Henry James described this 1809 structure with a 217-foot steeple as "the most interesting mass of bricks and mortar in America." The church has accumulated an impressive number of firsts: The first missionaries to Hawaii left from here in 1819; the prominent abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave his first antislavery speech here on July 4, 1829; and "America" (commonly known as "My Country 'Tis of Thee") was first sung here on July 4, 1831. You're standing on "Brimstone Corner," named either for the passion of the Congregational ministers who have declaimed from the pulpit or for the fact that, during the War of 1812, gunpowder (made from brimstone) was stored in the basement. This was part of the site of a huge granary that became a public building after the Revolutionary War. In the 1790s, the sails for the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) were manufactured in that building.

To continue on the Freedom Trail: Walk away from the Common on Tremont Street.