A passionate advocate for liberty, Adams rallied resistance to British rule, organized protests like the Boston Tea Party, and championed colonial rights. He later signed the Declaration of Independence and served as Massachusetts’ governor.
William Alexander, known as “Lord Stirling,” was a wealthy New Yorker who claimed a Scottish title and became a key Continental Army officer during the Revolutionary War, earning distinction at the Battle of Long Island and later serving in major campaigns like Princeton and Brandywine. Despite his aristocratic airs, he proved a loyal patriot and capable commander, ultimately dying of gout in 1783 just before the war’s end.
Enlsaved in the midst of the American Revolution, James Armistead was recruited by Patriot forces to spy on Cornwallis and the British War Department during the Siege of Yorktown.
Regarded as the first martyr of the American Revolution, Crispus Attucks was the first to fall in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Of African and Native American descent, he became a powerful symbol of the fight for liberty, later embraced by abolitionists as a hero of both American independence and the struggle for equality.
Uncovering History
We invite you to visit the preserved locations along the Liberty Trail and to immerse
yourself in the extraordinary events that determined the fate of a nation.
Marion Square, named in honor of Francis Marion, is greenspace in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and features remnants of The Hornwork, a large fortification built in 1758 that played a major role in the fight for independence.
The Francis Marion is a forest literally steeped in history. Marion, dubbed the “Swamp Fox” by the British troops whose supply lines he disrupted with surprise attacks from the swamps.
Once a sprawling manor complex in the New Jersey countryside belonging to Major General William Alexander, all that remains are two extant structures and the cellar of the original home.
Loyalists ambush a contingent of Patriot militia at a tavern in December of 1780, leading to a massacre
Nestled outside the traditional bounds of the South Carolina colony is the Presbyterian church where Andrew Pickens committed his time as an elder following the Revolution. In the adjacent cemetery lie the graves of several American soldiers who had fought by Pickens' side during the war.
The only surviving building associated with the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, America's first military academy, it served as the headquarters of Henry Knox during the Middlebrook encampment of 1778-1779.
Not far from Camden Battlefield, Goodale State Park is lined with cypress trees, a spring-fed lake that offers boating, fishing, and hiking opportunities.
The mansion once housed George Washington, who utilized it as his headquarters in the freezing winter of 1779.
Eighteenth-century Moncks Corner was a crossroads settlement of stores and taverns at the intersection of the Cherokee Path (the Indian traders’ path) and the road from Charleston to Santee. A powder magazine was established in 1760 and the village was occupied as a store depot by the British during the Revolutionary War.
One of the last Virginia land battles of the Revolution prior to Yorktown, Green Spring saw Anthony Wayne and the Marquis de Lafayette successfully lead their troops to victory against an ambush laid by Charles Cornwallis.
Constructed in the early 1740s, this home acted as the headquarters of Baron Von Steuben during the Continental Army's cantonment in 1779. Today, it stands as one of the few remaining Dutch structures in central New Jersey.
Built in the 1740s, this building acted as a ferry house for those wishing to cross the Delaware, including the likes of George Washington and his men on Christmas night of 1776.