The 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party

With only 4 days to go until the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, we talk with Evan O'Brien, Creative Manager of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum on the weekend of events, the culmination of two years of commemorations and the beginning of the Revolution's 250th.  A lot going on between the Tea Party Ships & Museum and  Revolutionary Spaces.  If you cannot join us in person on December 16, you can livestream the Tea Party on December 16 here, at https://www.december16.org!

Transcript

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 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Revolution 250 podcast.
 
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 I'm Bob Allison.
 
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 I chair the Revolution 250 advisory group.
 
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 We are a collaboration among about 70 organizations in Massachusetts planning commemorations of the beginning of the American Revolution.
 
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 And our guest today is from one of our partner organizations.
 
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 Evan O'Brien is the
 
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 creative manager of the boston tea party ships and india and we've actually served there since the museum reopened back in 2012. evan thank you for joining us thanks for having me bob pleasure to be here and so this is the big week and saturday as we know the 250th anniversary of the something of the tea in boston harbor and you guys are orchestrating it what can you tell us about what's going to be going on this
 
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 Yeah, well, this Saturday is the culmination of an entire year's worth of commemorative efforts, special programming, exhibits, not just with the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, but with dozens of organizations all across the Commonwealth and even historical commemorations worldwide and across the nation.
 
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 There are many communities pulling out all the stops to mark this important anniversary.
 
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 So this Saturday, December 16th, we are helping to produce a grand scale reenactment of the destruction of the tea and other aspects of the 1773 tea crisis.
 
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 Everything kicks off at 4 p.m.
 
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 this Saturday at historic Faneuil Hall, where we are hosting a reenactment and a retrospective on revolution, not just reflecting on the beginnings of the tea crisis of 1773, where the meetings of the body of the people originally began at Faneuil Hall before moving to the larger Old South Meeting House, but we're also taking a look back to reflect on the centennial commemorations that took place in Faneuil Hall and even the bicentennial commemorations.
 
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 This is a great table setter for our colleagues on the street at Revolutionary Spaces who will then produce the meeting of the body of the people in Old South Meeting House.
 
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 And that's a phenomenal program that I encourage everyone to go see.
 
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 That will be at 615.
 
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 And there are other programs as well outside in Downtown Crossing at 6 o'clock.
 
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 patriots and loyalists hearing from the townsfolk of Boston.
 
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 And then at 8 p.m., we have the dramatic destruction of the tea, where we will be throwing tea into Boston Harbor at the same location the tea party occurred exactly 250 years before.
 
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 There will be red boats out on the street at different places.
 
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 And there's a great website you put together, December16th.org, that has a lot of these events.
 
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 And things will be streaming live for those who can't make it downtown.
 
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 Yeah, that's correct.
 
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 There will be a live stream streaming the waterfront portion of the entire reenactment.
 
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 That begins at 7.15, actually.
 
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 There'll be a little bit of a pre-show on the live stream with some junior fife and drum chorus that will be serenading the crowds along the Harbor Walk.
 
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 There is also a rolling rally from just outside of Old South Meeting House from Milk Street down to Pearl Street, and then the Pearl Street extension down to the waterfront, where we are expecting many thousands of people to march.
 
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 through the streets of Boston down to the water's edge.
 
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 Now, I should also add that this entire event between the two historic sites, the rolling rally and the waterfront presentation, it's kind of a combination of a theatrical performance and a traditional reenactment.
 
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 And it's actually become one of the largest moving presentations anywhere in the nation.
 
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 You know, you're moving audiences all around the city, about a whole mile walking all the way down to the waterfront.
 
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 And down here, the destruction of the T is a professionally produced production.
 
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 We have theatrical lighting sound to make sure that everyone can see the ships.
 
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 and hear what's being said.
 
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 And the lighting and sound design is done by some gentlemen who have worked with Boston Ballet in the past, Broadway Theater in New York City.
 
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 So it's all professionally produced.
 
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 This year, for the first time only, for the first time ever, I should say, sorry, we are moving our second vessel, the Eleanor, over to alongside the Brig Beaver.
 
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 and they'll be kind of sitting stern to stern, and we'll be throwing tea from both of our vessels that are moored here at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.
 
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 First time since 1773, you've got more than one ship involved.
 
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 Yes, that's true.
 
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 So back in 1773, there were actually four vessels that were sent, the Beaver, Dartmouth, Eleanor, and William.
 
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 The Dartmouth was the first to arrive with 114 chests of tea.
 
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 Eleanor II with another 114 chests.
 
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 The Beaver only had 112, so a grand total of 340.
 
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 The William, unfortunately, she ran aground due to a severe nor'easter just off of the tip of Cape Cod at Race Point.
 
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 That tea was eventually salvaged and stored in the warehouses and eventually met its own fate later on in 1774.
 
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 But four ships sent, only three made it to Boston.
 
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 Now, Evan, you've been doing these reenactments now at the Key Party Shipton Museum for more than a decade.
 
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 I wonder what is the most interesting thing you have learned in this past year as you've been gearing up for this big one?
 
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 That's a great question, Bob.
 
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 I think the most surprising thing for me, and maybe it shouldn't have been surprising, but it was eye-opening to say the least, was the sheer overwhelming interest in this anniversary.
 
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 I live and breathe it.
 
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 My team here lives and breathes this every single day.
 
