September 02, 2022, Boston, Massachusetts, Charlestown Navy Yard and USS Constitution

- October 24, 2022

Charlestown Navy Yard and USS Constitution

JTH Steps 11,339

Friday 09-02-22 Boston to Charlestown Navy Yard & USS Constitution

We slept in this morning and needed it. Barry was able to check me in for our flight to Halifax tomorrow but was not able to check himself in. The airline system would not accept his Resident Alien Card number. It kept saying he was missing a number. He’s had issues before because his number is so old. He called the airline, and they tried but no luck. Hopefully he can get checked in tomorrow at the airport. I ordered room service for us while he was on the phone.

Barry enjoying the view

Museum view as we walked from the ferry

We took the Charlestown Ferry to the Charlestown Navy Yard to see the USS Constitution Museum and the USS Constitution Naval ship. How many Charlestowns is that? This ferry cost us each under $4.00 for a roundtrip. YEA!!! The trip was only about ten minutes. The weather today was cooler but still very nice. The humidity was down so that was good.

The dock we arrived on had a bar, of course, and was hopping. It was around 1:00 PM so everyone was eating lunch. They had great music playing. We followed the signs to the museum. Great museum. Quite a few of the displays were interactive and for kids. The history provided was informative and we learned a lot. At the top of the second level was a young man with a display of the actual foods the sailors would have been served on board. He walked us through his table of food items. It was very interesting. Most interesting thing about the upper level and he did a great job. I bought an ornament to take home.

Over to the visitor center across the lot. I found where to get my National Park stamps took a gander around the store but nothing of interest. Outside was the dry dock area and very interesting. Photos below but they do not do the area justice. It was huge!

Dry Dock Area

We walked over to the gangplank and entered the USS Constitution. Such a huge ship and to be standing by a ship so full of history was an honor. We took photos of the outside of the ship and walked up the gang plank to the top deck. Below are photos. It may seem like a lot of photos but I had a hard choosing which ones to include.

All I have to say is OH MY GOSH! Standing on the deck of “Old Ironsides!” The ship is beautiful and larger than I thought. I spoke to one of the sailors and he said that only 15% of the ship is original, the hull and keel. Makes sense since the ship is 225 years old and has gone through a few refurbishments. The number of ropes for all the sails look like a huge spider web. She has 40+ sails. The main center sail is off the ship for repair, and you can see it in the yard next to the ship. It’s huge. The main sail is half the size of a basketball court.

The second deck held the cannon. One of the sailors talked us through how a cannon is prepared to be fired, fifteen to sixteen sailors it would take to fire a cannon. Great presentation. He also mentioned that each of the cannon are named. When Queen Elizabeth came one time, she brought the original plans for the ship. The plans had all the cannon names, so the navy decided to name each cannon per the plans in honor or the Queen gift. The second deck also held the Captain’s Cabin, and we could walk through it. In addition, the stove used to cook meals was on the second deck.

The third deck was the officer’s quarters and the area the crew slept in. Amazing it held so many sailors. The woodwork in the officer’s area was beautiful. We were able to walk through this area and I was surprised how large it is. We continued to walk around the third deck and just enjoy being there. You could feel the history all around you. What an honor. We disembarked the ship and walked over to see the middle sail that is being worked on. It’s a lot larger when standing next to it. One of the sailors said they have two events next month so the sail will be repaired in time. He also said they do about seven events a year. I still couldn’t get over being on this ship. Such a highlight of our trip.

We decided to head over the Warren Tavern. It’s billed as the oldest tavern in Massachusetts (est. 1780) and was visited by many of our founding fathers. George Washington’s funeral speech was here. Paul Revere considered it his favorite watering hole. Barry had a few beers and I decided on wine tonight. Great meal. Great tavern and you have the feeling again of history being made here. I wonder what conversations our founding fathers had here?

We headed back to the navy yard to catch our ferry back to Boston. We have to pack and get to bed at a decent time since we need to be at the airport by 6:00 am tomorrow. What a day full of history. We could stay another week and visit all the things we couldn’t fit in this trip. Goodbye Boston and thank you for such a wonderful time.

I hope you enjoy the photos and come to appreciate what a national

treasure this ship truly is.