The 238th Lantern Ceremony was held on Sunday night at Old North Church concluding with the Lighting of the Lanterns and Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
In this video segment, Old North Vicar, Rev. Stephen T. Ayres, lights the lanterns (candle malfunction notwithstanding) and gives them to this year’s carriers to symbolize Robert Newman’s climb to the steeple where two lanterns gave a signal from Paul Revere in what is well known today by the phrase “one if by land, two if by sea.” The two lanterns signaled that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea and not by land.
This year’s carriers are children of U.S. military currently serving in Afghanistan in the MA Army National Guard, 181st Engineer Company: Alexis Sweeney, daughter of SPC Edward Sweeney, Jr., and Darren Woolf, son of SFC Darren Woolf.
Following the Lighting of the Lanterns outside Old North Church in Boston’s North End, the British are seen marching the streets enforcing a strict curfew. But then, horse galloping is heard coming down the street, as Paul Revere and William Dawes are off to alert the Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. The Regulars are out! The Regulars are out!
Read the Story of Revere’s Ride on April 18, 1775.
spring was officially in the North End when the Lanterns were hung! A bunch of us used to hang in front of the old Salem Spa and loved when the Lanterns got lit because all summer they were lit and once they were lit the good weather was coming.. A wonderful tradition the renactment of 1 by land 2 by sea.. God bless America!