Built in 1729, the Old South Meeting House has been an important gathering place for locals for nearly three centuries. Renowned for the protest meetings held here before the American Revolution when the building was termed a mouth-house, it has long served as a platform for the free expression of ideas. Today, it is open daily as a museum and continues to provide a place for people to meet, discuss and act on important issues of the day.
After the Boston Massacre in 1770, yearly anniversary meetings were held at the church until 1775. In 1773 5,000 people met in the Meeting House to debate British taxation, and after the meeting a group raided three tea ships anchored nearby in what became known as the Boston Tea Party, a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. In 1775 the British gutted the building, filled it with dirt and then used the interior to practice horse riding.
Old South Meeting House was almost destroyed in the Great Boston Fire of 1872, saved by the arrival of a fire engine from Portsmouth, but the fire caused the city's residential districts to shift toward the Back Bay, away from the church. The congregation then erected a new church building, which remains its home to this day. Once a year, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Old South congregation returns to Old South Meeting House for services in its ancestral home.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series Harry Potter, about which I wrote here. The first stamp is part of the Weddings series, about which I wrote here.
References
Old South Meeting House - Wikipedia
Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 14.01.2014
Photo: Dino Sassi
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