Testimonials
Dear Ben,
Without a doubt, the highlight of our trip to New England was our walking tour with you in Boston. The pictures of our 3 granddaughters wearing the colonial mob caps you provided will be cherished memories for Jody and I. Thank you so much for making the history of Boston come to life. We feel maybe you should start doing tours in Lexington and Concord too, as they need a guide like you, with your unique style. We took a tour there as well, with another guide, but were disappointed.
We listened to your CD’s on the way home to Oklahoma. It is a wonderful story and the girls related to it as we drove down the highway.
To those who may read this in the future, you not only gave us a tour, but also for the time we had together, you became part of our family. That also we will cherish forever.
Your family and friends in Claremore, OK
Fred, Jody, Brittany, Tory and Emily
Ben,
We had an AMAZING time. Your tour was entertaining, informative and a lot of fun. I knew I made the right choice going with you within about 5 minutes. We appreciated your patience and understanding with our being so late. You also really went above and beyond the call by taking us up to the Constitution, which Mara and I appreciated. Anyway, thanks for a great tour and you will be hearing from us again when Mara’s family comes up later this fall. Thanks again!
Jeff & Mara Quagliata
Oxford, CT
P.S. – We listened to the audio book on the way home and loved it. Maggie is downloading it for her grandkids and my father gave the password to my brother for my nephew. Great work.
Ben,
Hello again! We arrived home a few hours ago. Your tour was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Boston! We were looking forward to your tour and you did not disappoint. The way that you’re able to tie in your family history with the history of Boston was perfect. You really know your stuff. Our boys loved you, as well. It’s not easy keeping the attention of our youngest, but you captured his interest from the get-go. We will be recommending your tour to other friends looking for a great adventure.
Thanks again for an uplifting and educational experience!
Sincerely,
Darrin and Kelly Tippens
Fredonia, NY
P.S. Feel free to add this to your testimonials! We loved the tour! Being a history-buff, I was blown away by your expertise.
Dear Ben,
Just wanted to thank you again for the brilliant tour you took us all on on Tuesday. For next year I will know to build in more time. It is so hard to have to travel up from the Cape with two classes of fifth grade students; but so worthwhile. We could not have had better weather as well and then the Boston cream pie for dessert! We have some great pictures of you with the kids. I will be sending them along with personal notes from the class. Now the kids are reading your book and loving it. What an inclusive, personable, educational experience! Thanks again for being so nice and so knowledgeable and informed. I’m impressed with your thorough research!
Thanks again.
Sue Vandemoer
Cape Cod Academy
Osterville, MA
Dear Ben,
Last August, when the temperatures and humidity were impossible to tolerate for my four students and me, you adjusted your schedule and itinerary to meet our needs and provided us with the best tour of our ten day excursion to the East Coast. You were thoughtful, kind, considerate of the students and their interests. You never spoke over their heads, but found a way to connect with each student. Today, I asked each of the students what they remembered about our trip to the East Coast, and each recalled Ben as the best guide. I cannot offer higher praise.
Charles Tripp and Joe, Edward, Annie, and Jane
Los Angeles, CA
Dear Ben,
After taking your private family tour during our recent trip east, we can’t conceive of a better way of seeing historical Boston! Your passion for the people and places that shaped our history gave us a unique perspective. We felt transported back to the 18th century, and left with a better understanding of the struggles, needs and hopes of the patriots who sought to establish a democracy at that time. You made the tour fun for our children (ages 9 and 12) and added some interesting stories about your ancestors that helped bring Boston’s history to life. We recommend your tour to everyone we know. Thanks Ben and keep up the good work!
The Segall Family
Laura, Jeff, Katie and Robert
Carlsbad, CA
Dear Ben,
A final and very sincere thank you for the wonderful Freedom Trail tour for the 36 people in our children’s choir group. It was one of the highlights of our trip to Boston. We so much appreciated you leading us around on Saturday as well, it was a big help. Please get in touch if you come to Chicago.
Alison Nelson
Dr. Nennis Northway
The Schola Choir
Grace Episcopal Church
Oak Park, IL
Dear Ben,
The children are still talking about the Freedom Trail tour we took with you. Your ability to convey history to a seven-year-old and 2 nine-year-old children was fantastic. It was even more impressive that you were able to keep up with all of the kids’ questions. When we got to the Old North Church, after over two hours of touring, we knew that you had made them history buffs for life!
