Fabulous Field Trip to the Old South Meeting House in Boston!

On Wednesday, June 24th, the 3rd graders boarded two school busses to head on into Boston for our much anticipated field trip.  Our first stop was the Old South Meeting House.  Our tour was scheduled for 10:00, but as luck would have it, we were EARLY.  So we meandered across the street to see the newer statues about the Irish Potato Famine.  The kids were much more interested in the people sitting on the benches around the statue - that ended up being a quick visit; and it was back across the street.

Our tour guide at the Old South Meeting House was Erica.  She lead us into the Meeting House where the kids sat in the pews while Erica reviewed the history of the building.  The Old South Meeting House was built in 1729.  Benjamin Franklin was baptized in this building.  Most importantly, the colonists discussed their options when dealing with the taxes England was placing on them.  The final decision to have the Boston Tea Party was made here in December, 1773.

An interesting part of the building includes this octagonal structure above the place where a speaker would stand. (It's hanging from chains right in front of the window.)

 

We learned that this structure acted as a microphone by directing the speaker's voice out toward the audience.

 

Another amazing artifact is John Hancock's travel-size desk:

 

 

The most amazing artifact for me, was this vial of tea leaves which was saved from the Boston Tea Party.  When one of the colonists returned home from the Tea Party, he found tea leaves in his shoes, and he saved the tea to pass down to his family.  Check it out:

 

 

 

We spent about forty-five minutes at the Old South Meeting House, and we sat in the building where the Boston Tea Party was decided upon.  Wow, what a great opportunity to experience history first-hand!