Lantern Ceremony at Old North Church with Fife & Drum, Paul Revere’s Ride & Harbor Crossing

On the eve of Patriot’s Day 2011, the North End paid tribute to the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the hanging of two lanterns in the Old North Church. As part of the reenactments, there was also a little-known crossing of Boston Harbor by Paul Revere from the North End to Charlestown. The three video clips below capture the events, including rare footage of the Harbor Crossing at the end.

Starting off the festivities is the 1st Michigan Fife & Drum Corps marching on the Prado (Paul Revere Mall) off Hanover Street, shown in the video clip below.

The Old North Church hosted the 236th Lantern Ceremony with choir music, a reciting of the famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem and some charitable awards. At the end of the ceremony, a descendent of sexton Robert Newman, carried the two lanterns to hang in Old North’s tower. Highlights of the Lantern Ceremony are shown in the video clip below.

Timeline index for above video:
00:00 Entrance procession
02:45 Introduction – Old North Church Rev. Stephen T. Ayers
04:00 Poem Reading of Paul Revere’s Ride
10:15 Margaret A. McKenna, President, Wal-Mart Foundation
11:50 My Country, Old North Church Choir
15:40 National Hymn – America and Lantern Lighting
18:20 Recessional – America the Beautiful

After the lanterns are hung in the Old North Church tower, a reenactment of Paul Revere’s Ride was held on Salem St. with horses racing down the street, gunshots and fleeing redcoats.

Revere actually picked up his horses in Charlestown after taking a rowboat across the harbor. This part of the story is also reenacted by an actor playing Paul Revere rowing from the North End, off Commercial Street, at the U.S. Coast Guard station. This rare footage is shown in the video clip below.