several other Puritan leaders
  • USS Constitution – “Old Ironsides”-Oldest commissioned warship afloat, actually fought in War of 1812, was used in the battle for New Orleans
  • Bunker Hill Monument and Museum-site of one of the first battles of the Revolutionary War

If all this is too much walking for some, then I would suggest a riding tour on a bus that is one block south of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. I suggest you ride the whole route, otherwise you may not be able to get a seat on a connecting bus. Thus you could have to walk even further than you would have on the Freedom Trail. These buses show you many more points of interest in downtown Boston and the drivers have a certain amount of local color to share with you.

For dinner I would suggest eating close to our hotel or Harborside Grill, Cortina Italiana, or Haymarket 41 downtown.

DAY FOUR-Lexington, Concord, Providence, RI

We travel to Lexington to see a National Park Service film depicting the battle that started the Revolutionary War (250 North Great Rd),Exit 30B off I-95). We spent the night in Boston again but move to a new hotel tomorrow. For lunch today we could eat at Artistry on the Green, the restaurant at the Inn at Hastings Park in Lexington, and for dinner at Margarita’s Mexican restaurant in Revere. Understand there are fast food restaurants and nationally known restaurants in most locales.

We should see Lexington Commons, Lexington Road, visit the site where Concord’s shot heard ‘round the World was fired (174 Liberty St., Concord 01742).

After lunch we leave Boston and travel south to Providence Rhode Island and view a movie and visit with Park Rangers at the Roger Williams National Park in downtown Providence. Roger Williams had much to do with some of the freedoms that we enjoy as Christians in America. We will see the First Baptist Church in Providence, the oldest Baptist church in America. (There is a Cracker Barrel restaurant with Southern Iced Tea in PROVIDENCE, as it truly is for some). Should time permit there are many large mansions in Newport that are worthy to be seen. Ice cream shops/stops might also be arranged.

DAY FIVE-SUNDAY-Newberryport, Gloucester and Wayside Inn

Travel to Newberryport, Massachusetts for morning service at the Old South First Presbyterian Church to hear a sermon and to view the burial place of Evangelist George Whitefield in a crypt under the pulpit of this church. After the morning service there is a historical discourse given.

George Whitefield was the great evangelist of the First Great Awakening of America. America had fallen to a state of spiritual lethargy where it was not safe for any woman to be on the street of any city after dark. Whitefield emphasized the Biblical standard Jesus commanded in John chapter 3 of being “born-again”. Thousands of people were converted under his ministry travels to America. It is said Whitefield had more to do with the bringing of the American colonies together before the Revolutionary War than any other factor. He went up and down the colonies by horseback preaching in the open air to crowds of 15,000 to 20,000 people at a time. Whitefield was a great friend of Benjamin Franklin who published many of his sermons. Franklin estimated his booming voice could be heard plainly by 30,000 people in the out of doors!

George Whitefield was the most popular and most influential preacher of his age. At a time when London’s population was less than 700,000, Whitefield could hold spellbound 20,000 people at a time at Moorfields and Kennington Common. He preached over 18,000 sermons, speaking 40 to 60 hours every week over a 34 year period. (GW Journals A Dallimore)

Sunday lunch will be at Gloucester House at 63 Roger St. in Gloucester, Massachusetts. (Sit inside by windows or outside overlooking ocean) Dinner tonight could be in Salem or close to our hotel (Longfellow’s Wayside Inn) or Hampton Inn Chelmsford or stay in same hotel another night (Check on summer or fall package at Wayside Inn, our dinner was virtually free). The Wayside Inn is supported by the Henry Ford Foundation.

DAY SIX-Tolland, Enfield, CT and Northampton, Northfield, MA

If we are staying at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn we will have a most hearty breakfast and then travel west and south to Tolland, Connecticut and view the area where the Shubal Stearns family lived (good B&B is Tolland in if needed). Some of the Stearns family still reside in this area and there is a museum across from the Congregational church. Shubal Stearns was “born again” here (only a pillar remains of the old Meeting House across from the Tolland in) under the preaching of George Whitfield. Stearns is noting for bringing the Baptist faith south into North Carolina with his brother-in-law Daniel Marshall. Their work is the forerunner of the Southern Baptist Convention.

From Tolland we head north on I-91. Enfield, Connecticut where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon is a few miles north. There is a small stone marker on the side of the road denoting the actual place of the meeting. We will then travel north to Northampton and visit the town of the beginnings of the First Great Awakening where Jonathan Edwards preached. We will visit the old cemetery here and visit David Brainerd’s, David’s girlfriend Jerusha Edwards’, and the Stoddard family’s graves. These people were instrumental in the forming of Christianity in America.

Driving north to Northfield we will see the birthplace home and burial place of the great American Evangelist DL Moody. Mr. Moody rested from his travels here and used the time to read completely through his Bible each summer. We will also see the Mount Herman School he founded. There is much on YouTube to watch concerning DL Moody, even to him reading from God’s Word!

From Northfield we travel west across the northern part of Massachusetts to spend the night in either the Holiday Inn at North Adams Massachusetts or the Hampton Inn just across the state line into Vermont. (The Holiday Inn has a good restaurant for dinner and breakfast; several restaurants are close to the Hampton Inn).

DAY SEVEN-Williamstown and Stockbridge

This morning we will view and have prayer at the side of the haystack prayer meeting Monument on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown. These prayer meetings were the impetus for our modern-day missions movement. This monument is on the backside of Williams College and has almost been forgotten. We then head south through some beautiful country to the town of Stockbridge. Here we view the Stockbridge mission to the early Indians by the Rev. John Sgt. and later by Jonathan Edwards. The Norman Rockwell Museum and Naumkeag, the summer estate of ambassador to Britain Joseph Choate are worthy of viewing if time will permit. Lunch today should be at the red lion in in Stockbridge. Call 413-298-5545 for reservations. We will return to the Boston area and spend the night in Boston close to the airport at Logan field at the Hilton Garden Inn. Dinner could be at the Cracker Barrel Holyoke at I-91 exit 15 and I-495.

DAY EIGHT-Traveling Home

Get me to the airplane on time! Those flying in and out of Logan International Airport will leave this morning or when flights are scheduled. There is a free shuttle from hotel. Hope you enjoyed the time spent together learning about our Christian birthright!

Note: Groups can request a guided tour or they can go on their own.