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 For the last 12 years of my life, I've been dedicating all my professional time to
 
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 educating people from around the world on what led up to the Boston Tea Party, what happened that night, and what its lasting legacy is in a modern world.
 
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 And we take that responsibility here at the museum extremely seriously.
 
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 So I know we're really passionate about it, but with our gray marker programs and most importantly with our tea donation program, which I can talk about in a moment, we have seen overwhelming interest.
 
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 in looking at the Boston Tea Party through a modern lens and trying to figure out how does this 250-year-old story relate to life today?
 
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 Also, just the sheer desire to mark this anniversary, to commemorate both Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' involvement in this, but really also looking at the Boston Tea Party as a global story, not just a hyper-local one here in Boston.
 
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 And so when I've gone to 10 different states over the last couple of years, placing commemorative grave markers, traveling to Ireland, Paris, the UK, I've been overwhelmed by the excitement, by the questions, and by a desire to learn the true story of what happened 250 years ago
 
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 And then again, bring that to a modern perspective.
 
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 So that's been amazing.
 
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 Our tea donations, Bob, I can't even begin to describe how overwhelmed and excited and honored that we have been to receive over 4,000 now submissions of tea from all over the world.
 
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 All 50 states have been represented multiple times over by now.
 
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 We've received tea from Tunisia, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Australia, and many, many other countries I haven't mentioned as well.
 
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 We've received 250 pounds of tea from the East India Company of London.
 
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 They still exist, and we've been happy to partner with them this year.
 
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 We've received tea from many, many chapters of the DAR.
 
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 SAR, Society of the Cincinnati, Children of the American Revolution, and just everyday ordinary citizens sending in envelopes of tea, packages of tea.
 
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 They've created artwork inspired by the Tea Party.
 
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 And I'm happy to share this.
 
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 So Dr. McDonald out of Bridgeport, Connecticut, if you are watching today,
 
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 Dr. McDonald knitted a small quilt here inspired by the Boston Tea Party.
 
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 And artistically, these are the tea chests floating in Boston Harbor after their destruction.
 
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 So it's honestly been overwhelming.
 
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 We have an entire team of people here who have opened up each envelope, vetted the tea, put it all into containers, brought it down to our barge to load into the tea chests.
 
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 And so, like I said, 4,000 plus submissions so far, and it's been an amazing experience for us.
 
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 And also last week, you got a donation from the U.S., from some of our military folks from the Army-Navy game this year, and so you had a donation from the USDA.
 
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 Yeah, that's correct.
 
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 We had an amazing invitation to go over to the USS Constitution and participate in a ceremony there.
 
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 And they are donating a humongous bag of tea, well over 250 pounds.
 
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 I forget the exact number, but it's 350, 375, somewhere around there.
 
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 of tea.
 
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 It's the combination of the 250th anniversary and the number of years the Army-Navy game has taken place.
 
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 And it was amazing to get to meet everyone there.
 
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 And we're so grateful to the USAA and the Army-Navy game for their generous donation of tea.
 
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 So all of that tea is being placed right as we speak right now into our wooden tea chests.
 
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 And those chests have been constructed to hold a decent amount, but not quite the 92,000 pounds that was destroyed in 1773.
 
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 We're not gonna put the audience through three and a half hours of it, but we're retrieving everything out of the water once the tea goes in and looking really forward to throwing people's tea into the harbor.
 
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 And everyone who has submitted their tea to us is receiving a certificate of participation saying that their tea was involved in the 250th commemoration.
 
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 So it's a great way for people to be involved.
 
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 Wonderful, wonderful.
 
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 Just to be clear though, you're not throwing tea bags in.
 
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 No, no tea bags.
 
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 So all the tea in 1773 that was sent to Boston was in loose leaf form.
 
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 Tea bags were not a thing in this time period.
 
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 No tea bricks either.
 
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 Bricks were being sent to other parts of the world, but the tea involved in the Boston Tea Party was all loose leaf.
 
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 There were three black teas and two green tea varieties, and they all came from the Fujian province in China in the Wuyi Mountains.
 
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 Interesting.
 
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 And your museum does tell the story of the global story with the tea being grown in China.
 
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 In fact, you do have one of the chests that was packed in China carrying.
 
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 Yeah, that's correct.
 
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 We are honored to be able to display every day to the general public the Robinson tea chest, the only known surviving tea chest from the Boston Tea Party.
 
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 And it looks a little smaller than you might expect.
 
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 You know, some of the famous engravings or lithographs of the tea party show much larger chests.
 
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 And certainly there were many large chests on board, some weighing almost 500 pounds.
 
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 They were rather massive, especially those that carried the bohe or bohe tea.
 
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 The Robinson tea chest, though, we think was probably kind of a custom size and probably carried some green tea.
 
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 We know that the tea chest was actually really fascinating.
 
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 So the lid of the tea chest is missing, and we believe it was destroyed that night.
 
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 There are...
 
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 breaking marks like hatchet marks in the top where the lid has broken off and you can see the wood has been splintered and ripped open.
 
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 And when we acquired the chest, we also had it genetically tested or forensically tested, I should say.
 
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 And there is Boston Harbor seawater embedded in the wood
 
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 There's also traces of tea stored in that wood for great numbers of many numbers of months as well.
 
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 So it kind of seeped directly into the wood and that is still testable today.
 
