April 2025
Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Old North Church’s Famous Lantern Signal
The enduring fame of Old North Church began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when allies of Paul Revere climbed the steeple and held two lanterns as a signal that British forces were marching to Lexington and Concord “by sea” across the Charles River. This courageous event helped ignite the American Revolution.
Visitors to Old North will be able to participate in special programming commemorating this momentous milestone throughout 2025.
250th Anniversary Lantern Service
Featuring Heather Cox Richardson
Friday, April 18, 2025
7:00pm
Old North Church @ 193 Salem St, Boston
Keynote Address: Heather Cox Richardson, Author and Historian
The Old North Church is offering a traditional Lantern Service on Friday, April 18, 2025 at 7:00pm in honor of the 250th anniversary of the “two if by sea” signal from the church’s steeple on the eve of the American Revolution. Dr. Heather Cox Richardson, acclaimed author and professor of history at Boston College, will deliver the keynote address.
Heather Cox Richardson has written about the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West in award-winning books whose subjects stretch from the European settlement of the North American continent to the history of the Republican Party through the Trump administration.
She is the author, most recently, of the best-selling Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America which New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer has called “a vibrant, and essential history of America’s unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals.” In presenting the 2024 Author’s Guild Baldacci Award for literary activism, filmmaker Ken Burns praised Richardson’s “clear-eyed prose, and the connections she makes with an abundance of skill and just the right word, providing reassurance through her writing — even when the news is devastating — because she has faith in her fellow Americans.” Heather Richardson’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets. Her nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, reaches more than four million readers.
Organized by Old North’s clergy and congregation and modeled on the service offered for the 200th anniversary in 1975 with Pres. Gerald Ford, this 250th Anniversary Lantern Service recalls the lights of freedom and encourages reflection on the meaning of faith, freedom, and American democracy today. It will include inspirational music; Paul Revere’s own recollection of his historic ride and Old North’s signal lights; Heather Cox Richardson’s address; and prayers for our nation as we begin our Semiquincentennial. The service will culminate with the lighting of the church’s historic lanterns.
Revolution’s Edge: Costumed Reading of the Hit Play
Friday, April 18, 2025
6:30pm
Paul Revere Mall, Boston’s North End
Free and Open to the Public
April 18, 2025 will mark the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous “two if by sea” lantern signal in Old North Church’s steeple. To celebrate this momentous anniversary, Old North Illuminated will stage a free reading of the hit play Revolution’s Edge behind Old North Church on Paul Revere Mall. Written by Patrick Gabridge and produced by Plays in Place, Revolution’s Edge is a gripping 45-minute historical drama that ran at Old North Church in the summers of 2023 and 2024. The play garnered critical acclaim and press coverage from the Associated Press, WBUR’s Radio Boston, and WGBH’s Boston Public Radio.
Revolution’s Edge takes us to the afternoon of April 18, 1775, hours before the signal lanterns would shine from Old North’s steeple. With war on the horizon, Old North’s Loyalist rector, the Rev. Dr. Mather Byles Jr., is pushed to “resign” his post. As Byles and Cato (an African man enslaved by Byles) prepare to leave the church for the final time, they encounter Capt. John Pulling Jr., a prominent member of the congregation, ardent Patriot, and friend of Paul Revere. As these three real-life characters have an imagined conversation, long-simmering tensions reflecting the complexities of life in colonial Boston come to a boil. Revolution’s Edge invites audiences to consider the spectrum of political beliefs that existed during the Revolutionary War era and the ways that race, class, and personal experiences influence our beliefs and values today.
The event will be held outdoors on Paul Revere Mall, a public and accessible space. In the event of rain, the reading will move next door to St. Stephen’s Church. Guests will be greeted with live music before brief speaking remarks welcome the crowd and introduce the 45-minute costumed read of Revolution’s Edge. Most audience members will stand, but space will be held for wheelchair and companion seating. Old North’s lanterns will light up soon after the play’s conclusion, at the beginning of the reenactment of Revere’s row across the Charles River.
No tickets are required, but be sure to add the event to your calendar!
Credits for Revolution’s Edge
Written by Patrick Gabridge
Directed and Produced by Jess Meyer of Plays in Place
Starring Joshua Lee Robinson, Eric McGowan, and Dustin Teuber
Revolutionary Sponsor: Freedom Trail® Foundation
Patriot Sponsors: Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, National Society Sons of the American Revolution
Lanterns & Luminaries with Ken Burns
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
11am – 12:30pm
Old North Church @ 193 Salem St, Boston
Third Lantern Award Honoree: Ken Burns, Award-Winning Filmmaker
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the “two if by sea” lantern signal, Lanterns & Luminaries 2025 will be a unique event filled with commemoration, inspiration, and celebration. Filmmaker Ken Burns will accept the Third Lantern Award, which is presented annually to an individual who embodies the values symbolized in Old North Church’s iconic signal lanterns: leadership, courage, hope, tenacity, and active citizenship.
With Ken’s much-anticipated series, The American Revolution, scheduled to premiere on November 16, 2025 on PBS, we cannot think of a better person to honor with the Third Lantern Award in this anniversary year. Ken’s documentaries and approach to filmmaking have been an inspiration as we bring the past to life for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. His films demonstrate time and again that recounting history is not simply a retelling of events and facts — it is finding the human story, the universal experiences that allow us to put ourselves in the shoes of those who lived decades or centuries ago. His masterful storytelling and willingness to face America’s complexity and contradictions head-on have been the platonic ideal we strive for in our interpretation of Old North’s three centuries of history.
This special anniversary program will include a dramatic reading of “Paul Revere’s Ride,” inspiring remarks by Mr. Burns, a short clip from Ken’s new documentary The American Revolution, festive music, and a preview of Patriots’ Day celebrations in the North End.
Tickets for the 11am program are on sale now!
Sponsorship packages, which include a seated breakfast at 9:30am, are available now. For questions, contact Nikki Stewart at nstewart@oldnorth.com.
Can’t Miss Boston Activities in 2025
Take a Freedom Trail® tour with a costumed guide who will immerse you in Boston’s colonial history. Your ticket purchase supports the Freedom Trail® Foundation’s Preservation Fund, which supports preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and capital projects for official Freedom Trail® historic sites.
Visit Boston African American National Historic Site and join the National Park Service for a walk along the Black Heritage Trail®, which explores the history of Boston’s Black community in the 1800s. Learn about the Underground Railroad, the abolition movement, and the early struggles for civil rights.
Cross the harbor to Georges Island, where the graceful granite archways of historic Fort Warren will greet you as you arrive by ferry. The construction of Fort Warren, built to protect Boston, began in 1833 and took nearly two decades to complete. Nearly obsolete upon completion, the island was used as a training facility for Union soldiers during the Civil War. Enjoy a picnic, explore with a ranger-guided tour, or stop by the visitor center to delve into history — and be sure to ask about the legend of the Lady in Black!