The Ricard and Knox Families
Natick, MA
Hi Ben,
We had an amazing time with you on the Freedom Trail and are more than happy to share our experience for others to read! I can’t imagine a better tour guide especially for families with elementary age children. Both Caleb and Olivia Grace said they want to do that tour again next time we come to Boston!! If that’s not a number 1 selling point straight from a child’s mouth I don’t know what is! Caleb just this week thumbed through his 4th grade History book and found the American Revolution section. He immediately read it and kept saying “Mom we just were in that church,” and “Mom that’s the grasshopper I saw on top of the building!” Thank you for giving us such an engaging and unique hands on learning experience of the American Revolution and the keepsakes to remind us of the wonderful tour. You’re the best!
Mary Katherine Gorton and family
Belzoni, MS
Dear Ben,
My 17-year-old son and I recently completed a vacation, touring from Jamestown to Boston, visiting many historic sites. I must say that our day spent with you was not only an experience in living history, but very entertaining. You took us to sites not seen on a normal walking tour and personalized each one along the way. We have traveled extensively in the US and Europe, and my son felt that your family history and connection with Boston’s past made your particular tour/talk relevant and enjoyable. I remember more from your tour than from many of the others I have had. I encourage anyone, families, groups, young and old alike – if you want Boston’s history to come alive, take a walk with Ben Edwards.
If people need more encouragement, you may have them contact me at my personal email address.
Thank you again for an excellent day!
Shairrie & Peter Van Duzer
Alpine, CA
Dear Ben,
Those of us at the Utah Jazz who participated in your walking tour thoroughly enjoyed the experience. What was especially appealing was how you incorporated your own family history in the story line woven throughout the afternoon. Having a personal connection to the places we visited created an added value to the tour.
Thank you again and best of luck to you in your endeavors.
Linda Luchetti
Vice President, Communications
Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment
Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Ben,
On behalf of the Board and staff of the Association of Children’s Museums, I want to thank you for your excellent work and contribution to the success of InterActivity. Your tour was a valuable and unique addition to our conference, and we appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication during the planning process and event (even in the face of unpleasant weather). It has been a pleasure to work with you over the past few months, and we look forward to the opportunity to work together again in the future.
Thank you again for all of your effort and for helping make InterActivity 2006 a runaway success!
Nichole Anton Rothkopf
Program Coordinator, Education
Association of Children’s Museums
Washington, DC
Hi Ben,
Personally and on behalf of the National Corn Growers Association, I offer sincere thanks for the stellar job you did in guiding our group around historic Boston last week. Everyone truly enjoyed the event. Your commentaries were excellent and clearly showed you love what you do.
Attached is a letter of recommendation (on NCGA letterhead) for possible use with potential clients.
Ben, it was a pleasure, sir. Keep up the great work.
Regards,
Tim Brackman
Director of Development
National Corn Growers Association
Chesterfield, MO
Dear Ben,
I have heard nothing but the best from my students regarding your tours. They are so impressed with the amount of interesting information you provide about the city. Our students come from over 35 countries and for many, this is their first time in the United States. Our students are from Belarus, Switzerland, China, Colombia, Mexico and Egypt (to name a few). The walking tour is a fantastic way to acclimate them to Boston. You take the time to really engage the group and in return, they always return to school with a new enthusiasm for the city they will call home in the year ahead.
Your tour was such a hit that I can definitely say we’ll be back in the coming years.
Best,
Noelle Gross
Student Services Manager
Hult International Business School
Cambridge, MA
Ben,
I meant to write you earlier, but time has gotten away from me! Thank you so much for the tour of Boston. My whole family had SUCH a great time! My Dad loved all the facts about your family and even though history isn’t my thing :), I really enjoyed all the interesting things you taught us during the day. We will definitely recommend your tour to anyone else that wants to learn more about Boston. Thanks again! My Dad is STILL talking about it, so you must have made a great impression on him especially!
