The Freedom Trail: North End Graveyard & Shem Drowne

The North End Graveyard is an unmarked location in Fallout 4, across the street from Mean Pastries, west of Pickman's Gallery and east of Cabot House. Players may end up there during the Gilded Grasshopper quest, in which case they can dig up the grave of Shem Drowne for some loot. 

Shem Drowne was a real person, not just a video game story, and he really did make a gilded grasshopper weathervane (read more about that in my Faneuil Hall section). Though whether or not he's actually buried with a radioactive sword or with bars of copper, silver and gold, I have no idea. 

The real-life grave marker of Shem Drowne (right) and his wife Katherine, at Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston. 
Photo by Diane Blair via FindaGrave.com

Shem Drowne's grave and headstone in Fallout 4, after digging up his coffin during the Gilded Grasshopper quest. 
PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith

With the cemetery's location relative to the Old North Church and other landmarks in Fallout 4, and the existence of Drowne's grave there, North End Graveyard seems to be based on Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston. 

Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston
Photo by Rhododendrites via Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

North End graveyard as seen in Fallout 4, based on Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston 
PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith

In use for about two hundred years, from 1659 until the mid-1800s, Copp's Hill is the final resting place of more than 10,000 people, including: 

• Shem and Katherine Drowne
• Cotton Mather and his father Increase Mather, two Puritans who were associated with the Salem witch trials 
• Prince Hall, leader of the free black community of Boston in the 1700s 
• Robert Newman, the guy who put the lanterns in the Old North Church steeple for Paul Revere 
• Edmund Hartt, builder of the USS Constitution 

During the Revolutionary War, British troops used the hill to fire artillery onto Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill and possibly used the gravestones for target practice. 

Copp's Hill Burying Ground, with Skinny House across the street, and Old North Church in Boston, courtesy of Google maps

Across the street from Copp's Hill Burying Ground in modern-day Boston is an unusual building called Skinny House, while across the street from North End Graveyard in Fallout 4 is an unmarked bakery called Mean Pastries. 

I didn't think there was any connection between the two locations until I read that Skinny House is a "spite house" built to anger its neighbors. 

Maybe that's why the pastry shop in Fallout 4 is "mean" - because it's spiteful? 

The front of Mean Pastries bakery in Fallout 4, across the street from North End Graveyard, and with the green, white and red bunting seen throughout the North End area of the game. Inset map shows the location of the bakery (indicated by the arrow) as well as Pickman Gallery, the Old North Church and Railroad HQ. 
PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith, map from Fallout4map.com

While Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a stop on the Freedom Trail in Boston, in Fallout 4 the "Road to Freedom" quest ends at Old North Church.

However, there are still pieces of the red brick line that can be followed to North End Graveyard and Bunker Hill in the video game, without seals to mark them as official sites because they're not needed to decode the password for Railroad HQ. 

A red brick line can be seen by North End graveyard, but there's no seal to mark it as a stop on the Freedom Trail in Fallout 4 - PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith

• Read more about Freedom Trail locations in Fallout 4 and IRL

Check out my other articles and return for updates or follow me on YouTube, Twitter or Patreon for more information.

~ Jewelsmith (aka JLHilton)

Sources:

TheFreedomTrail.org

Boston.gov 

Wikipedia 

Ghosts & Gravestones of Boston 

Waterfront: Custom House Tower

The Custom House was built on the waterfront between 1837 and 1847. It contained offices for the collectors, inspectors, clerks and other officials who enforced laws, collected taxes and oversaw the import and export of goods in Boston Harbor. 

The Custom House Tower as seen in Fallout 4 (left) and IRL (right)
Screen capture by Jewelsmith, photo from Google maps street view

In both Boston and the video game Fallout 4, the Custom House Tower is not on the Freedom Trail but is close to the Old State House (Goodneighbor in the game), Fanueil Hall and Paul Revere's house. 

The Old State House can be seen when standing outside of the Custom House and looking up State Street. It's the little red brick building with a white steeple. 
Image from Google maps street view

Before further land reclamation in the mid-19th century, the Custom House sat right on the edge of the water, so that ships moored at Long Wharf almost touched the eastern face of the building. 

Now, nearly two centuries later, it is several blocks away from the waterfront.

