Category: The Atlantic World
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The Real Story Behind Thomas Gruchy and His Stolen Angels – Part 2
The second article in a four-part series detailing the fascinating story behind the Belgian angels on display inside Old North Church. Read Part 1 The concept of the local population supporting the military is not alien to the American people today. The image of the minuteman, the citizen-soldier always at the ready, is romanticized and…
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The Real Story Behind Thomas Gruchy and His Stolen Angels – Part 1
Perched upon the gallery railing in front of the oldest American-built pipe organ, high above the floor of Old North Church, there are four hand-carved angelic figures. They each stand about two feet tall and in a triumphant pose. Two of the angels blow trumpets, while the other two greet onlookers with open arms. These…
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Chief Petty Officers Visit Old North and Samuel Nicholson
Each year a specially selected group of newly commissioned Chief Petty Officers (CPOs) participate in Heritage Week at Charlestown Navy Yard. During this weeklong training cycle, the USS Constitution’s crew teaches the CPOs time-honored maritime traditions such as 19th-century boarding pike drills, War of 1812-era gun drills using a 24-pound naval long gun, and line…
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The People in the Pews: The Vassalls
Major Leonard Vassall, the owner of pews #10 and 11, was born in Jamaica in 1678. Before he moved to Boston in the early 1720s, he owned several large sugar plantations with enslaved labor in his native Jamaica. He was a staunch Episcopalian, became a member of Old North, and was elected warden in 1727.…
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Old North Foundation Awarded $10k in Chocolate History Research
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J., Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Mars Chocolate North America announced the inaugural awarding of the Mars, Incorporated Chocolate History Grant for Research, Development and Investigative Studies to three institutions innovating in the areas of chocolate history research, scholarship and education. Winners were acknowledged last night at the banquet dinner of the Colonial Chocolate Society annual…