Bostonist was recently flying back to Boston on a plane full of British teenagers, who were coming to Massachusetts to work at a summer camp in the western part of the state. Most of them had never been to the U.S. before, and they were all marveling at the same thing: the gigantic sodas they bought at the airport’s Burger King and the concept of free refills. They were nothing short of amazed.
Hyped up who knows how much caffeine, they were chatting up as many locals as they could, trying to find out what things there were to do in Boston. Moving on from the revelation that was the free refill, the other thing on their minds was the Boston Tea Party. (One of them thought it was an actual tea party, but we won’t go there.) As one of the most sensationalized parts of our city’s history, we weren’t surprised that they asked about it. We had to tell them that the museum dedicated to the event was closed until next year for repairs (we’re nerds, remember, so we can admit to knowing that off the top of our heads), but we suggested they visit the structure most influential in the events of the Boston Tea Party: the Old South Meeting House.
You’ll definitely recognize this building - located on Washington Street in the downtown area, across the street from Border’s, it’s a very prominent building. Like many meetinghouses in early Massachusetts, it served as both a site of Puritan worship and community meetings since its construction in 1729 until its closing in 1872. The meetinghouse was an important gathering place in the years leading to the American Revolution, and on December 16, 1773, Bostonians gathered to debate about the tea tax. It was at this meeting that Samuel Adams gave the signal for the Sons of Liberty to dump the tea into the harbor.
Damaged in the Great Boston Fire of 1872, the meetinghouse closed. It was reopened to the public as a museum in 1877, and it maintains its original mission of providing a space in which free speech and public discussion is encouraged. With the holiday this week, the museum is hosting two reenactments of the tea tax debate, one of which is for kids.
So, if you’re looking to celebrate the roots of free speech and/or the role Boston played in American independence, visit the Old South Meeting House. Admission is $5. And if you’re looking to exercise that other important American right - the free refill - you’ll be in a prime location to head to Downtown Crossing and indulge as much high-fructose corn syrup as you like.
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