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 So we have a beautiful display here at the museum showcasing its story, talking about how it was found the morning after the Boston Tea Party by a young boy about 12 years of age named John Robinson.
 
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 And that chest was then passed down through the Robinson family for generations.
 
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 We're talking with Evan O'Brien, who is the creative manager of the Boston Peace Party Ships and Museum, which has been now telling this story.
 
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 In fact, you recently welcomed your two millionth guest to the Boston Peace Party Ships and Museum.
 
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 We did, yeah.
 
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 I mean, we're so fortunate and we're so blessed and we're so grateful to people from all over the world that have paid a visit to our museum.
 
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 Like I said earlier, we live and breathe this story and it means everything to us.
 
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 And one of the things that we're proudest about is taking the opportunity to encourage people's education,
 
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 and also to encourage them to look a little bit deeper into the story.
 
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 What we are often taught as we're young students is kind of a surface level history of what is a much more complex and complicated chapter of American history.
 
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 And there are still myths that are propagated about the Boston Tea Party that we try to clear up.
 
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 Things like the small difference in number of tea chests or the indigenous disguises that some people wore.
 
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 But when you look at the first person accounts, there are many accounts that say, I didn't see anyone who was disguised.
 
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 Others will say, we believe that a small subset of the Sons of Liberty were definitely disguised.
 
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 So, you know, you have various perspectives of this event.
 
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 The idea that the vessels were not, you know, British built ships, they were Yankee built, captains, crewed and built by American colonists.
 
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 All of those sorts of things are important to know to get a fuller and a broader sense of the Boston Tea Party story.
 
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 And it's what we try to communicate to the public every day.
 
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 Right, we just did a ceremony in Pembroke this weekend, just one of the ships was actually there.
 
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 Yes, that was amazing.
 
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 So we were able to go to the Brick Kiln Yard in Pembroke, Massachusetts, and your colleague, Jonathan Lay, was able to attend that.
 
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 And of course, we're always grateful for REV250's support and partnership in all of these commemorations and great collaborative events.
 
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 and the brig beaver the third ship to arrive carrying 112 chests of east india company t that vessel was built along the shores of the pembroke north river in pembroke in the brick kiln yard and the pembroke historical society pulled out all the stops and did an amazing commemorative event they held i think five or six open houses throughout the month of november and into december
 
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 collecting tea from citizens of Pembroke, Massachusetts.
 
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 So we loaned them one of our tea chests and they promised to take good care of it.
 
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 And when they returned it, it was filled with 16 pounds of loose leaf tea, all from people of the community.
 
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 And we also met a gentleman named Caleb Estabrooks, who has written a few books on the area.
 
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 And he was able to show us various artifacts that he's found along the shores of the North River.
 
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 including a giant saw that was used in creating these vessels.
 
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 So it was an amazing day.
 
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 The weather couldn't have been any better.
 
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 And it was a great way for us to commemorate Pembroke's chapter of the Boston Tea Party.
 
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 It's really amazing how much shipbuilding is going on in Pembroke and these other communities.
 
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 Yeah, and that saw that, yeah, the saw that we were able to see was from Barstow Shipyard along the North River.
 
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 So, you know, all through that area, there were shipyards and all that stuff.
 
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 And, you know, you think so much happened in Boston at the time, and of course it did.
 
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 But without other communities outside of the town of Boston, you know, we wouldn't have had what the community had at that point.
 
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 So it's just an amazing opportunity for us to remind people that while the Boston Tea Party happened in Boston,
 
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 It involved communities all across what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
 
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 And then those participants following the Boston Tea Party, they fanned out, they moved away.
 
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 Some moved away for fear of retribution or arrest, you know, and to get out of Dodge for a while and make sure they weren't gonna get arrested for their participation in the Tea Party.
 
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 But, you know, and they settled in places like Vermont and Maine, New Hampshire, New York.
 
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 and brought those ideals with them.
 
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 And so you can kind of think of the Boston Tea Party as this genesis of, you know, what we look at today as these American ideals spreading out around the young nation and forming the nation that we have today.
 
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 Thank you.
 
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 Let's talk a little bit about the process you've had of marking the participates, which you just wound up a week or so ago.
 
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 About how many folks have you identified who participated and how many have you been able to mark?
 
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 Sure.
 
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 So this year we were thrilled to partner with American Ancestors and the New England Historic Genealogical Society on two projects.
 
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 The first would be to create a more thorough list of who we believe participated in the event that is now known as the Boston Tea Party.
 
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 and then alongside that launching a new program of our museum which is the boston tea party descendants program linking descendants of these boston tea party participants on a global scale and building connections between families and sharing oral histories and documents and things like that our research coordinator kristen harris has been working
 
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 incredibly hard at both those projects building this new program for the museum but also working in lockstep with american ancestors on this updated list of boston tea party participants so that has been an ongoing project of ours ever since our museum's opening in 2012 and it really has taken you know the 12 13 years or so to really feel pretty confident on the list that we have
 
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 of course, with a secretive event like the Boston Tea Party, it's impossible to know beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly who was involved.
 
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 I'm sure there are names that we've missed, and there might even be names that we feel pretty strongly about that wound up, you know, if we get in our time machine and go back 250 years, hey, where's the
 
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 Where's Mr. Putnam?
 
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 That sort of thing.
 
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 But we're pretty confident.
 
