One of the best parts of traveling for me is immersing myself in the history of a city. I love standing in the same place where something important occurred decades, centuries, or even millennia ago. Invariably, the landscape around the historical site has changed but one can get swept away imagining what it would have looked like. For some historical events, we can’t be quite sure of the exact location, as is the case with the Boston Tea Party, but for this blog and vlog I will take you to where historians believe the Sons of Liberty originally threw tea into the Boston Harbor.
On December 16, 1773, a group of Bostonians met at the Old South Meeting House to discuss the Tea Tax and the fact that Governor Hutchinson wouldn’t let the Dartmouth (the first of three tea ships) return to England with its tea still loaded on it. Samuel Adams reportedly declared that the meeting could “do nothing more to save the country.”
Outside, a group of Bostonian men, dressed as Native Americans to disguise themselves, yelled “war whoops” (as the newspapers described) and “to the wharves.” Followed by spectators, the men rushed to Griffin’s Wharf where they destroyed 342 chests, half chest, and quarter chests of tea weighing 92,616 pounds by tossing it into the harbor. That’s enough to make 18,523,200 cups. The East India Company lost 9,659 pounds of currency, which would be about a million dollars today. In the vlog below, I am in Boston at what was likely the Boston Tea Party site where today there is a museum and reenactments.
In this video, I give a short Boston Tea Party history, so grab a cup of coffee (like any good revolutionary) and enjoy. Please ignore the air traffic above—Logan Airport is very close to the city center and puts out an airplane every minute or so.
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