A satellite view of the Custom House Tower and Long Wharf in Boston 
Courtesy of Google maps

In Fallout 4, the Custom House Tower (icon bottom left) is south of Columbus Park, Paul Revere's House, Railroad HQ and Old North Church, and west of Long Wharf (the arrow on the Pipboy map). Screen capture by Jewelsmith 

The building was designed by Ammi B. Young, who went on to become the first Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1852. In that capacity, he was responsible for the design of custom houses, post offices and other buildings across the nation, from Burlington, Vermont, to San Francisco, California.

The original Custom House building as designed by Ammi B. Young, before the architectural firm of Peabody & Stearns added a tower in 1913-1915. 
Public domain image from a 1905 post card

The thirty-two columns of the Custom House were carved from Quincy granite. Each column measured over five feet in diameter, stood thirty-two feet high, and weighed forty-two tons. 

(Yes, the Quincy Quarries in Fallout 4 are inspired by real life, too. Quincy granite was used throughout Boston, in such places as the Bunker Hill Monument, the Franklin obelisk in the Old Granary Burying Ground, and the base of the statue outside Faneuil Hall.) 

The exterior of the Custom House building as it appears in Fallout 4. 
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The exterior of the original Custom House building IRL. 
Image from Google street view

The tower was built in 1915 for additional office space. At that time, commercial buildings were limited to 125 feet tall, but the federal Custom House was exempt from those restrictions. 

So, at a height of 496 feet (151 meters), it became the tallest building in the city until the Prudential Tower in 1964. 

As part of the Custom House District, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. 

U.S. Customs officials moved out in 1986. The city of Boston bought the building but it was unoccupied and inaccessible for fourteen years. It currently operates as a Marriott hotel. 

In Fallout 4, the Custom House Tower is not accessible either, except for one small, bottom floor room, filled with Halloween decorations, bloody skeletons, super mutant gore and a couple of statues. 

This is the only room inside the Custom House in Fallout 4. It's filled with Halloween decorations, bloody skeletons and super mutant gore. 
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

I'll be writing more about Fallout 4 locations and their real-world inspirations in the months to come. Check back for updates or follow me on YouTube, Twitter and Patreon for more information.

~ Jewelsmith 

Addtional sources: 

Lost New England 

Custom House Tower (Wikipedia)

Unmarked location: Long Wharf

In Fallout 4, players can visit a row of ruined shops east of the Custom House Tower, not far from Christopher Columbus Park and the Paul Revere House. At the end of the pier they'll find a super mutant camp and a warehouse. 

An arrow indicates the unmarked location of the Long Wharf, east of the Custom House Tower according to the Pipboy in Fallout 4. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The location is based on the Long Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts, which also has a warehouse and an eight-pointed compass rose in the pavement. 

The Long Wharf east of the Custom House and Christopher Columbus Park IRL.
Satellite image from Google maps

Constructed between 1710 and 1721, the wharf once stretched a half-mile into Boston Harbor, in order to accommodate the many ships bringing cargo to the city. 

Today, the shortened wharf is a dock for passenger ferries and sightseeing boats, and a home to shops, restaurants and a hotel. 

An unmarked location in Fallout 4 that resembles the IRL Long Wharf.
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The Long Wharf in Boston, with brick warehouse and compass rose pavement.
Image from Google maps

Detail of the eight-poitned "compass rose" as seen in Fallout 4.   
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

Fallout 4 players can find some junk items and a special ice cold variety of Gwinnett beer on the tables here. 

The larger building, labeled simply "warehouse" in the game, consists of one large room with a single super mutant enemy, meat bags and a few containers to loot. 

Interior of the warehouse at the end of the wharf in Fallout 4. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

Interior of the warehouse at the end of the wharf in Fallout 4, when looking at the entrance. Note that the window size, shape and arrangement looks different on the inside than it does on the outside. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

This warehouse appears to be based on the Gardiner building, built in 1763 and rebuilt in 1812. 

Portrait of John Hancock
by John Singleton Copley 
(public domain)

For a time, John Hancock used the building as a counting house. That's the IRL Hancock btw, not the ghoul mayor of Goodneighbor. 

Long Wharf was once filled with this kind of building, but the Gardiner building is now the only one left. It is currently a seafood restaurant. 

The famous portrait painter John Singleton Copley, born in 1738, spent his childhood on the wharf, where his mother had a tobacco shop. 

Copley grew up to paint portraits of Paul Revere, John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and many other notable people of his time. 

Boston's IRL Copley station bears his name and appears in Fallout 4 as a possible means for players to enter the Boston Public Library. 

I'll be writing more about Fallout 4 locations and their real-world inspirations, in the months to come. Check back for updates or follow me on YouTube, Twitter and Patreon for more information.