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 And of course, I can't say enough about the work of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
 
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 They are the best in the world at this.
 
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 So what we've done is we have placed 140 commemorative markers at the gravestones of Boston Tea Party participants around the world.
 
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 Our 139th and 140th we just placed in the Granary Burying Ground in downtown Boston.
 
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 That was marking the graves of John Hancock and Samuel Adams as architects of the Boston Tea Party.
 
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 They were not active participants on board the ships.
 
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 We know that, but we do know that they were deeply involved in the planning and organization of the destruction of the tea.
 
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 Similarly to Dr. Joseph Warren, who we marked a couple of weeks before that in Forest Hill Cemetery in partnership with various lodges of Freemasonry as well.
 
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 It was great to have them there to mark his grave as an architect of the Boston Tea Party too.
 
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 So we've traveled to 10 states across the United States and three different countries with this program.
 
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 And I think one of my favorite memories of this entire commemorative year is the opportunity to go to Kilkenny, Ireland, the birthplace of Boston Tea Party participant Thomas White.
 
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 He isn't buried there.
 
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 He's actually buried in Pennsylvania, but we were invited by the Kilkenny Historical Society to go over there and participate in a beautiful commemorative ceremony marking his birthplace and working collaboratively with them
 
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 It really was the honor of a lifetime.
 
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 And we felt like we got the red carpet treatment, effectively given the keys to kill Kenny for a day.
 
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 And to see how much it meant to that community that a contingent of people from Boston and America would fly across the ocean to meet with their community.
 
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 to commemorate their chapter of the boston tea party story it just meant everything to them and honestly it meant everything to us and it will be a a lifetime memory and we're forever thankful to that community for for the gratitude that we received so the project really meant a lot and it's been wonderful to work with revolution 250 on this and all the historical societies and communities and citizens that contributed to our overall knowledge now of this list of participants
 
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 We're talking with Evan O'Brien, who is the creative manager of the Walt Disney Party Ships Museum and actually working to do a lot of the commemorative activities that are in the coming weeks, but he's been working at this for a couple of years now and has been actually retelling the story, getting people engaged with this story now for more than a decade.
 
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 And I'm wondering, Evan, if you were talking, we know that Hancock, Adam, Warren were the architects
 
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 They had it on the record that they were at the Old South Meeting House where the tea was being destroyed.
 
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 So who are these guys, these 140 or so people who are actually on the ship doing the work?
 
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 What can you tell us about them?
 
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 Yeah, so we kind of have a tagline here during our remarks and all these grave marking ceremonies that the event was performed by ordinary citizens who did an extraordinary thing.
 
 21:40.274 --> 21:41.154
 So you're right.
 
 21:41.194 --> 21:43.615
 Those architects are people that we're very familiar with.
 
 21:43.655 --> 21:44.775
 We know all those names.
 
 21:45.275 --> 21:50.676
 But a lot of us don't know the ordinary people that took part in this extraordinary event.
 
 21:51.156 --> 21:54.897
 So you look at people like George Robert XII Hughes, a simple shoemaker.
 
 21:54.917 --> 21:57.518
 You look at Moses Grant, a wallpaperer.
 
 21:58.098 --> 22:07.461
 There were barrel makers, house painters, house builders, shipwrights, rope workers, all of these people of common trades.
 
 22:08.501 --> 22:12.402
 And so they risked everything for a cause they believed in.
 
 22:12.962 --> 22:23.565
 And so while the people that we're very familiar with were out there at the Green Dragon Tavern or private homes kind of planning this event, they were up at Old South.
 
 22:23.825 --> 22:25.546
 They were not on board the vessels.
 
 22:25.726 --> 22:26.546
 And so it was
 
 22:27.166 --> 22:30.829
 the average everyday Bostonian who took part in this.
 
 22:31.449 --> 22:45.399
 Also, what I love about this story, and it's great for young visitors who visit the museum, there were a large portion of these roughly 100-150 individuals, they were young adults, apprentices, some as young as 12 years old.
 
 22:46.659 --> 22:49.181
 They got caught up in the enthusiasm.
 
 22:49.521 --> 22:53.164
 A 12-year-old probably wasn't involved in the overall planning of the event,
 
 22:53.664 --> 22:58.808
 But as they began to march down toward the wharf, they got caught up in this fervor, caught up in the emotion.
 
 22:59.048 --> 23:09.856
 They would duck into a nearby shop, dob a bit of lamp black to conceal their faces or put on a blanket and suddenly got swept up into the craziness down on the wharf.
 
 23:10.297 --> 23:15.500
 We also know that's part of the reason why there were so many people who were not disguised.
 
 23:15.841 --> 23:17.422
 They may not have been part of the plan.
 
 23:17.802 --> 23:25.708
 but they got caught up in it and found themselves swept up by that wave and suddenly found themselves knee-deep in tea before they even knew what was going on.
 
 23:25.828 --> 23:34.375
 So it's just this amazing idea, this passion and emotion inspiring these everyday people to do this.
 
 23:35.796 --> 23:37.157
 But also they knew what they were doing.
 
 23:37.197 --> 23:41.941
 They were working very methodically on the ship and just unloading and destroying the sea.
 
 23:43.021 --> 23:43.982
 Yes, that is true.
 
 23:44.062 --> 23:52.347
 So those that were involved in the planning, in the know, so to speak, they worked swiftly, they worked quietly, and they went about their business.
 
