Old North Church

The North End district of Boston is a very historical area. There are several structures here which are tied to the American Revolution. Curiously enough, some of the structures are churches, take the New North Church, also known as New North Meeting House, also known as Saint Stephen’s Church. The church was used as a meeting place for political activities. Needless to say, these activities weren’t exactly legal as far as the British were concerned. But it shows how these religious structures are used for political purposes. The North End has two of them right next to each other. Just to confuse you even more, the other structure is the Old North Church.

Arguably, the Old North Church is the one which is more well known. It is the oldest standing church in Boston. What made it famous what that it was here that Paul Revere set off on his famous midnight ride to warn the militia of the approaching British. They already have a system set in place here where other messengers would be notified along the way. That way, the message would spread far and fast and not just relying on a single messenger. True enough, Paul Revere himself was stopped and never actually made it to his destination. The Old North Church served as some sort of signal tower to the neighboring area. There will be one lantern lit at the steeple if the British were approaching by land, two lanterns if they were crossing the river. The Old North Church is now a museum and there is a fee to enter.

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