The Old State House

Last Friday, the 30th of December, Maura and I took the red-line into Boston. The weather was fair for late December, not bad for walking in the city. We met Jennifer for lunch at her company cafeteria and then visited the Old State House, only a few blocks away from Jennifer’s workplace.

The Old State House is one of Boston’s iconic buildings and a colonial survival. It has been altered considerably from its 18th century floor plan as it has been adapted over the years for various purposes but its outside has been restored to approximate its 18th century appearance, including reproductions of the lion and the unicorn, symbols that once marked the building as the seat of crown authority in Massachusetts. As the seat of the colonial government the Old State House was the scene of many of the events that led up to the revolution that broke out around Boston in 1775. After independence it was also the first seat of the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and later was used as Boston’s City Hall and as a commercial building.

In 1879 the Old State House was one of the first colonial buildings in Boston to be saved from development and preserved. It has been used by the Bostonian Society as a museum since 1881 The museum’s displays are small but very interesting for history buffs. They focus on the colonial history of the building and on the Boston Massacre, which took place in the streets immediately adjacent to the building. One gallery is dedicated to staff favorites from the Bostonian Society’s extensive collection of historical artifacts, which is much too large to be displayed at one time, and has artifacts from various periods in the city's history.

Maura enjoyed the multi-media display about the Boston Massacre. It was very well put together and raised some interesting questions about the nature of the event and the way it has been viewed, both in the immediate aftermath and since. We had to sit through it twice because we came in just after it started and Maura wanted to see it from the beginning.

For me the highlight of the visit was our interaction with the staff. We took a free tour of the upper floor led by one enthusiastic staffer. It’s not large by modern standards but it once housed all three branches of the colonial government--the office of the Royal Governor, the Massachusetts Assembly and the Supreme Judicial Court. The current floor plan is different than it was in colonial times, but instead dates from the 19th century so the tour was very helpful in imagining what the building was like when it witnessed momentous historical events including the establishment of the first court of appeals in North America and the first legal arguments against taxation without representation that led to resistance against the King and Parliament of England. We also had a fascinating conversation with another staffer about the Old State House clock,still wound and set by hand, and about Weymouth’s Town Hall, which is a replica of the Old State House. All the staff members we met were friendlyand very knowledgeable about the building and the City of Boston.