The evening will start at 6:30 P.M. with music by a colonial fife and drum corps. At 7:00, the seated program will begin.
After the traditional performance of H. W. Longfellow’s poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” this year’s event will feature a keynote address by Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed, recipient of the organization’s Third Lantern Award.
Gordon-Reed is the author of six books, including Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy and The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, winner of a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. She has received the National Humanities Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship.
The formal program ends about 8:00, after which attendees can stay for the post-program reception, with food, drink, and musical entertainment, and the lighting of the lantern signals in the church spire.
Several years ago I gave a Patriots Day talk about Paul Revere’s April mission on the other side of the Charles River. As soon as the two lanterns appeared in the Old North steeple, I broke off. I knew I couldn’t compete. Everyone in the room could enjoy that iconic American sight (even if the original signal had almost no effect on what happened next).
Old North Illuminated, formerly called the Old North Foundation, is the secular nonprofit organization that works with the church to preserve and protect that 1723 landmark. It describes its mission as “working to inspire active citizenship and courageous, compassionate leadership by interpreting and preserving the Old North Church & Historic Site” and developing “educational programs that engage a wide range of audiences in the fundamental question of what it means to be informed and active in your community.”
For “Lanterns & Luminaries,” seats in the ground-level pews cost $200, and seats in gallery cost $75.
(Photo from 2016 above courtesy of North End Waterfront.)
Fun facts to know and tell. A few decades ago I was talking with a structural engineer involved in the restoration of the spire. In thee interest of authenticity they needed large dimension seasoned chestnut lumber. They scoured the country with no success. Chestnut blight in the early 20th century had decimated stocks.
ReplyDeleteIn near despair and about to give, up a supply of the necessary wood was finally found.
The US Navy keeps a supply of seasoned chestnut to use in repairs on the USS Constitution. The needed lumber was sitting across the Charles, on a dock, under a tarp, clearly visible from the Old North spire.