the Freedom Trail: The Old North Church

The Old North Church is Boston’s oldest surviving church building and one of the Freedom Trail’s most visited historical sites, known for “One if by land, and two if by sea,” and the midnight ride of Paul Revere. The Old North Church & Historic Site also includes:

• The 1715 Clough House, one of Boston’s oldest surviving brick residences, which houses our colonial chocolate program, and our rotating gallery space, Patrots Corner.

• A chapel built in 1918 for Italian immigrants, which now serves as the Old North Gift Shop

• Three large courtyards, two formal gardens, and a war memorial to soldiers fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan

• Two adjoining townhouses, converted into use for administrative, educational, social, civic, and parish programs

  HISTORY

The enduring fame of the Old North began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when the church sexton Robert Newman and Vestryman Capt. John Pulling, Jr. climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea across the Charles River and not by land. This fateful event ignited the American Revolution. Each year, over 100,000 people from all over the country and all over the world visit this unique and stirring monument to liberty.