bostonglobe.nov_._28_2018WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018
TEA PAR1Y TIME
Stephen Chueka, a member of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Historical Interpreters, placed a commemorative marker on
a known grave of a Boston Tea Party participant at the Central Burying Ground in Boston Common. The event was part of the
museum honoring the 245th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, which took place on Dec. 16, 1773. 82.
Honoring 'ordinary' patriots
Colonial reenactors mark graves of those who joined in the Boston Tea Party
By Andres Picon "The Boston Tea Party could have happened anywhere-Philadelphia,
GLOBE coRREsPONDENT New York, or Baltimore-but it didn't. It happened here," said Shawn
A group of Colonial reena.ctors at the Central Burying Ground Ford, executive director of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. ~d it
endured harsh gusts of wind that swept through Boston was that Bostonian spirit that stood up for a belief, an ideal, an idea that
Common Thesday morning as they staked golden commemo-had a 100 percent chance of failure. But they did it anyway ... Bostonians
rative markers into the ground in front •••• did that:'
of about a dozen gravestones. The Central Burying Ground was one of four
The circular markers, each one featuring a depic-cemeteries along the Freedom Trail in which Tea
tion of the Boston Tea Party, mark the final resting Party participants were recognized with the com-
places of many of the patriots who participated in memorative markers Thesday. Approximately 55
the protest in Boston Harbor nearly 245 years ago. other markers were placed throughout the King's
The gesture was organized by officials from the Chapel Burying Ground, the Copp's Hill Burying
Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, which on Dec. Ground, and the Granary Burying Ground, includ-
16 will host a reenactment to celebrate the exact an-ing one on Paul Revere's grave, organizers said.
niversary of the pivotal protest that saw Colonial Museum officials are hoping to continue to
rebels dump more than 300 chests of tea into Bos-honor Tea Party participants over the course of the
ton Hamor, denouncing What they believed were next five years, leading up to the 250th anniversa-
unjustified British taxes, including a tax on tea, ac-ry of the dramatic protest. The plan, O'Brien said,
cording to the Massachusetts Historical Society. is to put markers on the gravestones of partici-
''This extraordinary event was performed by ordinary people," said Ev-pants throughout the country, riot just in Boston, as participants were
an O'Brien, creative manager at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, in buried all over the eastern half of the United States, from Maine to Dli-
a Globe interview. "You always hear the names of Paul Revere, John Han-nois.
cock, Samuel Adams, and they were pivotal to Boston's history and the na-But at the end of the day, the Boston Tea Party will always be represen-
tion's history, but the Revolution ... and the actions that led up to it were tative of the passion and perseverance of Bostonians like the Bradlee sib-
committed by people as ordinary as you and I." lings, O'Brien said.
Among the Tea Party participants whose gravestones were marked "There's really nothing more Boston than the Boston Tea Party," he
Thesday were the four Bradlee brothers from Boston-David, Josiah, Na-said. "No matter where in the world, when you say, 'Boston: people think
thaniel, and Thomas-and their sister, Sarah Bradlee Fulton, who be-of the Patriots, the Red Sox, and the Boston Tea Party."
came known as the mother of the Boston Tea Party after she gathered the
Native American-inspired disguises for many of the protest's participants,
O'Brien said.
Andres Picon can be reached at andres.picon@globe.com. FoUow him on
1'witter at @andpicon.