Bunker Hill Monument Audio Guide

Bunker Hill Monument: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Bunker Hill Monument

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to the Bunker Hill Monument highlights Welcome to Bunker Hill Monument and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Welcome to Bunker Hill Monument, in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Look up, because you can't miss it. A granite obelisk rises 221 feet from the center of Monument Square Park, and it has been the landmark of this neighborhood for generations. This is a war memorial. It commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill, a major battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on this ground on June 17, 1775. Today the monument is one of eight sites in Boston National Historical Park, which was designated in 1974. The National Park Service looks after it, and the monument sits inside the Monument Square Historic District, designated in 1987 partly for its architectural character. Over the next few stops, we will look at the hill and the battle, the architect who wrestled this tower out of stone, and the lodge, statues and park that surround it. One thing to keep in mind as you walk: the monument stands on a hill with a different name from the one on its title.

2. 02

   A Battle with the Wrong Name

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to the Bunker Hill Monument highlights A Battle with the Wrong Name and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Here is a puzzle that has confused visitors for a very long time. The battle is called Bunker Hill, but the monument does not stand on Bunker Hill. It stands on Breed's Hill, because most of the fighting on June 17, 1775 took place here. The name stuck anyway, and it is now carved into American memory. The obelisk marks the site of what is often described as the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The name that history chose is the one the monument carries, and that is what the rest of the country learned to say. The story of remembering this place started early. An earlier monument, erected by Freemasons in 1794, preceded the granite tower you see now. By the time the great obelisk was finished, the hill had already become a pilgrimage site. Later in the nineteenth century the poet Lydia Sigourney paired a poem called Bunker-Hill Monument with a description of both the battle and the monument, in her 1845 book Scenes in my Native Land. Hundreds of people were already treating this hilltop as sacred ground.

3. 03

   Solomon Willard and the Granite Obelisk

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to the Bunker Hill Monument highlights Solomon Willard and the Granite Obelisk and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Now let's talk about how this tower came to be. The Bunker Hill Monument Association debated at length what form the memorial should take. In the end, the committee decided the obelisk was most congenial to republican institutions. The Boston architect Solomon Willard received the commission, and he first designed the obelisk with an Egyptian Revival base. Willard was hired in 1825, when the plans were still sketchy, and the obelisk was erected between 1825 and 1843. That is nearly two decades of work, and the monument became the first public obelisk in the United States. The granite came from Quincy, Massachusetts. Willard is credited with inaugurating the use of giant blocks of granite in American building construction. He had already used granite for the United States Branch Bank in 1824, and later for the gate of the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. Amos Lawrence, a member of the Association and a major financial contributor, wrote that posterity should know it is more indebted to Solomon Willard than any other person for the possession of this grand memorial. Climb the spiral staircase of 294 steps to the top and you stand inside his achievement, with a bird's-eye view of Charlestown and Boston.

4. 04

   Statues, a Lodge and a Landmark in the Landscape

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to the Bunker Hill Monument highlights Statues, a Lodge and a Landmark in the Landscape and points out what to notice during your visit.

   The obelisk does not stand alone. At the south side of the monument you will find William Wetmore Story's statue of William Prescott, the colonel whose name is tied to the story of this battle. Prescott's statue keeps watch beside the tower. Another figure from the battle has his own tribute connected to this place. General Joseph Warren died in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Colonel Thomas Perkins, a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, offered 1,000 dollars toward a statue of him, and the Association held an inauguration of the statue of Warren on June 17, 1857. The Association also wanted a granite lodge for the site. Today the National Parks of Boston staff operate both the monument and the Bunker Hill Lodge, and the National Park Service is the third caretaker of this complex, whose history stretches back some 180 years. The monument became a patriotic destination as the nineteenth century went on. It appeared in travel literature and the pictorial press, and it was an instantly recognizable landmark in panoramic views of Boston. Today the park staff have even created a 360-degree view from the top of the monument. Outside Monument Square, the rest of the former battlefield has no historic district, which is why local residents formed the Charlestown Historic Battlefield District Committee in 2023.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to the Bunker Hill Monument highlights Before You Head Off and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Before you move on, take one more slow look at the obelisk. Notice how it narrows toward the sky, the way Willard intended, and think about how many blocks of Quincy granite it took to reach 221 feet. Then glance down at the hill beneath your feet and remember that it is Breed's Hill, not Bunker Hill. If you have the energy, the spiral staircase is waiting, and the view from the top connects the monument to the rooftops of Charlestown and the city of Boston beyond. From up there you can imagine how a tower built in the early 1800s became a fixture of every panoramic view of Boston. And if you keep wandering around Monument Square, look for the statues and the lodge. Each one carries a piece of the story of how Americans chose to remember this hill, and there is more to discover in every one of them.