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Address:
Congress Street Bridge
Phone:
(617) 338-1773
Hours:
Spring & Fall: 9am-5pm; Summer: 9am-6pm
Cost:
Adult: 8.00
Child: 4.00
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Overview Inside Tips
The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum is an interactive experience of the most significant event leading to the American Revolution. On board the Brig Beaver II - a full-sized replica of a tea party ship- visitors will reenact the cold night on December 16th, 1773 when a group of patriots, disguised as native Americans, raided three tea ships, dumping their cargoes over board and into the Boston Harbor.
The raid was lead by Boston Whigs and Sons of Liberty and arranged by patriot and politician Samuel Adams. Adams, a native of Boston and graduate of Harvard College, was actively involved in town meetings and became a full-time politician in 1764 when he was elected to the Massachusetts legislature. He adamantly opposed several laws passed by British Parliament to raise revenue, including the Tea Act which created a monopoly in tea importing to the colonies and favored Britain’s East India Company.
The Tea Act in 1773 became the most controversial law passed by the British Parliament at the time, causing Boston colonists to rebel against the tax on the tea. Their boycott reached its climax when a band of colonists raided the British tea ships on Griffin’s Wharf, dumping 342 tea chests into the harbor while shouting those now famous words, 'Taxation without representation.'
The British Parliament reaction to the colonists’ rebellion was the passing of the 'Intolerable Acts,' a set of laws which closed the Boston Harbor and restricted town meetings. As a result, Adams implored the American Colonies to a general boycott on British trade. Collection of taxes on imported tea failed in New York City, Philadelphia, and Charleston, but only Boston rebelled by dumping the British Company’s tea into its harbor.
Visitors to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum will learn about the political and economic conditions that lead to the colonists’ rebellious act known as the Boston Tea Party. They will tour the authentically restored galley, captain’s quarters and cargo hold and relive December 16th 1773 through the words and images of 'Paul Revere Remembers.'
Guests aboard the Brig Beaver II will complete their dramatization of the Boston Tea Party by throwing bales of tea over the side of the brig as they shout 'Taxation without representation.'
The museum offers an interactive exhibit on tea shipbuilding and the colonial pursuit for a better way of life. An extensive gift shop contains the largest selection of teapots in the city of Boston.
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