Photo: Michael Blanchard Photography/Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is offering free admission Monday to celebrate the 251st anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
On Dec. 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships carrying tea from the East India Company and dumped the tea overboard into the Boston Harbor. The men were protesting the British Parliament’s tax on tea, believing it violated their rights to no taxation without representation.
Museum Creative Director Evan O'Brien told WBZ NewsRadio the legacy of the Boston Tea Party is still poignant 251 years later.
"We often joke there's nothing more Boston than the Boston Tea Party," O'Brien said. "There are central themes connected to the Boston Tea Party story that are very important to modern life. The idea of representation in your government, the right to protest, wanting to be treated fairly by that government, and, I think most critically, ordinary people doing extraordinary things."
The museum has been sharing videos on their social media as part of the “Portraits of the Tea Party” series up until Monday, which highlights personal stories, anecdotes, and experiences of the Boston Tea Party participants and their families. O'Brien said it's important to remember that it wasn't just the elite that took part in the tea party.
"The meetings of the body of the people allowed anyone with a voice to make that voice heard," O'Brien said. "Those participants were common tradesmen. They were tailors, shoemakers, housewrights, [and] shipwrights who all risked everything for a cause they deemed worthy of a great sacrifice."
The museum also released a video of its 250th-anniversary celebrations last year, where it re-enacted the historical event.
"[It] was a sensational event," O'Brien said. "We had over 20,000 people along the waterfront watching the tea go into Boston Harbor."
Free tickets are only available in person, and the museum is open until 4 p.m., with hour-long tours starting every 30 minutes. Abigail’s Tea Room and the museum gift shop are both open until 5 p.m.
WBZ's Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.