Boston Tea Party Ships And Museum Reopens

This week, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum reopened its doors to the public after an 11-year hiatus. The museum that commemorates the 1773 Boston Tea Party opened more than 40 years ago; however, the Boston Tea Party Museum closed in August 2001 after it burnt down from catching fire during a lightning storm.

After the fire, museum backers struggled to raise money to complete the renovation, but according to the Boston Globe, the state of Massachusetts gave the museum an $18 million loan for renovations in order to reopen. The Boston Tea Party Museum was built near the site of the 18th-century tea-dumping protest along the channel.

The museum features the Beaver, the Eleanor, and the Dartmouth, three historically accurate ships that took part in the original Boston Tea Party event on December 16, 1773. Museum-goers can board the ships and even dump tea crates overboard.

The museum also features Abigail's Tea Room and the original Robinson Tea Chest, the tea box that Colonialists threw overboard into the Boston Harbor to protest a tea tax imposed by the British. The museum is open daily and tickets are $25 for adults.