What Is the Old North Church?
This is Boston’s oldest surviving church and one famously linked to the midnight ride of Paul Revere!
What Makes It Historical?
This wasn’t the Old North Church when it was built! In fact, it was the opposite of old in April 1723 when construction began. Called Christ Church in the City of Boston, it was designed by a local book dealer named William Price, who modeled it after the London churches of Christopher Wren, and took four years to build. The famous tower went up in 1740, and it was from here that the famous pre-Revolution lanterns shown forth on the night of April 18, 1775!
This was an Anglican church, as the Puritan majority had begun to dwindle in Boston, and this church’s ties to England made for some strange pew-fellows. The rector, Reverend Mather Byles, Jr. was a Tory, while the sexton, Robert Newman, was a patriot! British General Thomas Gage, who would later besiege Boston, was a regular attendee at morning services! But it was Mr. Newman who earned the Old North Church its fame, coordinating with Paul Revere to send word to Lexington and Concord that the British were on their way to seize their stockpiles of weapons! One lantern meant they were marching by land, but two lanterns signaled to Mr. Revere that the British frigate, Somerset was moving up the Charles River to Cambridge! With the help of William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, the message made it to those villages in time, leading to the first shots of the American Revolution!
But the lantern incident was a scandal! Parishioners on either side got into so many fights that the church closed for three years, and Reverend Byles was exiled to Canada! When it reopened, the Old North Church evolved into a Protestant Episcopal Church, which would launch the first Sunday School in the eastern US in 1815. The landscape changed in the North End neighborhood with waves of Russian, Irish, and Italian immigrants, and while the neighbors became gradually more Catholic, the Old North Church has continued holding Episcopalian services ever since!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
- Donate to Old North Illuminated!
- Donate to the Freedom Trail!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
193 Salem St
Boston, MA 02113
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
The Old North Church is open for tours Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Sunday from 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM! Services take place Sundays at 11:00 AM!
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