General Tour information

The tour starts here in the Old Burying Ground, corner of Tremont and School Streets, where some of the great men and women of the early Puritan settlement  of 1630 are buried.

  • Who were the Puritans?

  • What was so unusual about their Massachusetts Bay Charter?

  • Who were John Winthrop…John Cotton… Anne Hutchinson?

  • How did the Puritans get such a bad name?

  • What did they do right that we can point to today?


 

We take a look at some of the 19th century descendants of the Puritans, authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

With this map in hand, discover where Nathaniel Hawthorne set the first and last chapters of his famous novel, The Scarlet Letter.

 

What fascinated Nathaniel Hawthorne about these sunken gravestones?

What was Hawthorne's family connection to the Salem witch trials of 1692?
 

 

On the site of this 1729 Old South Church once stood the original Old Cedar Meetinghouse of 1669. Religious controversy erupted quickly in the new colony.

  • What caused the Old South to splinter off from the established church and become the Third Church of Boston?

  • What Puritan judge made a startling confession in front of the congregation here in 1697?

 

 

Mary Dyer was a Quaker who defied a Puritan ban and returned to Boston in 1660.

  • Why did the Puritans persecute the Quakers?

  • How many Quakers were hanged for their beliefs?
This beautiful sculpture was constructed in 1930 by John Paramino for the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
 

Who are the people depicted in the sculpture?

Who are some famous descendants of the Puritans?

 

General information:

Public tours operate April through October and last one and a half to two hours. Private tours are available upon request. Each participant receives a copy of the Bonner map of 1722 with Puritan sites highlighted and a bibliography for further research.

 

 

For reservations call: 1- 617- 407-2805
or email: info@puritan-tour.com 

 

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