Tracy Nameth
Kraft Foods
Glenview, IL
Dear Ben,
Thank you for another great tour of Boston’s Freedom Trail sites. After taking your tour last year with my visiting cousins, I knew that my brother and his family would enjoy, and learn more during their recent visit to Boston by taking your tour. Your tour adds an important historical perspective to the Freedom Trail walk that we would have missed by walking from site to site on our own. The many photographs and original colonial newspapers that you share along the route really helped to make the people and events that we were discussing feel more real – and my niece and nephews loved your spyglass! You have a unique gift for engaging children and adults of all ages in dialogue, and a knowledge of Boston’s history that makes it a unique and fun afternoon. I will recommend your tour enthusiastically to any friends visiting Boston, and I hope to take your tour again in the near future. Thanks again.
David Mack
Newton, MA
Dear Ben,
Being a homeschooling mom, I am always looking for experiences that will help teach what my girls are learning in their books. Your tour did exactly that and more! I loved learning about your own family history and seeing your collection of newspaper articles. ( I went online as soon as we got home to look at all the ones you have on the website.) I loved all the little-known facts you shared with us. The girls loved all the surprises: singing on the steps of the church, the pennies, the colonial caps, and of course, Mike’s Pastry! Because we did the extended tour option, I thought that the younger girls might have a hard time; but you always had some little “carrot” dangling in front of them to keep their attention and it worked!! The best surprise was receiving a copy of your book! We will start reading it today. I believe our trip to Boston will go down in our family history as the best field trip EVER!! Thank you for a wonderful day. I will recommend you to all the homeschooling families I know!
Sincerely,
Danielle Denno
Athens, ME
Hi Ben,
My husband and I wanted to thank you once again for the wonderful tour that you gave our family last Friday. It was truly a unique experience that the children have been talking about over and over again (they even watched “National Treasure” on Saturday with their copies of the Declaration of Independence close at hand…). You did a terrific job of keeping their interest and of simply making history come alive!! We enjoyed listening to your book on our way home to Montreal and could picture many of the locations that we had visited.
We’ll be sure to recommend your tour to all of our friends the next time they visit Boston!
Kindest regards,
Sylvia Pateras
Montreal, CA
Dear Ben,
Thank you for bringing a fascinating piece of history alive for the nine members of our office staff. We were looking for a fun, but meaningful way to celebrate a piece of hard work we had just finished, and your two-hour interlude capped off by our having lunch together was perfect. I recommend your excellent tour to tourists, families and locals who want to know more about their heritage.
David L. Williams
Executive Vice President
Mass. State Auto Dealers Assoc.
Greetings Ben,
Thank you for one of the most engaging, educational and enjoyable walking tours of Boston that our group had experienced on our six-day tour of the birthplace of America. You gave an excellent college-level tour for seventeen undergraduate interior design students eager to learn about the history of not only a place, but of the people that once inhabited the city of Boston. Your wonderful verbal explanations of how the present was shaped by the past was augmented by incredible historical photographs – and even more impressive – original historic newspapers about Paul Revere and others of vintage time periods.
Never before had a tour guide presented such delicate artifacts for all to examine and review. Tangible bits of history linked our present tour with a very real past. Thank you for providing such a wonderful tour – one that will not be forgotten – and one that will remain in our memories as the most experiential!
Sincerely,
Daniel Joseph Whittaker
Instructor
Art Institutes International Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
Dear Ben,
On behalf of our group, we’d like to thank you for what was the highlight of our Boston trip! Our group of 15 Latter Day Saint youth and 5 of their leaders have a tremendous interest in our own personal family histories and I believe your tour has inspired some of these youth and adults to work on their genealogies. You not only found your ancestors, you also got to personally know those in your family that came before you. The love you have for them shows in your tour and in your book.
You held the attention of our youth throughout the tour, a tough task with teenagers! We were impressed with your historical knowledge of the area and the way you brought the Freedom Trail to life through your pictures, historic newspapers, and stories of the sites we visited. The children really appreciated the time you took with them and were very impressed that you stayed and had lunch with us at Quincy Market. I would recommend your tour to anyone, especially those with an interest in family history and genealogy work. We’ll be back again, perhaps with more adults than youth next time. Thanks very much!
Keith Barron
LDS Church
Palmyra, NY
Dear Ben,
We have not stopped talking about the tour we took with you. The children and the adults were equally enthralled and captivated by your stories and your engaging manner. One of the children has already taken the book with him to school to show his teacher, and told her all about our visit. On the way home to New York, we played quiz games with one of the 7-year-olds, and were amazed at how much he remembered and understood from the day we spent with you. You were the pied piper of this visit.
