MARBLEHEAD, MA MAN TO BE HONORED FOR TAKING PART IN THE BOSTON TEA PARTY WITH COMMEMORATIVE GRAVESTONE PLAQUE AS PART OF 250TH BOSTON TEA PARTY ANNIVERSARY YEAR CELEBRATIONS

WHAT:          

This year, 2023, marks the commemorative year of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.  The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, in partnership with the Town of Marblehead, MA, and Revolution 250, a consortium of organizations working together to commemorate the 250th anniversaries of the events that led to American Revolution, will place a commemorative marker at the gravesite of Boston Tea Party participant Dr. Elisha Story in the Green Street Cemetery in Marblehead, MA for the first time on Sunday, April 30, 2023. This will be the 122nd commemorative Boston Tea Party plaque placed at gravesite of a known Boston Tea Party participant and is part of commemorative year of activities leading up to the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party on Sat., December 16, 2023.

 

Patriot Dr. Elisha Story was born on December 3, 1743 in Boston, MA and became a doctor/surgeon practicing. His father, William Story, was the Register of the Court of Admiralty whose office in Boston was one of many shops broken into during the Stamp Act Riots in 1765 to destroy the stamps, books, and papers of King George III. Despite this, he and his father remained ardent supporters of Patriots. Elisha Story was a member of the Sons of Liberty and on December 16, 1773, at 30 years old, he participated in the Boston Tea Party. After his involvement in this historic event, Story went on to serve in the Revolutionary War and was a surgeon in Col. Moses Little's Massachusetts Regiment from May to December 1775 and was present at the Battles of Lexington, Concord & Bunker Hill.  He was a surgeon in the 12th Continental Infantry from January 1 to December 3, 1776 and was with Gen. Washington during the Campaign of New York & New Jersey in 1777. He married Ruth (née Ruddock) in 1767 and settled in Marblehead and had eight children. Following the death of his first wife, in 1778 Story married Mehitable (née Pedrick) in Marblehead with whom he had 12 children. He lived the remainder of his life in Marblehead and served as one of the town’s Representatives, Chairman of the Overseers of the Poor, and Chairman of the School Committee.  He died in Marblehead in 1805.

WHEN:          SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2023 - open to the public
                       11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.                       

WHERE:       Green Street Cemetery - Green St., Marblehead, MA 01945

TIMELINE:    11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Ceremony will take place at the grave of Boston Tea Party participant Dr. Elisha Story. Ceremony in order of appearance:

• Welcome by Don Doliber - Marblehead Town Historian
• Remarks by Evan O’Brien - Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Creative Manager
• Comments by Jonathan Lane - Revolution 250 Coordinator, Mass. Historical Society
• Ceremonial placement of marker gravestone by Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum costumed Colonial actor

The commemorative plaques mark the final resting places of many of the brave people, including tradesmen and young adults, involved in the “single most important event leading up to the American Revolution.” The image depicted on the commemorative marker is inspired by Nathaniel Currier’s The Destruction of the Tea at Boston Harbor lithograph created in 1846, a popular and often used artistic representation of The Boston Tea Party. The markers will be on display indefinitely.

To date, a total of 121 commemorative markers have been placed at graves of known Boston Tea Party participants buried within some of New England’s oldest burying grounds. Plaques have been placed in the following cemeteries:  Ancient Cemetery (Yarmouth, MA), Baker Cemetery (Moscow, ME), Bantam Burying Ground (Bantam, CT), Blandford Burying Ground (Blandford, MA), Broad Street Cemetery (Salem, MA), Center Cemetery (Harvard, MA), Central Burying Ground (Boston Common, Boston, MA), Chandler Hill Cemetery (Colrain, MA), Cohasset Central Cemetery (Cohasset, MA), Collier Cemetery (Northport, ME), Common Street Cemetery (Watertown, MA), Copp’s Hill Burying Ground (Boston, MA), East Parish Burying Ground (Newton, MA), Fairview Cemetery (Westford, MA),  Fairview Cemetery (Warren, ME), Fuller Cemetery (Ludlow, MA), Granary Burying Ground (Boston, MA), Greenwood Cemetery (St. Albans, VT), Gove Cemetery (Belfast, ME), Harmony Grove Cemetery (Salem, MA), Hope Cemetery (Worcester, MA), Horse Meadow Cemetery (Haverhill, NH), Jay Hill Cemetery (Jay, ME), King’s Chapel Burying Ground (Boston, MA), Lakeview Cemetery (Wolfeboro, NH), Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, MA), Old Burying Ground (Gardner, MA), Phipps Street Burying Ground (Charlestown, MA) Pine Grove Cemetery (Lynn, MA), Private Cemetery (Gorham, ME), Sears Cemetery (Brewster, MA), Skillingston Cemetery (Bethel, ME), Turner Centerville Cemetery (Turner, ME), West Fairlee Village Cemetery (West Fairlee, VT), West Wardsboro Cemetery (Wardsboro, VT) and Whiting Village Cemetery (Whiting, ME).
 

In the time leading up to the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, which will be taking place on Sat., December 16, 2023, additional commemorative markers will be placed at the graves of ALL 125+ known Boston Tea Party participants buried throughout New England and the United States.  

ABOUT THE 250th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
Meet Boston, the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party Board of Advisors (BOA) and Revolution 250, a consortium of organizations geared to commemorate the 250th anniversaries of the events that led to the American Revolution, are working together to create a series of commemorative programs throughout the entirety of 2023 culminating in a grand-scale, live reenactment celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party taking place on Sat., December 16, 2023.  Details of all programming and the major reenactment celebration is available at www.BostonTeaParty250.com. Instagram/Facebook: @bostonteaparty250; Twitter: @BOSTeaParty250.

ABOUT REVOLUTION 250
Revolution 250 is a consortium of more than 70 organizations and individuals led by the Massachusetts Historical Society who are connected by the belief of the value in learning about, examining, and commemorating the history of the American Revolution. Revolution 250 will commemorate the 250th anniversaries of significant people, places and events that led to the American Revolution and the creation of such founding documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. These anniversaries will be integral in engaging public interest and garnering public appreciation for the pivotal role Massachusetts played in securing the independence creation of the United States of America. For more information, visit www.revolution250.org.
 

ABOUT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY SHIPS & MUSEUM
The Boston Tea Party, "the single most important event leading up to the American Revolution, occurred the night of Dec. 16, 1773. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, owned and operated by Historic Tours of America, is dedicated to accurately reliving and representing a key time in history (1773-1775) through actors, tea throwing reenactments, high-tech interactive exhibits, authentic replica ships: the Beaver and the Eleanor and an award-winning multisensory film, Let it Begin Here. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is open 7 day/week from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Summer/Spring) and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (Fall/Winter). Tours run every 30 minutes in the fall/winter and every 15 minutes in the spring/summer and last 1 hr. Closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum was voted #1 ‘Best Patriotic Attraction’ in USA Today’s ‘10Best Readers' Choice Awards 2016’; voted ‘Best New Museum’ in 2012 by Yankee magazine and ‘Best of the New 2012’ by Boston Globe Magazine. To learn more visit www.bostonteapartyship.com or call 1-855-(TEA)-1773. The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum is located at 306 Congress St. on the Congress St. Bridge, Boston, MA 02210, over the same body of water where The Boston Tea Party took place.