Old North Church

One if by land, two if by sea — the lanterns in the steeple

Address 193 Salem Street, Boston
Website oldnorth.com

The tall white steeple of Christ Church in the City of Boston — known to everyone as the Old North Church — is the oldest standing church in the city, completed in 1723. Its place in American memory was sealed by Longfellow: it is from this tower that the two lanterns were hung on the night of Paul Revere's ride, the signal that the British were coming by water.

The brick Georgian interior is one of the most intact colonial church interiors in the country, with white box pews still numbered to their original families, hand-cranked chandeliers, and brass plaques to long-dead parishioners. The steeple itself — the original blew down in a 1804 storm, the next in the 1954 Hurricane Carol, the current one a faithful 1955 rebuild — rises 191 feet above Salem Street.

Behind the church, a tiny brick courtyard known as the Washington Memorial Garden is one of the North End's quiet corners. Combine with the Paul Revere House and Copp's Hill Burying Ground for an afternoon in the neighbourhood.

things to do north end sight church
A story
On the night of 18 April 1775, sexton Robert Newman climbed the steeple and held two lanterns aloft for less than a minute — the prearranged signal that British regulars were crossing the Charles River by boat. The lanterns were not the famous warning; they were a backup, in case Paul Revere himself was caught.

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