Boston’s Old North Church celebrates 250-year link to Revolutionary War and Paul Revere

Paul Revere is depicted in a statue located in a plaza adjacent to Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] Old North Church, the historic Episcopal church in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, celebrated its connection to the American Revolution on April 18 when it hosted an event marking the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous ride.

“On this night 250 years ago, two men climbed Old North Church’s steeple. They held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were heading to Concord by way of the Charles River,” the church said in a Facebook post for the occasion.

The commemorative events included an evening lantern lighting in Old North Church’s steeple. A crowd gathered for speeches in a space adjacent to the church in the Paul Revere Mall, where a statue depicts Revere in action atop his horse. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu were among those who spoke.

“Boston is a city where the past, present and future of our nation begin,” Wu said. “Revolution wasn’t just something we started. It’s how we’ve lived every day of the last two and a half centuries.”

Revere is known for riding his horse, with other colonists, to alert their compatriots to the approach of British solders after a lantern-based signal was hung from Old North Church – “one if by land, two if by sea.” (The British came by the Charles River, therefore two lanterns.) The event was described most famously in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride” from 1861.

“Those two signal lanterns set a complex alarm system into motion, a system that included many messengers fanning out across Massachusetts to spread the warning that night,” Old North Church said in an online description of that pivotal episode. “Once Revere got across the river, he began his own famous Midnight Ride as part of this system. Ultimately, when the British arrived in Lexington the next morning, they were met by local militia members, and the shots fired that morning ignited the American Revolutionary War.”

The 250th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord were celebrated the next day, on April 19. Additional historical commemorations are planned in the coming years as other Revolutionary War battles and key mileposts in the nation’s founding reach their semiquincentennial.

Old North Church’s history dates even earlier, to its founding in 1723 as Christ Church. It remains open both as an active Episcopal congregation and a popular historic site for tourists.

The congregation also is in the middle of a restoration project, which is bringing back to life colonial-era artwork depicting angels high above the nave. The 16 cherubic figures were painted by early Old North Church member John Gibbs and are believed to be among the earliest surviving art from colonial Boston. They had been painted over in a 1912 renovation but were rediscovered several years ago and, starting last year, now uncovered.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.