~ Jewelsmith (aka JLHilton)

The Freedom Trail: Old North Church

The Old North Church in Boston's North End neighborhood is the 13th marker on the Freedom Trail, followed by Copp's Hill Burying Ground, the USS Constitution and the Bunker Hill Monument. 

In Fallout 4, the red line of the "Road to Freedom" ends at the Old North Church - gateway to Railroad HQ. Players who get past a few ghouls, enter the catacombs, solve a code and open a secret door will meet Desdemona, Glory, Drummer Boy and Deacon here. 

The Old North Church and Paul Revere equestrian statue (left) as they appear in the video game Fallout 4, and a photo of the IRL statue (right) for comparison.
Screen capture by Jewelsmith, photo from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0

Built in 1721-1723 (sources vary), the real Old North Church is a national historic landmark and the oldest standing church in Boston. An active Episcopal congregation of about 150 parishoners still hold services there every Sunday. 

Its steeple was the location of the famous "One if by land, two if by sea" signal to Paul Revere in April 1775, which sent him on his midnight ride ahead of the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the start of the American Revolution. 

The steeple of the Old North Church, as seen in the video game Fallout 4 (left) and as it appears in real-life Boston, Massachusetts (right). 
Screen capture by Jewelsmith, photo courtesy of the National Park Service 

In honor of Paul Revere's historic ride, two lanterns may be found in the steeple of the Old North Church in Fallout 4. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

Two lanterns illuminate the Old North Church steeple at night, as seen from across the rooftops in Fallout 4 - PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith

The original steeple of the Old North Church was destroyed by a hurricane in 1804 and a replacement steeple, designed by Charles Bulfinch (see the Faneuil Hall article for more about him), was toppled by another hurricane in 1954. The current steeple is based on both the original and Bulfinch versions. 

This video shows the Old North Church and tells the story of a modern bell ringer. (Click here to watch on YouTube)

A statue by sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, commemorating Paul Revere's ride, stands in the Paul Revere Mall near the Old North Church. This can be seen in the game, too, though the mall is much smaller in Fallout 4. 

The Old North Church IRL (left) and in Fallout 4 (right) 
Photograph courtesy of NewEngland.com and PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith

Inside the IRL church, there is a bust of George Washington, completed by artist Christian Gullager during Washington's lifetime, which Layfayette said was the best likeness of the first president he had ever seen.

• Click here for a photo of the bust from the book Boston Bronze and Stone Speak to Us by Joseph R. Gallo Jr

The Old North Church interior, Boston. Photo by Victorgrigas CC BY-SA 3.0

The post-apocalyptic Old North Church interior, as it appears in Fallout 4, with ruined chandeliers, pipe organ, pews and galleries. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

A wider view of the Old North Church interior, showing nave, organ, chandeliers, galleries, ruined pews (center) and fallen pulpit (right) in Fallout 4. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The other end of the Old North Church interior IRL, showing the altar and pulpit.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

The other end of the Old North Church in Fallout 4, with ruined pulpit and Railroad marker.
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The crypts beneath the church, where the Railroad operates in Fallout 4, also exist in the real world and can be toured for $5 per person. 

• See the crypts in a WCVB-TV news segment "Old North Church ghost story" from October 29, 2021

Inside the red brick crypts below Old North Church in Boston.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

On the way to Railroad HQ beneath the Old North Church in Fallout 4. 
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The red brick crypts as seen in Fallout 4 beneath the Old North Church, on the way to Railroad HQ. Digitally enchanced screen capture by Jewelsmith (original was green and murky)

The red brick crypts beneath the Old North Church as seen in real life.
Image from WCVB-TV "Boston Underground"

Between 1732 and 1860, there were an estimated 1,100 bodies buried in thirty-seven tombs, including those of British Marine Major John Pitcairn, who died from injuries received at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and Captain Samuel Nicholson of the USS Constitution. 

The developers of Fallout 4 even copied the actual crypt doors, such as this one seen in a photograph (left) and in the game (right), reading "Shubael Bell and Robert Fennelly 1808." 
Photo courtesy of TheFreedomTrail.org, screen capture by Jewelsmith

The “Stranger’s Tomb” from 1813 was used to bury poorer citizens, including children, who had died from disease.