 23:52.907 --> 23:57.770
 There definitely must have been a plan in place because they split up into three different boarding parties.
 
 23:58.230 --> 24:00.351
 The men knew which ship they were going on board.
 
 24:00.371 --> 24:04.294
 They knew how to open up the hold, how to hoist up, block, and tackle rapidly.
 
 24:05.534 --> 24:19.565
 and able to haul the tea chests up out of the hold, swing those chests over to the rails, break them open with axes and hatchets, dump the loose leaf tea into the harbor, and then throw the box in for good measure to ensure that all of it was thoroughly destroyed.
 
 24:20.146 --> 24:30.414
 So it absolutely was a planned event, and it could not have taken only three to three and a half hours if it was just some unruly mob that had done this.
 
 24:30.494 --> 24:34.217
 So it was thoughtful, it was methodical, and rather efficient.
 
 24:35.228 --> 24:36.130
 Oh, yeah.
 
 24:36.892 --> 24:45.250
 And at the marking of one of the graves out at Torres Hills, you mentioned that the person who gravely remarked and got in trouble with his parents for being outlawed.
 
 24:46.341 --> 24:47.202
 Yes, that's correct.
 
 24:47.542 --> 24:51.506
 And there are so many anecdotes of that nature, especially the young apprentices.
 
 24:51.526 --> 24:54.308
 I think that was Joseph Lovering that we had.
 
 24:54.468 --> 25:05.258
 And, you know, he snuck out and then came home and, you know, was covered in tea and all that stuff and got reprimanded by his parents for being up past his curfew past nine o'clock.
 
 25:06.296 --> 25:13.901
 So, you know, you look at modern parallels, you know, has your son or daughter or someone snuck out of the house and you didn't know to go play down the street or something.
 
 25:13.961 --> 25:17.983
 And, you know, it's just this, it's this funny thing, you know, humans are humans.
 
 25:18.543 --> 25:22.165
 And what happened in 1773 still happens in 2023.
 
 25:22.665 --> 25:25.947
 And kids still get admonished by their parents for doing something they shouldn't, you know.
 
 25:25.967 --> 25:34.052
 And it's a great way to, you know, to reflect on these, you know, long since gone individuals who took part in this extraordinary event.
 
 25:34.412 --> 25:52.612
 they were people they were kids they were trying to build a better community for themselves and their families and and that's relatable even today but of course governor hutchinson didn't quite see that they're trying to build a better community he wanted to arrest the ringleaders but then he couldn't find any why do you suppose he couldn't find anyone who who had participated
 
 25:53.897 --> 25:54.177
 Sure.
 
 25:54.357 --> 26:01.763
 So yes, Thomas Hutchinson was not thrilled about the destruction of the T, although he did know it was a significant step.
 
 26:02.323 --> 26:05.265
 He would call it the boldest stroke yet struck in America.
 
 26:06.206 --> 26:07.386
 That's not mincing words.
 
 26:07.747 --> 26:09.108
 He knew this was a big deal.
 
 26:10.349 --> 26:17.113
 One of the reasons why he couldn't really locate anyone to prosecute for this was because it was a secretive event.
 
 26:17.814 --> 26:22.157
 Those disguises, those that did wear them, would have come in handy to conceal their identities.
 
 26:22.857 --> 26:27.599
 Also, most of the participants took an oath of secrecy to not really discuss it.
 
 26:28.219 --> 26:32.620
 The majority of them for at least a good number of years held true to those oaths.
 
 26:33.660 --> 26:42.243
 There is the anecdote of Francis Akeley, who supposedly was arrested a day or so after for participating in the Boston Tea Party because he apparently
 
 26:42.683 --> 26:48.949
 blabbed about it at a nearby tavern, but he was also released due to lack of evidence.
 
 26:49.830 --> 26:53.854
 No one came forward to corroborate his involvement and he was released.
 
 26:54.514 --> 27:02.282
 So the fact that no one was willing to stick their neck out to say, I saw George Robert XII's youth and Paul Revere and Seth Putnam
 
 27:02.762 --> 27:08.424
 And Joseph Lovering, there really wasn't any evidence to really convict someone.
 
 27:09.604 --> 27:16.646
 Also, the majority of the British soldiers were out at Castle William at that point in time.
 
 27:16.706 --> 27:19.247
 There were very few people to really stop what was going on.
 
 27:19.747 --> 27:21.928
 But the British did know it was happening.
 
 27:21.988 --> 27:23.669
 It's not like they didn't see anything.
 
 27:23.809 --> 27:32.374
 They were able to witness the destruction of the T. They had the active Captain and Kingfisher vessels just not too far away from Griffin's Wharf.
 
 27:32.694 --> 27:35.295
 But there was a decision made to not interfere.
 
 27:36.016 --> 27:45.841
 And of course, the Boston Massacre had happened a few years prior, and there was great concern about another such event should the British interfere in the T's destruction.
 
 27:47.105 --> 27:56.740
 I should also say, kind of going back to the people that were involved, what is also remarkable about this event, and maybe it's part of the reason why the British didn't interfere, but
 
 27:57.507 --> 28:01.271
 it was so efficient, but it was also relatively peaceful.
 
 28:01.672 --> 28:05.656
 Now, the days leading up to it, you could absolutely argue were not that peaceful.
 
