Interesting story out of Boston ~~ Museum Buys Tea Chest Believed to Have Survived Boston Tea Party
The Associated Press
Published: Jan 5, 2005
ap.tbo.com
BOSTON (AP) - Museum and city officials Wednesday showed off what might be called a Boston Tea Party favor: an empty tea chest a teenage patriot purportedly plucked from the shores of Boston Harbor the morning after the famous act of rebellion against British rule.
The descendants of that young American, John Robinson, recently sold the chest to the operators of the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum for an undisclosed amount. The museum, destroyed by a 2001 fire, will display the chest under glass when it reopens in spring 2006.
"It gives the tea party that realness that actually ties you back to the event," said Shawn P. Ford, a vice president of museum operator Historic Tours of America.
Robinson's descendants, the Goodman family of Laredo, Texas, say he found the chest while looking for souvenirs after colonists threw crates of tea into Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773.
Tests have shown the chest had been immersed in sea water, bolstering researchers' faith in the account, Ford said.
While the museum is being rebuilt, the chest is being kept in a bank vault.
AP-ES-01-05-05 1913EST... |