Stranger's Tomb beneath the Old North Church.
Photo by Aimee Seavey, courtesy of New England Today Travel

Stranger's Tomb as it appears in Fallout 4 (digintally enhanced for clarity, as the lighting, color and textures in the game make it difficult to see). The stone plaque is a different color but the writing is the same style, reading "No 14 Stranger's Tomb 1813" just like the one in the real world. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

In the area just north of the Old North Church, Fallout 4 players will find pizza signs and green, white and red bunting, the colors of the flag of Italy. This represents Boston's North End neighborhood and its large Italian population. 

• Read more about the North End on this website (link coming soon)

A street near the Old North Church with pizza sign and green, white and red bunting, as seen in Fallout 4. 
Screen capture by Jewelsmith

• Read more about Freedom Trail locations on this website

I'll be writing more about Fallout 4 locations, and researching their real-world inspirations, in the months to come. Check back for updates or follow me on YouTube, Twitter or Patreon for more information.

~ Jewelsmith (aka JLHilton)

Additional information: 

OldNorth.com 

Wikipedia 

Paul Revere House 

New England Today Travel 

WCVB-TV "Boston Underground" (video) 

North End History 

The Freedom Trail: Paul Revere House

The Paul Revere house is the 12th site along the Freedom Trail in Boston. In Fallout 4, the Paul Revere house is the 7th and penultimate stop before the red line of the "Road to Freedom" ends nearby at the Old North Church, the gateway to Railroad HQ. 

A partially destroyed Paul Revere house in Fallout 4. Note the similarities with the IRL location, including the appearance of the adjacent buildings. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The actual Paul Revere house in Boston. Photo courtesy of Paul Revere House

Paul Revere was born in Boston in 1734 (some sources say 1735). When he was 15 years old, he earned five pennies a month ringing the bells of the Old North Church. 

He learned the art of gold and silver smithing from his father, and took over the family business at the age of 19, after his father died. He made tea sets, spoons, buttons, buckles and other items. He also provided engraving and repair services, business cards, and even dentistry on the side.  

A portrait of Paul Revere painted by John Singleton Copley. Copley was born in 1738 and grew up on Boston's Long Wharf, not far from the Revere house. The painting is dated to 1768 and remained in the Revere family until gifted to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 

A plaque beside the door of his house in Fallout 4 tells more of the real-life history of the location:

Built in 1680, this wooden building is the oldest structure in all of Boston. In 1770 this home was bought be famed patriot Paul Revere. 

Paul Revere dwelled here with his family (including his 16 children) until 1800. 

Paul Revere was living here when he made his famous midnight ride to Lexington and Concord to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that Redcoats were en route to arrest them and seize the militia weaponry. 

After the British evacuation of Boston, he served as a lieutenant colonel and commander of artillery at Castle Island - inspiration for the Castle in Fallout 4. 

The unmarked location of the Paul Revere House near the Old North Church and Railroad HQ, according to the Pipboy map in Fallout 4. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

Google map showing the location of the Paul Revere House in relation to the Old North Church, Copps Hill Burying Ground, Haymarket and Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park in Boston, Massachusetts

After Revere sold his house in 1800, it became a sailor's boarding house, then an immigrant tenement with shops on the ground floor. Over the years there was a candy store, cigar factory, bank and fruit business at the location. 

His great-grandson, John P. Reynolds Jr, bought the building in 1902 to keep it from being demolished. The Paul Revere Memorial Association was formed to preserve and renovate the building, which has operated as a museum since 1908. 

Another angle of the Paul Revere House in Fallout 4. The Freedom Trail seal and red line can be seen on the sidewalk just below the steps. Screen capture by Jewelsmith

The real Paul Revere House at a similar angle for comparison. Even the red brick buildings, behind to the left, look similar in Fallout 4. Photo courtesy of Roadtrippers.com

Today, the Paul Revere House stands at 19 North Square and is a national historic landmark, about a five-minute walk from the Old North Church in Boston's North End neighborhood. 

Paul Revere equestrian statue
by Cyrus E. Dallin
Photo from Wikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0

A statue by sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, commemorating Paul Revere's role in U.S. history, stands in the Paul Revere Mall near the Old North Church. 

If you follow the route of Paul Revere's historic ride, you will end up at Minute Man National Historic Park, the real-life location of the Minuteman statue and bridge seen outside of Sanctuary Hills in the video game. 

• Read more about Freedom Trail locations on the FalloutIRL website

I'll be writing more about Fallout 4 locations, and researching their real-world inspirations, in the months to come. Check back for updates or follow me on YouTube, Twitter or Patreon for more information.

~ Jewelsmith (aka JLHilton)

Further reading: 

North End History