Do You Know About Our Crypt?

NARCITY named the crypt at Old North Church & Historic Site to its list of 11 Secret Places in Boston You Never Knew Existed. We couldn’t agree more with author Ashley Rego when she says, “Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy things that are a bit more off the beaten track. Areas that aren’t constantly flooded with humans, selfie sticks, and camera flashes. Spots that most don’t even know to exist.”

NARCITY named the crypt at Old North Church & Historic Site to its list of 11 Secret Places in Boston You Never Knew Existed. We couldn’t agree more with author Ashley Rego when she says, “Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy things that are a bit more off the beaten track. Areas that aren’t constantly flooded with humans, selfie sticks, and camera flashes. Spots that most don’t even know to exist.”

Ranked alongside the Mary Baker Eddy Library’s giant stained-glass globe, a secret steakhouse, and our neighbor, the Spite House, our crypt is prominently featured as the creepiest destination you never knew existed in Boston!

Unbeknownst to many, the Old North Church houses in its basement a crypt containing approximately 1,100 burials. From 1732 to 1860 the church interred congregants below its very floorboards as a way to meet the burial demands of the congregation while also taking advantage of all available space that the church possessed. In the basement, thirty-seven separate brick vaults comprise the tombs in each of which twenty to forty full coffins could be deposited. Although the Church retained ownership of many of the tombs to accommodate individual burials, some entire tombs were privately purchased, but regardless of ownership, many were reused!

Curious about our crypt? Read more in this blog post. Better yet, if you’re in town, be sure to join us for a Behind the Scenes Tour or a Tolerance & Tombstones Tour!