We were impressed not only with your ability to hold the attention of all the members of our family, but with the accuracy of the information you presented. The documents you shared and the pictures you showed gave a real sense of the authenticity of what you were telling us.
Thank you again, and we would welcome the opportunity to describe your tour (and book) to anyone who is interested in booking with you. Please don’t hesitate to have prospective travelers contact us for a personal recommendation. We are sure to be in Boston again, and will make every effort to get in touch when we return. Thank you for your time, your expertise, and your patience.
Betty Ann and Richard Ross
Ed and Laura Ross
Roberta Ross, and the children (Daliah, Jared and Jonathan)
Syosset, NY
My sister and I spent a day with Ben walking throughout Boston. Ben’s knowledge and enthusiasm about Boston’s history was astounding! We have both taken many such tours in other cities and both came away feeling this was THE best value and one of the most interesting tours we’ve had the pleasure of taking. Ben is gracious, entertaining and an extremely knowledgeable guide. I highly recommend his tour.
Nancy Bozich
Mesa, AZ
Dear Ben,
I wanted to thank you for the magical experience our family had during your tour of the Freedom Trail. The kids are still talking about it today. I can’t think of a better way for our children to learn about history; you really made the Freedom Trail come to life for them with the illustrations & artifacts you shared with us. I was amazed at how both my four-year-old & seven-year-old paid attention throughout the trip; but was even more surprised at how you managed to translate history for them and make it so much fun. I plan on both listening to the audio and reading your book to the kids in the next few days and I am particularly looking forward to tying some of the stories in the book to our historic tour. Once again thank you for the tour, I hope to see you soon (and take the tour again with the kids) when we visit Boston in the future.
Sincerely,
Mayer S. Abbo & Family
Delray Beach, FL
Dear Ben,
We all had such a wonderful time enjoying your knowledge of our beloved Boston. Thank you so much for all the extra effort you put into the time we had with you. I was telling someone yesterday – I felt like I was walking around with an old friend. I know the 23 children (and I) learned much from you. The book was a terrific way to bring it all to light for them. We especially enjoyed how you made connections to modern day life.
Paula Breuer
Homeschooling Group
of 8 Families
Topsfield, MA
Dear Ben,
So many guided tours are oriented toward adults and leave kids whining, “how much longer?” But despite a blustery November day, my 9 and 11 year olds were wrapped up in the historical reality you created through your storytelling style, humor, and use of documents and props to keep them not only interested and involved, but enthralled. Thank you for your energy and enthusiasm in bringing history to life!
Ann, Jim, Cole and McKenzie Bridgman
Glen Ellyn, IL
I discovered Ben Edwards’ walking tour online as I was exploring options for Boston’s Historic Freedom Trail. Ben’s tour was competitively priced and included the added bonuses of a free audio book, online access to downloadable audio products, and his genealogical connection to Paul Revere and Abraham Lincoln’s family. All these aspects sold us on the tour. This was only the beginning of the fun of our personal tour. Ben was full of surprises for the adults and children. He was interactive, funny, and had our teenagers fully engaged the whole trip. He had the kids finding mysteries, stopping for treats, earning rewards, and answering questions. We were thrilled that he led us around an often confusing maze of streets and focused our attention on the important aspects of each site on the Freedom Trail. Ben also interwove his family history and goal setting/motivational themes throughout the tour. My son loved the Newman window at Old North Church and hoped the Ritz-Carlton concierge recommended Ben’s tour. My husband loved Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. I loved Ben’s patience with all my questions about everything, and my daughter loved her bonnet and the information about Ben Franklin.
We highly recommend Ben and his Historic Tour of Boston to anyone young and old!!
Tom and Stacey Pezzetti & family
Traverse City, Michigan
Ben,
Thank you for providing our high school group with such an engaging and informative walking tour of historic Boston. I really don’t think we could have asked or hoped for anything better. Having personally participated in numerous other historical walking tours (not only in the Boston area, but also in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas), I can honestly say that yours was the best. Your ability to elicit and hold the interest of high school students is a talent I have seldom seen in walking-tour guides, and one that I hold in very high regard.
Michael J. Zartler
Teacher
Smithtown High School
Long Island, NY