King’s Chapel & Burying Ground

Bostonians were not pleased when the original Anglican church was erected on this site in 1688. (Remember, it was the Anglicans – the Church of England – whom the Puritans were fleeing.) The granite chapel standing today was built in 1754. If the church seems to be missing something, it is: funds ran out before a spire could be added. The church houses the largest bell ever made by Paul Revere, as well as a historic organ. Note the prestigious Governor’s pew, once occupied by George Washington, who came to hear a concert. Request a brochure to take a self-guided tour of the church’s architectural and historical highlights. After the revolution, King’s Chapel became the first Unitarian church in America, and today it is an independent Christian church. Besides the bi-weekly services, recitals are held here every week (Tuesday at 12:15pm, $3). The adjacent burying ground is the oldest in the city. The church was built on a corner of the city cemetery because the Puritans refused to allow the Anglicans to use any other land. As a result, these are some of the city’s oldest headstones, including one that dates to 1623. Famous graves include John Winthrop, the first governor of the fledgling Massachusetts Bay Colony; William Dawes, who rode with Paul Revere; Elizabeth Pain, the model for Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter; and Mary Chilton, the first woman to set foot in Plymouth.