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Old North Church
The modern replacement for where the lanterns were hung that marked the start of the US War for IndependenceAsk any kid in the United States about
Old North Church, and they will likely respond “one if by land, two if by sea”. Thanks to
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the church is forever defined by the lanterns hung in the steeple on April 18
th, 1775 to signal the British were moving to attack the colonial supply stores at Concord. The church still exists with an
active congregation. During the festival they give
tours of areas not normally open to the public. Today I finally made it.
'Our guide started with the story behind the lanterns. In the late 1700s Old North Church was a surprising place for revolutionary fervor. A large percentage of the congregation were involved in maritime trade, and believed a war would disrupt the source of their livelihood. The sexton at the time, Robert Newman, was a revolutionary however; which was how the church came to
the role that made it famous. The Sons of Liberty chose it as the signaling point because the steeple was visible from most of Boston but was located far from the main British barracks.
Looking at the steeple now showed that something very historic was missing, windows!
In 1804, a hurricane toppled the steeple. Members considered it one of God’s miracles that the steeple fell directly on
Bell ringing room
No bats in this belfry, but plenty of bells the street without damaging surrounding buildings. The church replaced it with a new version, which was smaller. The new steeple had no windows to strengthen the walls against another storm.
On our tour we slipped through a side door into an incredibly cramped wooden stairway. Quickly, it led to rooms with rough wooden floors, brick walls, and bare rafters. The inside of the Old North steeple looked exactly like the stereotype of a church steeple from every movie in existence. The climb then ended in a small wooden room with ropes hanging from the ceiling, where people ring the bells. Old North Church possesses
the oldest set of church bells in the United States
Bell ringing in reality was very different to how I imagined it. The church follows the old English tradition of
change ringing. Each bell can only generate a single note. Change ringing arranges the pulls of the bell ropes in
precise patterns and timing so the different bells blend into music. Performing it well requires skills closer to mathematics than traditional music skills. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that some of the best change ringers in Boston are based at MIT, and they play the bells here on Sundays.
The
Old crypt
The least reverential burying place in existence high precision necessary for change ringing also led to a sign asking for “Silence Please”, which looked really ironic out of context. The lack of noise makes coordinating the rope pulls easier.
We also visited the church crypt. Old English tradition allowed parishioners to be laid to rest where they worshiped, in a
crypt beneath their church. Old North follows this tradition and actually has two. We saw the modern one first, basically a pair of walls where people can lay their relatives’ ashes to rest. A narrow entrance then led to the original crypt; look for the “watch thy head!” sign over the doorway.
Once in the old crypt, I realized why the church ultimately replaced it. Put simply, it resembled the least reverential basement in existence. Two long corridors ran the length of the church, mostly lined with bricks. Stone plaques appeared on the walls, marking the location of burials. Over a thousand people were interred here before the city forced all church crypts to close as health hazards in 1861. To add insult to injury, the church later installed a modern heating system, and ran the pipes through the only space available, these same corridors.
The crypt
Copps Hill grave with bullet holes
Damage from revolutionaries firing on British Lookouts stationed in the burying ground had some notable burials. The most important were multiple bodies recovered from the Battle of Bunker Hill. Only a few could be identified; the rest were marked ‘Stranger’s Tomb’. Those bodies included a commander of the British forces,
Major John Pitcairn. After the war was over, the British asked that his body be returned to England and the church obliged. Half a century later, historians discovered that the returned body had in fact been the wrong one. The major is still buried in the crypt, and nobody knows exactly where.
After the church tour I walked to the third of Boston’s major colonial cemeteries, the
Copps Hill Burying Ground. The street there passed another of Boston’s odd historic sites, the
Spite House, the skinniest house in the city. The wooden building is only ten feet wide. The original owner built it in the late 1800s for a reason many identify as classically Boston; he wanted to annoy his neighbor by cutting off their view! (It’s now a pricey B&B)
Copps Hill Cemetery sits on the namesake hill, which had a great view of Boston Harbor. In colonial times the view encompassed the entire harbor, so the British used it as a lookout. The colonial
Prince Hall
The most important African American in revolutionary era Boston army responded by firing on them regularly, damaging several graves in the process. The gravestones still have bullet holes today.
Like Boston’s other cemeteries, this one had some notable graves, pointed out by signboards. The most important was the tomb-like grave of
Cotton and Increase Mather. Fiery Puritan preachers, they helped govern Boston as a virtual theocracy in the late 1600s. Also here is the most important African American in Boston colonial history,
Price Hall. He founded the first
Black Lodge of Mason in 1784, and became an early abolition advocate.
By this point in the day, I had grown sweaty and hungry. Neither of these is a problem in the North End. It’s been Boston’s most famous Italian neighborhood since immigrants arrived in large numbers in the early 1900s. This means it has
plenty of eateries, ranging from incredibly authentic to stuff only visitors touch. I finished off my late lunch with genuine
gelato, Italian ice cream that has less air and more cream than the American version. I love this neighborhood.
The day ended with another rock band on City Hall Plaza,
Element 78. They play a mix of classic rock and the type of pop songs often heard at weddings. Hard
Element 78
Classic rock on City Hall plaza Rock Café sponsored the show and they gave out food samples. Their chocolate chip cookies had melted in the heat but were still pretty good. What they DIDN’T have was water, and the surrounding vendors certainly knew it. I ended up walking fifteen minutes to Faneuil Hall to find a public fountain.
For what this band tried to be, they did a pretty good job. They played well and clearly love the music. Still, the concert had the vibe of a night in a suburban bar somewhere, even in the middle of the plaza. The song list was all old radio hits, including stuff hipsters now consider passé (the
Spin Doctors! Blink 182!) I liked the classic rock part much better. During one song the lead singer serenaded members of the audience. I also give them credit for having the taste to NOT include t
he classic that every cover band feels compelled to play, “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey.
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Nitin Khanna
non-member comment
Thanks for sharing!
It's really good information that we don't know. Thanks for such a great description.