Revolutionaries and Loyalists: Historic Graveyard Tour

A narrative history tour of the colonial graveyard dating to 1740/41 surrounding St. Paul’s Episcopal Church takes place on Sunday, May 25th at 1:30 pm. The tour begins with a history of St. Paul’s parish from its founding in 1711 in British America during the reign of Queen Anne through the Revolutionary period before visiting the grave sites of early Newburyporters. Hear about the shipbuilders and merchants who amassed tremendous wealth, revolutionary leaders like Tristram Dalton, who became the first senator from Massachusetts, loyalists whose lives were impoverished and shattered by the Revolution, the Newburyport sea captain who transported Thomas Jefferson to Paris in 1783, and the gravesite of the only known African American buried in the graveyard. The tour will tell the story of Rev. Edward Bass, who became the first Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts. During the Revolution, he had to choose between his loyalty to the crown and his devotion to his church and congregation.

The tour is filled with liberal doses of  Revolutionary War history as we look at the lives of Newburyporters during this turbulent period and discuss gravestone art, symbolism, and poetry.

Gather at 1:30 pm by the front doors of St. Paul’s Church, 166 High Street, Newburyport, MA. The tour is free. Call 978-697-4084 for more information.

Also check out other Arts events in Newburyport, Literary Art events in Newburyport.