Boston is a city built for horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians. It is a city of cold nights and colder winters. It features “Birthplace of the American Revolution” souvenirs for outsiders, Boston sports paraphernalia for insiders, and university merchandise for all. Like any city, you can absorb, consume, interpret, reinterpret, and capitalize on Boston's brand. But unlike many cities, a series of coordinated historical markers guides tourists through a constructed narrative of the American Revolution. In total, sixteen markers comprise the Freedom Trail, including Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere's House, and the ship from the Boston Tea Party. One paradox of the Freedom Trail is that while it presents the earliest events of American history, including the people and places that enabled the creation of a country, the United States already had to be a country for these markers to take on meaning. This conflict between the historical process of making meaning...

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