 One of Boston’s oldest buildings, the Old South Meeting House has been key to a number of historic events and has a number of famous connections.
Built in 1729, the Old South Meeting House served as a place for worship and public gathering for the Puritan settlers. Its congregation included inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin, Revolutionary leader Samuel Adams and Phillis Wheatley, the first African American to publish a book.
In the run up to the American Revolution, the Old South was where the colonists met to discuss and debate their challenge to British rule.
Following the Boston Massacre in March 1770, when five colonists were shot dead by British soldiers, protesters gathered at the Old South calling for the withdrawal of British troops. A number of notable patriots gave rousing speeches in the Old South including John Hancock, Dr. Joseph Warren and Samuel Adams.
 The Old South was written into the history books on a cold December night in 1773, when more than 5,000 angry colonists crowded into the meeting house to debate the latest ‘intolerable act’ of the British Government; the tax on tea. Then, on the signal of Samuel Adams, a leader of the Sons of Liberty, a group of the protesters made their way down to Griffin’s Wharf. Where they stormed three British tea ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbour in what became known as the Boston Tea Party.
During the American Revolution the British who occupied Boston ripped out the pews of the Old South to use it as a stables, but it was lovingly restored by Thomas Dawes in 1783.
By 1872 the future of the Old South was uncertain after its congregation moved and the building faced a wrecking ball. But the Old South was saved by ‘Twenty Women of Boston’ led by Mary Hemenway and supported by such New England luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Louisa May Alcott.
In 1877 the Old South Meeting House was preserved as a museum and historic site, and still serves as a meeting place for speakers. For 250 years, the Old South Meeting House has been a communal gathering place protecting the traditions of free speech and free exchange of ideas.
Location:
310 Washington Street, Boston. Take the Green or Red lines to Park Street stop.
Opening Times:
Open Daily all year:
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.- April 1 - October 31
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.- November 1 - March 31
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Day, Christmas, and New Year's Day
Admission Fees:
Adults: $5
Children: $1
Concessions: $4
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