Boston Tea Party museum to re-open, bigger and better

5 July 2010 - by ArtfixDaily Staff

The replica of brig Beaver will be renovated as part of the new Boston Tea Party Museum & Ships.

(Flickr user DirkInBrazil)

One of the pivotal events leading to the American Revolution, the Boston Tea Party was commemorated with a once-popular tourist site in Boston Harbor.

A recreation of a British tall ship, the brig Beaver, raided by colonial protestors on December 16, 1773, drew 400,000 visitors yearly, most significantly during the nation's bicentennial year. The site eventually fell into disrepair. A lightning fire forced the museum's closure in 2001.

Historic Tours of America has taken ownership of the historic site and recently secured financing for an estimated $22 million to $24 million new Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.

Two replica tall ships, exhibits, living history programs, memorabilia, a tea room, and more are slated to open in the fall of 2011 or early 2012. A third brig, the Eleanor, will be added in a few years.

Among the historic relics to be displayed is the rediscovered Robinson Half Chest, one of only two known surviving tea chests dumped overboard during the 1773 Tea Party uprising.

More News Feed Headlines

Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American. Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.

First Retrospective of Early African American Artist Julien Hudson at Worcester Art Museum

A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.

'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.

Virtual Art Buying Gets a Boost From New Websites

A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.

An installation view of the new Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Home of the Westervelt Collection.

New Tuscaloosa Museum of Art to Showcase Important American Art

Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. Several key works were sold by the Westervelt Co. at auction and privately. Now, more than 800 pieces...

Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior, painted about 1666, by Eglon van der Neer (Dutch, 1634–1703). Oil on panel. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Seth K. Sweetser Fund.

Museum Curator as Art Detective

At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...