 28:06.236 --> 28:12.703
 There was a great deal of intimidation, threats from the Sons of Liberty, the Consignees, all of that.
 
 28:13.143 --> 28:17.428
 And of course, with the Stamp Act and the Townsend Acts, there were a great number of events that were
 
 28:17.788 --> 28:19.830
 though far this thing from peaceful.
 
 28:20.270 --> 28:26.074
 But the actual destruction of the T itself was pretty measured and pretty controlled.
 
 28:27.014 --> 28:30.757
 To our understanding, there were only one or two padlocks that were broken.
 
 28:31.478 --> 28:33.119
 Those were replaced the next day.
 
 28:33.779 --> 28:40.344
 No other cargoes aside from the T on board the ships were destroyed, especially on the Brig Beaver.
 
 28:41.104 --> 28:50.493
 That vessel actually was filled to the brim with other cargo because she had actually warped in from Rainsford Island just the day before the tea party.
 
 28:50.913 --> 28:54.837
 She was held at Rainsford Island for a suspected case of smallpox on board.
 
 28:54.857 --> 28:56.519
 So she was quarantined out there.
 
 28:57.099 --> 29:02.402
 But we know the Dartmouth and the Eleanor, the bulk of the cargo had been removed already, aside from the tea.
 
 29:02.782 --> 29:11.146
 But the Sons of Liberty on board the Beaver showed great control in not damaging any other cargoes, and very little tea was also looted.
 
 29:11.387 --> 29:21.692
 You know, there are vials of tea around the area, supposedly from the Boston Tea Party as well, so some souvenirs were kept, but the vast majority of the tea itself was destroyed.
 
 29:22.572 --> 29:25.574
 So it just kind of is this remarkable event, and
 
 29:25.947 --> 29:32.329
 you know, a lot of the artwork and all that stuff that you see out there shows this outrageous, unruly mob just smashing everything.
 
 29:32.369 --> 29:33.790
 And it really wasn't that.
 
 29:33.810 --> 29:35.711
 David Plylar, Well, it's very controlled.
 
 29:36.351 --> 29:41.973
 And another of the myths we have is that the ship, there were two ships just carrying tea.
 
 29:42.013 --> 29:44.434
 But as you said, there were a lot of other things aboard.
 
 29:45.275 --> 29:49.596
 And actually, one of the most remarkable were Phyllis Wheatley's book of poems.
 
 29:49.976 --> 29:53.698
 And the museum has just acquired one of the first editions of her book.
 
 29:57.466 --> 30:04.189
 book published by an African-American in the British Empire, a remarkable book that arrived under Dartmouth.
 
 30:05.690 --> 30:06.491
 Yeah, that's correct.
 
 30:06.751 --> 30:10.873
 And we are incredibly honored to have recently acquired a first edition of that.
 
 30:11.853 --> 30:16.255
 You know, that book was in the hold of the vessel Dartmouth alongside the team.
 
 30:16.596 --> 30:19.857
 And it's just an amazing, tangible connection to this.
 
 30:20.097 --> 30:22.418
 And, you know, I know it's been very important for Revolution 250.
 
 30:23.619 --> 30:36.592
 as it is all partner organizations and our organization, to make sure that we use this commemorative year and forever more to make sure that we are also shining a light on more underrepresented voices of the time period.
 
 30:36.932 --> 30:42.658
 And Phyllis gives us a great opportunity to do that, a tangible connection to the Boston Tea Party.
 
 30:44.179 --> 30:47.421
 And to know that that book was in the hold alongside the tea is an honor.
 
 30:47.441 --> 30:50.082
 And I had the great honor of being able to hold it.
 
 30:50.283 --> 30:54.025
 And I got goosebumps to be able to do that.
 
 30:54.185 --> 30:57.026
 So yes, her books were there.
 
 30:57.687 --> 31:03.550
 And her story is an amazing story and one that we've been trying to tell throughout this commemorative year.
 
 31:04.030 --> 31:13.596
 We've partnered with Deborah Wise, a local playwright, to produce several showings of her play, A Revolutionary Counter in London, throughout this commemorative year.
 
 31:14.116 --> 31:21.222
 and we encourage if you ever have the opportunity to go see that production, I would encourage you wholeheartedly to do so.
 
 31:21.243 --> 31:30.551
 We've also had on display some portraits that we have commissioned from local photographer Valerie Anselmay of various chapters of Phillis Wheatley's life.
 
 31:31.211 --> 31:39.558
 And ultimately, this book that we've recently acquired will be on permanent display here at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, hopefully by the end of next year.
 
 31:39.698 --> 31:49.846
 We'll get through the 250th anniversary and then work on a brand new exhibit all about Phyllis Wheatley's connection to the time period and the Boston Tea Party by the end of next calendar year.
 
 31:49.926 --> 31:53.669
 So we would encourage all the viewers today to come check that out next year.
 
 31:54.669 --> 31:58.012
 And we are still learning things about this whole event.
 
 32:03.231 --> 32:14.012
 have these big commemorations of the 250th anniversary with you heading but speaking of shining lights the william that wrecked up case cod was bringing the street parts to boston
 
 32:15.188 --> 32:16.208
 Yeah, that's correct.
 
 32:17.209 --> 32:21.971
 Yeah, some of the first street lamps ever to Boston were on board that vessel.
 
