Roxbury's Meetinghouse Tour

Rating: Easy, walking tour stays inside building and close surrounding area

The First Church Roxbury is a Boston landmark and is the oldest surviving wood-frame church in Boston. Built in 1832, it is the fifth building on the site. The original Meetinghouse was featured prominently during the Revolutionary War--serving as a military depot and signal station during the Siege of Boston, and as the first stop on William Dawes’ historic ride to Lexington on April 18, 1775.

There are two parts to the legacy of the First Church Roxbury: the well-known information to be found online, and the lesser-known history that the UUUM continues to investigate. That history includes the African and Indigenous people who were enslaved by white parishioners and who continued to be members after the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783, even while still being seated in the rafters or “Negro pews” of the Church. The…