BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Down creaky stairs and through an old door at Boston's Old North Church, you're lead to one of the oldest and most historic sites in the city: the crypt underneath the church, which is getting ready to close for renovations.
The crypt is a cramped space, understandably, in use from 1732 to 1860.
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"There are tombs that line the outside of the basement and there are tombs down the center aisle behind us," said Nikki Stewart, with the Old North Foundation. "There are 37 tombs, and we believe that there are about 1,100 individuals interred underneath the church here."
Stewart gave WBZ's James Rojas a tour of the crypt, before it's updated to make the space ADA compliant. Archaeologists have been studying the space to help improve it for the living, while preserving the important past.
One tomb was opened a few years ago, with the support of archaeologists, "to get a sense of what the inside of the tombs looked like and what kind of shape the bricks and the structure were in," Stewart said.
The renovations are due to start in mid-August.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasNews) has more:
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