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Circular tours have long been popular in England. There was a time—as there will be a time again—when American visitors felt that to make the rounds of the cathedral towns or the historic castles or the homes and haunts of great men and women, was a necessary part of seeing the tight little island.

"What a pity it is that we in America have no such wealth of historic places," one returning tourist was heard to remark. "Oh, of course, there are a few spots like Independence Hall and Concord and Lexington," he went on, "but there are not enough of them to make it worth while to plan a tour such as those in which we have taken delight in England."

It was easy to point out to the traveler his mistake; most Americans know that the country is rich in places of historic interest. Just how rich it is they may not realize until they make a serious study of the landmarks of their own land, as does the European tourist of the centers noted in his guidebook.

In fact, there are in America so many houses, churches, and other buildings having a vital connection with our history that volumes would be required to tell of them all. Even a brief record of the buildings whose owners or occupants played a conspicuous part in the early history of the country would fill a large book.

It is fascinating to learn of these houses and public buildings and to delve into the biographies which tell what happened to the people who lived in them. Fiction seems tame after connecting, for instance, the story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler with the Ford Mansion and the Campfield House at Morristown, New Jersey, then with the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York, and The Grange in New York City. The heart of the patriot burns with new love for his country as he reads of Faneuil Hall and the Old South Church and Carpenters' Hall. The story of the Revolution is clothed with living interest when Washington and his generals are followed to Valley Forge and Newburgh and Cambridge and Morristown and Princeton. Fresh appreciation of the sacrifice of the pioneers comes from going with them into the garrison houses of New England, along the Wilderness Road in Kentucky, to the settlements on the Ohio, or to the banks of the Wabash where more than one Indian treaty was made.

Next comes the keen pleasure of visiting the houses and churches which, through the piecing together of these facts, have become like familiar friends. The vacation journey that includes a careful study of a few of these buildings becomes a fascinating course in patriotism.

It is the purpose of the author of "Historic Shrines of America" to tell just enough about each of one hundred and twenty of these buildings of historic interest to create a hunger for more; to present pictures sufficiently attractive to make those who turn the pages of the book determine to visit the places described; to arrange the brief chapters in such sequence that it will be possible for the reader to plan for successive vacations a series of journeys through the centers where historic buildings may be found, and, in doing this, to pass by so many structures of interest that the reader and the tourist will have abundant opportunity to discover houses and churches of which he will say, "I wonder why this was not included."

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS

ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS

THE OLD STATE HOUSE, BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS

FROM WHOSE BALCONY THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE WAS PROCLAIMED

Thirty-three years after Captain John Smith sailed into Boston Harbor, the first Town House was built. This was in 1657. The second Town House, which was built on the same site, was erected in 1712. In 1748 the third Town House, later the Old State House, followed the structure of 1712, the outer walls of the old building being used in the new.

Since 1689, when Governor Andros' tyranny was overthrown, the old building has been in the thick of historic events. How it figured in the Boston Massacre was shown by John Tudor in his diary. He wrote:

"March, 1770. On Monday evening the 5th current, a few Minutes after 9 o'clock a most horrid murder was committed in King Street before the custom house Door by 8 or 9 Soldiers under the Command of Capt. Thos Preston of the Main Guard on the South side of the Town House. This unhappy affair began by Some Boys & young fellows throwing Snow Balls at the sentry placed at the Custom house Door. On which 8 or 9 Soldiers Came to his Assistance. Soon after a Number of people collected, when the Capt commanded the Soldiers to fire, which they did and 3 Men were Kil'd on the Spot & several Mortaly Wounded, one of which died next Morning.... Leut Governor Hutchinson, who was Commander in Chiefe, was sent for & Came to the Council Chamber, where some of the Magustrates attended. The Governor desired the Multitude about 10 O'Clock to sepperat & to go home peaceable & he would do all in his power that Justice should be done &c. The 29 Regiment being then under Arms on the south side of the Townhouse, but the people insisted that the Soldiers should be ordered to their Barracks first before they would sepperat. Which being done the people sepperated aboute 1 O'Clock."

Next day the people met in Faneuil Hall, and demanded the immediate removal of the troops. The demand being refused, they met again at Faneuil Hall, but adjourned to Old South Church, since the larger hall was required to accommodate the aroused citizens. A new committee, headed by Samuel Adams, sought Hutchinson in the Council Chamber of the Town House, and secured his permission to remove the troops without delay.

The next event of note in the history of the old building was the public reading there of the Declaration of Independence on July 18, 1776, in accordance with the message of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, who asked that it be proclaimed "in such a mode that the people may be impressed by it."

Abigail Adams told in a letter to her husband, John Adams, of the reading:

"I went with the multitude to King street to hear the Declaration Proclamation for Independence read and proclaimed.... Great attention was given to every word.... Thus ends royal Authority in the state."

A British prisoner on parole, who was an invited guest at the reading of the Declaration, wrote a detailed narrative of the events of the day, in the Town Hall, in which he said:

"Exactly as the clock struck one, Colonel Crafts, who occupied the chair, rose and, silence being obtained, read aloud the declaration, which announced to the world that the tie of allegiance and protection, which had so long held Britain and her North American colonies together, was forever separated. This being finished, the gentlemen stood up, and each, repeating the words as they were spoken by an officer, swore to uphold, at the sacrifice of life, the rights of his country. Meanwhile the town clerk read from the balcony the Declaration of Independence to the crowd; at the close of which, a Shout began in the hall, passed like an electric spark to the streets, which rang with loud huzzas, the slow and measured boom of Cannon, and the rattle of musketry."

Thirteen years later, when Washington visited Boston, he passed through a triumphal arch to the State House. In his diary he told of what followed his entrance to the historic building:

"Three cheers was given by a vast concourse of people, Who, by this time, had assembled at the Arch—then followed an ode composed in honor of the President; and well sung by a band of select singers—After this three cheers—followed by the different Professions and Mechanics in the order they were drawn up, with their colors, through a lane of the people which had thronged about the arch under which they passed."

The ode sung that day was as follows: