Old North Church
— — the steeple that lit the country awake.
Not only on a wall.
“Old North Church stands on Salem Street in the North End of Boston, the oldest standing church building in the city. Its white steeple rises 191 feet above the harbour and was the highest point in Boston for most of the eighteenth century. On the night of April 18, 1775, two lanterns hung in that steeple for under a minute — long enough for Paul Revere's signal to cross to Charlestown. The brick is dark with age now. Inside, the box pews still carry the names of the families that paid for them in 1723.
Old North Church, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Christ Church in the City of Boston, known as Old North, stands at 193 Salem Street in the North End. Built in 1723, it is the oldest standing church building in Boston and an active Episcopal parish in the Diocese of Massachusetts. The architect William Price modeled the design on the London churches of Christopher Wren, and the original steeple — replaced after storms in 1804 and 1954 — has stood at 191 feet, long the highest point in colonial Boston. The church is a stop on the Freedom Trail and a partner site of Boston National Historical Park, which the National Park Service administers.
The church is woven around the night of April 18, 1775. The sexton Robert Newman and vestryman Capt. John Pulling climbed the steeple and hung two lanterns for under a minute, the agreed signal — one if by land, two if by sea — that British regulars were crossing the Charles by water toward Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere had set up the signal in case he was prevented from riding; he rode anyway. The 250th anniversary in April 2025 was marked at the church with a public reading and a fresh hanging of the lanterns at the original hour.
Old North is open to visitors most days of the year and welcomes about half a million people annually. The site sits on the Freedom Trail between the Paul Revere House and Copp's Hill Burying Ground, a short walk through the North End from Faneuil Hall. The Behind-the-Scenes tour climbs into the steeple, the bell-ringing chamber, and the crypt under the sanctuary, where more than a thousand burials rest. Sunday services in the Episcopal rite continue at 9 and 11. A small admission supports preservation; National Park Service rangers also lead free interpretive tours on the trail outside.