Fri, Sat, & Sun
11:30AM
Beginning at the
Old State House
Includes all-day General Admission to the Old State House and Old South Meeting House.
All public tours allow a maximum of 20 people.
This tour is free for Revolutionary Spaces Members. Learn more about membership here.
The Flame of Independence sparked in Boston
More than just a hash mark on a timeline, the Boston Massacre was a crystallizing moment in the formation of the American identity.
The Massacre and Memory Tour is a half-mile guided walking tour that explores the surprisingly small geography of colonial Boston and its central civic buildings—the Old State House, the Old South Meeting House, and the surrounding area—to uncover the roots of the conflict that escalated into a deadly riot, leaving five dead and a country changed.
Was the tragedy that night the unlikely confluence of unpredictable events or the inevitable eruption of a close-knit community under intense strain? Peer beyond the infamous imagery and patriot propaganda to discover how the events of that night became not only a spark for the flame of American Independence, but a call to arms that has echoed through generations in their fights for freedom and justice.
The Massacre and Memory Tour runs approximately 75 minutes and includes all-day general admission to the Old State House and Old South Meeting House. The tour is capped at 20 attendees.
More About the Boston Massacre
- Boston Reconsidered Tour
See how events in our backyard have shaped the entire nation. Trace the ideals of the Revolution through Independence, abolition, struggles for civil rights, and into the present day.Read more → - Old State House: Seat of Power, Site of the Boston Massacre
The home of colonial government in Massachusetts in the 1700s, site of the Boston Massacre, and the point of origin for vital debates about self-government that continue today.Read more → - Blues: Harpsichord, or Boston Massacre
We think of the Boston Massacre as the start of the American Revolution. In Jeffers’s hands, it becomes a moment to call out the hypocrisy of white colonists in comfortable circumstances who protested their “enslavement” by the British even as they held Blacks in bondage.Read more → - VIDEO | Grief, Remembrance, Justice
An exploration of how our memories of the legendary Boston activist Melnea Cass can help us channel grief into a call for lasting change.Read more → - Video | Liberty & Sovereignty in 18th Century New England
Examining the political conversations that were taking place around the time of the Boston Massacre among white colonists and the African- and Native-descended communities.Read more → - Reflecting Attucks
A virtual exhibit that examines the memory of Crispus Attucks, a man of African & Native descent who was the first to die in the Boston Massacre.Read more → - FROM THE BOSTON MASSACRE TO BLACK LIVES MATTER
Over the almost 250 years since his death, Crispus Attucks has remained a symbol for various movements advocating for African American rights, from Abolitionism to the Civil Rights Movement. 21st Century movements have been no different. Attucks’s identity has been yet again recovered by the grassroots Black Lives Matter movement.Read more →
What’s On at Revolutionary Spaces
- Reflecting AttucksA virtual exhibit that examines the memory of Crispus Attucks, a man of African & Native descent who was the first to die in the Boston Massacre.Read more →
- Massacre and Memory Tour
A half-mile guided walking tour that explores the surprisingly small geography of colonial Boston to uncover the roots of the Boston Massacre and includes entry to the Old State House and Old South Meeting House.Read more → - Unfinished Business Film Series
A film series exploring the legacy of protest, representation, and revolution embodied in our historical sites.Read more → - Revolution is Brewing: Immersive Roleplaying Game
A 90-minute immersive experience for students grade 8 and up developed in partnership with the award-winning education game designers Gigantic Mechanic.Read more → - Essential Questions Discussion Series
In-person and virtual discussions that confront key issues that sit at the heart of the American experiment in self-government.Read more → - Colony to Commonwealth
Your first stop in Boston! See how Massachusetts and its residents played a pivotal role in the birth of America.Read more → - Voices of Protest
Discover compelling people who made a difference at Old South Meeting House and the history of protest and free speech that continues to this day.Read more → - Council Chamber
Once an exclusive space for the most powerful men in Massachusetts, now all are invited to connect to our nation’s history in this meticulously-restored 18th-century room.Read more → - Boston Reconsidered TourSee how events in our backyard have shaped the entire nation. Trace the ideals of the Revolution through Independence, abolition, struggles for civil rights, and into the present day.Read more →