Old South Meeting House

No tax on tea! This was the decision on December 16, 1773, when 5000 angry colonists gathered at Old South Meeting House to protest a tax … and started a revolution with the Boston Tea Party. The largest building in colonial Boston, Old South Meeting House is where colonists gathered to challenge British rule in the years leading to the American Revolution – including the protests of the Boston Massacre and the historic meeting that led to the Boston Tea Party! Here, in this beautifully-restored 1729 meeting house, you will see: tea leaves from the Boston Tea Party, John Hancock’s portable writing desk, a first-edition 1773 book by slave and poet Phillis Wheatley, and many more revolutionary artifacts and historical documents! Learn about this building’s role as a Puritan church, a revolutionary gathering place, a sanctuary for free speech. Slated for demolition in 1876, Old South Meeting House narrowly escaped the wrecking ball in one of the nation’s first successful preservation efforts. This remarkable landmark was saved for people like you! Visit the place that changed American history today!