 32:21.991 --> 32:22.811
 And that's amazing.
 
 32:23.431 --> 32:29.873
 And those lamps, I believe, were salvaged, as were some of the other cargos out there.
 
 32:29.933 --> 32:36.136
 And Richard Clark and Sons were part owner of that ship and the consignment of tea.
 
 32:36.216 --> 32:42.038
 So poor Richard Clark had to go all the way down to the Cape to try to get that tea salvaged and all that stuff.
 
 32:42.678 --> 32:48.605
 It is, it's just, you know, interesting to think about the other types of cargoes on there.
 
 32:48.625 --> 32:52.609
 You know, those lanterns were owned by John Roe, as well as Rose Wharf, too.
 
 32:53.831 --> 32:58.096
 But on board the ships were almost everything you could think of, of colonial Boston.
 
 32:58.616 --> 33:14.384
 you had mail, you had shipments of clothing, lemons, depending on what time of year they were sailing, various other types of foodstuffs, both dry goods like grain, wet goods like rum, molasses, and whale oil.
 
 33:15.104 --> 33:16.685
 Both the Dartmouth and the Beaver
 
 33:17.165 --> 33:37.532
 were heavily involved in the whaling industry neither vessel actively took part in the act of whaling itself but they were more of cargo carrying vessels working within the whaling industry hezekiah coffin the captain of the beaver uh was obviously involved in the story too and the coffin family features very heavily
 
 33:38.052 --> 34:05.079
 in the time period um and so both the dartmouth and beaver had brought a shipment of whale oil to london on their journey across the atlantic to europe and they needed extra cargo and ballast to come back to america and that's how the t uh gets on board so a whole myriad of different types of cargoes were also on board the ships not just the team right the a revolutionary space that's the public thunder doll that was
 
 34:05.879 --> 34:07.022
 also on one of the ships.
 
 34:07.082 --> 34:09.207
 And it's amazing what was aboard these vessels.
 
 34:09.468 --> 34:15.042
 Think about these as like, you know, they're like 18-wheelers that were probably following freight across the ocean.
 
 34:15.885 --> 34:16.986
 Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
 
 34:17.006 --> 34:18.928
 They were the 18 wheelers of the 18th century.
 
 34:18.948 --> 34:22.251
 And they carried everything that you would need.
 
 34:22.271 --> 34:26.494
 And that tea, I always find it interesting.
 
 34:26.815 --> 34:29.217
 We try to think about how would they have stored it?
 
 34:29.437 --> 34:31.979
 How would the Sons of Liberty have gained access to it easily?
 
 34:32.620 --> 34:38.284
 And we think that the tea would have been stored right along the keel, that spine of the vessel.
 
 34:38.865 --> 34:40.266
 because it would have been very heavy.
 
 34:40.326 --> 34:41.827
 I mean, no exaggeration.
 
 34:41.867 --> 34:46.049
 A huge amount of the tea chest weighed 300, 400 pounds.
 
 34:46.269 --> 34:48.450
 And so that's a great deal of ballast.
 
 34:48.530 --> 34:51.592
 And you have to have that centrally located in the vessel.
 
 34:51.632 --> 34:53.533
 Otherwise, you can get all topsy-turvy out there.
 
 34:53.593 --> 35:03.638
 So we believe that the larger chests of Buhi or Bohi were on the bottom, and then the green tea chests on top all spread out along the whole keel of the vessel.
 
 35:05.814 --> 35:12.538
 And if people don't know what these different teas taste like, they can visit Abigail's Tea Room at the Boston Tea Party Kitchen Museum and sample them.
 
 35:13.779 --> 35:14.519
 Yeah, that's correct.
 
 35:14.799 --> 35:18.782
 We have all five different types of teas destroyed during the Boston Tea Party.
 
 35:19.582 --> 35:26.086
 Kanju, bohi, and souchong are the black teas, and singlo and haisen are the green teas.
 
 35:26.607 --> 35:28.708
 My personal favorite happens to be the souchong.
 
 35:29.148 --> 35:31.169
 It's got a lovely smoky flavor to it.
 
 35:32.050 --> 35:40.073
 The leaves are smoked as part of the preservation of the leaves prior to their journey across the Atlantic.
 
 35:40.133 --> 35:44.676
 And so they're faithfully smoked and recreated as they would have been in the 18th century.
 
 35:45.076 --> 35:45.856
 It tastes delicious.
 
 35:45.936 --> 35:48.537
 If you're a whiskey fan or a scotch fan, I highly recommend it.
 
 35:48.557 --> 35:53.320
 If you're not a whiskey fan, the conju is a very subtle black tea flavor.
 
 35:53.960 --> 35:55.821
 And then the green teas are amazing.
 
 35:56.421 --> 36:15.502
 um and yeah at abigail's tea room you're able to sample all five of the historic blends they're not changed from the 18th century versions um you know there are kind of modern versions of them out there but what we drink here is is the real thing um uh from you know the same types of teas from the 18th century
 
 36:16.242 --> 36:22.205
 In addition to that, of course, we feature a whole other host of other things, sandwiches and whiskey flights and all that stuff, too.
 
 36:22.225 --> 36:25.446
 But the tea is really the central highlight of the Abigail Avenue.
 
 36:25.486 --> 36:27.487
 If you really like whiskey, they can get whiskey.
 
