Semiquincentennial

This small wooden house located in Boston's North End is the oldest surviving structure in the city.  The home of Paul Revere, it was already 90 years old when he purchased it in 1770.  

On April 18, 1775 the middle-aged silversmith set out on a ride popularized by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow making Revere one of America's most celebrated and remembered patriots from our road to independence.  Consequently, his home survives to this day having not been demolished in the name of urban renewal.   

 

The dwelling has been remodeled over the years; a modernization added a partial third floor, subsequently removed in the early 20th century to restore the home to its original 1680 appearance.  Without the third story the structure had seven rooms and a basement.  For the Revere family in 1770 it was a cozy home for Paul, his wife Sara, five children and Paul's mother Deborah.

In all, Revere fathered sixteen children over 29 years.  Five died at a young age and at most only eight ever lived at home at any one time.  Sara died at age 37 from complications of childbirth of their eighth child.  Revere remarried within six months and his second wife - Rachel - bore him eight more children. 

 

Rachel and Paul Revere

    

Being a silversmith in colonial America was a respectable trade.  In the absence of banks families retained wealth in the form of silverware and decorative objects such as trays and teapots.  Nevertheless, under British subjugation times were difficult and Revere performed copper plate engraving for purposes of printing and fashioned false teeth for his side gig of practicing dentistry. 

 

 

Paul Revere Tea Service - Minneapolis Institute of Art

After the revolution Revere became in early industrialist inventing a method for rolling sheet copper sheathing for ship hulls and other uses.  He established a foundry to cast artillery pieces and some of the earliest bells in America.  He later founded Revere Copper and Brass eventually pioneering clad copper-bottom cookware in 1939. 

As an early patriot Revere was an organizer and his politics evolved into what he is most known-for today.  As a member of the North Caucus, the Masons and the Sons of Liberty Revere became one of the trusted few who knew how to arouse popular sentiment.  He was a talented propagandist.

Besides organizing the masses he was an express rider who couriered message to distant colonies.  His fist documented ride was for the Committee of Correspondence in 1773.  He was also one of six riders who warned other seaports not to allow tea ships to land their cargoes.  Shortly afterward Revere carried the news of the Boston Tea Party south to New York and Philadelphia.  He likely rode thousands of miles as a courier for the patriotic cause. 

Paul Revere's most famous ride carried him only 13 miles to Lexington; yet it would be nearly a year before he dared to return to Boston.  Rachel and the children joined him in the relative safety of nearby Watertown and the eldest son Paul stayed at home to protect the house and shop from plunder at the hands of British troops.

By now farmers, merchants, tradesmen and other colonists had been drilling the military arts and honing skills previously learned during the French and Indian War. They were know as the Minute Men.

Minute Man National Historic Park