Unspecified/General

On the Fort Point Channel in the historic Seaport district of Boston just south of the Financial District, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is one of the most thoughtfully designed historical museums in New England and a deeply engaging immersive recreation of one of the most famous events of the American Revolution. The museum reopened in June 2012 following a complete reconstruction (the original 1973 museum on the same site having been destroyed by a 2001 fire), with the new 50,000-square-foot complex housing two full-scale operational sailing-ship recreations and an extensive interpretive museum. The museum's central educational mission is the dramatic recreation of the historic events of the evening of 16 December 1773, when approximately 116 colonial protesters disguised as Native American Mohawks boarded three British East India Company merchant ships in the same harbour location and dumped 342 chests of British tea (worth approximately 1.7 million dollars in modern currency) into the icy December waters of the harbour, protesting the imposition of taxation without political representation that the colonists found intolerable. The visit unfolds as a live-action interactive experience led by costumed historical interpreters. Visitors begin in a recreated 1773 colonial-era tavern, where they receive a printed boarding pass identifying them as a specific historical participant. A short introductory presentation by costumed actors playing Sam Adams and other Sons of Liberty leaders sets the political context, with visitors then boarding one of the two full-scale operational ship recreations (the Brig Beaver and the Brig Eleanor) to participate in the actual dumping of replica tea chests into the harbour. The visit continues into the dedicated museum building, which houses one of only two surviving original tea chests from the historical event (the celebrated Robinson Tea Chest, donated by a Tea Party participant's descendants in the early twentieth century), along with extensive interpretive exhibits covering the political, economic and military context of the broader pre-revolutionary period. A theatrical Voyage to Liberty multimedia presentation in the museum's small theatre dramatises the events leading from the Tea Party to the outbreak of the American Revolution two years later. Modestly priced tickets are sold by timed entry.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 306 Congress Street, Boston, MA, United States

Telephone: 617-338-1773

Website: bostonteapartyship.com

Opening Date: 26/06/2012