 36:28.482 --> 36:28.962
 They can.
 
 36:29.082 --> 36:29.403
 Oh, yes.
 
 36:30.123 --> 36:33.325
 We have a whole whiskey flight availability there, too.
 
 36:33.385 --> 36:36.706
 We've got other things, you know, beers and all that stuff, too.
 
 36:36.726 --> 36:49.373
 It's a great place to, once you've thrown your tea on the museum experience, come upstairs, get some lunch, have a drink, and enjoy watching other sons and daughters of liberty throw tea on the museum experience.
 
 36:49.873 --> 37:05.406
 I should also note that we have partnered with Sam Adams Beer Company in this commemorative year, and they are now serving a green tea beer over at the Sam Adams Tap Room at Faneuil Hall and in Jamaican Plains.
 
 37:05.507 --> 37:10.631
 I'd encourage everyone to go over there, and this is all a part of the 250th commemorative efforts.
 
 37:13.233 --> 37:16.356
 And I understand admission to the museum will be free this coming Saturday.
 
 37:17.113 --> 37:18.675
 Yes, December 16th.
 
 37:18.895 --> 37:20.797
 It is free and open to the public.
 
 37:21.557 --> 37:24.841
 We are going to be operating at a slightly reduced schedule.
 
 37:24.941 --> 37:28.904
 However, just to be aware of that, I think our last tour is at three o'clock that day.
 
 37:28.924 --> 37:33.489
 And because of all of the additional prep needed,
 
 37:34.429 --> 37:35.950
 to be throwing tea from the vessels.
 
 37:36.730 --> 37:39.870
 Visitors to the museum, unfortunately, will not be able to go on board the ships.
 
 37:39.970 --> 37:47.052
 However, we will be throwing tea all day from what's referred to as our back deck, the open air back deck adjacent to the ships.
 
 37:47.612 --> 37:48.752
 So you'll still get to look at them.
 
 37:49.152 --> 37:50.853
 You'll get to throw tea into Boston Harbor.
 
 37:51.533 --> 37:56.234
 But we have a lot of sound and tech equipment that's being loaded onto those vessels.
 
 37:56.914 --> 38:04.096
 We're also moving the Eleanor from the east side all the way over to our west side to kind of be broadside to the harbor walk.
 
 38:04.556 --> 38:08.837
 And so we have to add additional gangways and barges and all of that.
 
 38:09.277 --> 38:11.858
 And we want to make it as safe as possible for the general public.
 
 38:11.918 --> 38:14.538
 So fortunately, we'll be able to go on board the vessels that day.
 
 38:14.598 --> 38:16.519
 But we encourage you to come to the museum.
 
 38:16.959 --> 38:20.500
 The interior portion of our museum experience is completely unchanged.
 
 38:20.900 --> 38:24.581
 You can still take part in our dramatic recreation of the meetings of the body of the people.
 
 38:25.161 --> 38:33.483
 See the Robinson tea chest, see our vial of tea and our great movie about the connection of the Boston Tea Party to the start of the American Revolution.
 
 38:33.523 --> 38:34.923
 So we encourage you to come out.
 
 38:36.083 --> 38:36.584
 We really do.
 
 38:36.664 --> 38:37.844
 Great job telling the story.
 
 38:37.904 --> 38:43.365
 So we've been talking with Evan O'Brien, creative manager at Boston Tea Party Shifts and Museum.
 
 38:43.385 --> 38:47.746
 He's preparing for December 16th, the 250th anniversary.
 
 38:47.766 --> 38:52.727
 And December16th.org is where you can stream the events happening online.
 
 38:55.899 --> 38:57.420
 So thank you so much for joining us, Evan.
 
 38:57.700 --> 39:00.061
 It's great to talk to you, great to catch up with what's happening.
 
 39:01.222 --> 39:01.662
 Of course.
 
 39:01.702 --> 39:02.983
 It's a pleasure, Bob.
 
 39:03.023 --> 39:03.643
 Thank you so much.
 
 39:03.683 --> 39:08.326
 And again, thank you to REV250 for all the support and the collaboration this year.
 
 39:08.506 --> 39:13.889
 And I hope to see all of you watching at home along the waterfront at 8 o'clock on Saturday.
 
 39:13.909 --> 39:15.470
 8 o'clock Saturday.
 
 39:15.510 --> 39:15.910
 Thank you.
 
 39:16.431 --> 39:22.474
 And we thank Jonathan Lane, our producer, man behind the curtain, who's been coordinating a lot of these activities and
 
 39:23.038 --> 39:26.859
 Our listeners around the country, around the world, actually, who have been tuning in.
 
 39:26.879 --> 39:38.723
 So if you are in one of these places, send Jonathan Lane an email, jlane at revolution250.org, and we'll send you some of our special Revolution 250 swag and keep you in the power loop.
 
 39:38.823 --> 39:50.486
 So this week, I want to thank our listeners in Philadelphia and in Malton, New Jersey, and in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, both in Braintree, Charlestown, Hanover, and Halifax.
 
 39:51.246 --> 39:57.529
 Las Vegas, Nevada, Wilson, North Carolina, and folks in Bridgeport, Connecticut, especially Dr. McDonald.
 
 39:57.569 --> 40:04.712
 Thank you to the quilt that you sent to Evan, and I look forward to seeing the rest of you as we will fight out on the road to Boston.