Boston Tea Party- Saturday, May 3

     We got the kids up to breakfast at 7:00, inspected the rooms, and got them on the bus for a 8:45 departure.

     It was a short night, but I was looking forward to this morning.  Our one stop today before leaving Boston was Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum.  I had never been to this before.  The ship was here when we visited in 2002, but it wasn't open and the accompanying museum wouldn't be built until 2012.   On the way up, I had read Jeff Shaara's Rise to Rebellion up to the chapter about the Tea Party, so I was ready.

     The Tea Party ship, the Eleanor, is in Boston Harbor in the South End of Boston, surrounded by skyscrapers made of glass.  The actual location of Griffin's Wharf, where it all went down has been built up.  60% to 70% of modern Boston is built on landfill, so the peninsula is much bigger than it was then.   The first bus went into the museum and we had to wait until they had progressed a way because it is something of an experience.  As we were waiting on the sidewalk, a crier made the announcement on the balcony that a meeting was going to be held at the South Meeting House concerning the three British East India Company ships that have been sitting in the Harbor waiting to unload their cargoes of taxed tea.  We made our way into the museum where we sat in a gallery that, I assume, resembles that place.  (The South Meeting House is on the Freedom Trail, but I haven't been inside it, I don't think.)  A young man calling himself Ebenezer MacIntosh introduced himself, and encouraged us to voice our opinions as the meeting progressed.  If we approved of something that was said we could shout, "Hear! Hear!"  or "Well said!" or give an enthusiastic "Huzzah!" while punching forward.  People can stamp the floor boards or pound the benches as well.  To show disagreement, people can shout, "Boo," or "Hiss!" or even "Fie!" while thumbing their noses.  We were also each given a card to give us a role to play- someone who was actually there.  Two of these roles had speaking parts and students were assigned them.  I was given the role of Francis Akeley, a self-employed wheelwright who was known to partake of the drink.  Soon, Sam Adams himself came in to the meeting and addressed those assembled with a quick review of Britain's unfair taxes.   While addressing the crowd in the meeting house, Adams received word that the despised governor Hutchinson would not allow the ships to leave Boston Harbor unless they unloaded their cargoes of tea.  To a chorus of cheers, it was decided to dispose of the tea by dumping it into the harbor before it could be unloaded.  "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country," said Adams, letting us know is was time to stop meeting and start acting.

     We walked down a gangplank onto the ship, The Eleanor.  A kindly woman there explained that we were to destroy the tea by throwing it off the ship.  Each cubical shaped crate of tea was densely packed with loose leaf and weigh near 100 pounds (she said).  Each of the students that wanted to took turns throwing the tea crates off the ship into the harbor (though they also had to tow the crates back to give the next students a chance.  These represented the 342 chests and 92,000 pounds of tea that were destroyed in the harbor that night.  On the original night, it was low tide and eventually the tea just piled by the ship.  Apprentices and young men were sent to stomp down the pile and push the tea into the water.  

     We had to swear secrecy amongst ourselves and to never speak publicly aboard the ship that night in order to insure that no one could be prosecuted for treason.  That's when I got in trouble.  Apparently, it took Francis Ackeley all of three days before drink got the better of him and he began to drunkenly brag in the taverns about his involvement.  He was imprisoned for treason.  In truth, it was not his first time in jail and he knew his rights.  If no one else would testify against him, he would not be able to be prosecuted.  None did.  He was freed and was the only person to be imprisoned because of the incident with the tea.  (We didn't learn it this morning, but I suspected there was more to his story.  My card said that Mr. Ackeley died on June 19, 1775, which suggested a more heroic end for him.  Indeed, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill and died as a patriotic hero two days later as a result.)

      Next came the part of the museum where we were not allowed to use video or photography, probably because of the technology involved, not to mention the original artifacts.  In the first room projections of two women debated the advantages and dangers of opposing the king or being a loyal Tory.  In the second, an original tea crate said to be from the night of the Tea Party was displayed in a rotating case, and below it, actual tea in a vial, also said to be from that night.  A painting of King George III argued with a painting of Samuel Adams almost as if they were from out of a Harry Potter movie.  Then a wide screen movie showed how the story progressed until the first shots at the green in Lexington.  The entire was a very impressive multi-media experience, and the actors involved were very well trained.  Kudos to Mr. MacIntosh and the rest.   Our students seemed to enjoy the experience, and the cast seemed to appreciate their enthusiasm.  The young man playing Mr. MacIntosh said they so liked our group that they gave us a full deck of the cards that they used to assign us roles, and I was chosen to keep it, so I've got those as a souvenir.

       There was a tea room, "Abigail's Tea Room," and a gift shop that we had to be rotated through because of our large numbers.  I wasn't able to look at as much as I would have wanted to.  We got back onto the buses and headed west towards home.

       Somewhere in the Berkshires, we stopped at an outlet mall for lunch.  Apparently the driver of the first bus had suggested it, but it was a disappointment.  I was one of the first to walk into the "food court," but I stopped in my tracks and couldn't believe it was the right place.  There were only three places that were choices to buy food at.  There was room for three or four more, but they were all out-of-business.  That ended up making a long line at the pizza place, and I ended up being one of the last to be served.  Anyway, one nice moment that I didn't get a video of was when Mr. L., the social studies teacher, and some students presented Ms. P. with the baseball that he had got out by Fenway's Green Monster yesterday.  They had passed it around the two busses and had all of the students and adults sign it for her.  It was a nice touch.

       I'm writing this on the bus on our way back.  It's little hard because it's so shaky, but there's Wifi and something of a table for me to work on since I moved to the front seat.  I think we're on schedule for arriving home by 8:00 tonight, as planned.