Crypt of the Old North Church in Boston

GENERAL INFORMATION

The 30-minute Crypt Tour at the Old North Church takes participants to the crypt in the basement. Tours are typically held from mid-March until the end of December and depart every half hour from 10 AM to 4 PM (off for lunch from 12:30 PM to 1 PM). There is a 20-person limit per tour. Organized groups of twelve or more must make a reservation in advance by sending an email to the church at jhobert@oldnorth.com or by calling (781) 352-2069. 

At the time of this writing, tickets for the Crypt Tour cost $10, and this includes admission into the church. Tickets can be purchased at the gift shop next to the church or online in advance. For the latest fees, schedule, and online ticket purchases, visit the Old North Church’s Admission and Pricing web page.

Visitors await their tour of the Old North Church crypt

CRYPT HISTORY

The Old North Church’s crypt is still in use, but only to hold cremated remains. A columbarium was added in 1990. Burials of complete bodies ceased in the 1860s. Space actually ran out before then, so the powers that be went into the tombs of people who were long forgotten, took their bones out of the coffins and placed them in smaller boxes, then resold the space. Some deceased who were no longer visited were removed altogether are reinterred in a mass grave beneath the church. Supposedly this was a common practice at the time.

Modern columbarium in the crypt of Boston’s Old North Church

The crypt was built because the Old North Church had no land for a traditional cemetery. There are 37 tombs in total, with those in the outer wall holding 30-40 coffins each, and a block of tombs in the center of the room that hold 15-20 coffins each. To hold this many, the coffins were just stacked one on top of the other. Tomb doors are inscribed with only a few names, but there are many more people inside. Due to the cost, only the wealthier people had their names inscribed. Also, unlike crypts where a family owned an entire tomb, those at the Old North Church were shared by multiple families.

Memorial identifies people from different families in a tomb of the Old North Church crypt

Most of the people buried at the Old North Church were church members, which means they paid for a pew. Those who attended service but sat in the balcony were not considered members, though they could still be buried in the Stranger’s Tomb if they had the money. The Stranger’s Tomb was also used for actual strangers such as people passing through Boston, sailors, and even vagrants and charity cases. The church kept identification records on member burials, but not on those buried in the Stranger’s Tomb.

Stranger’s Tomb in the crypt of Boston’s Old North Church

All of the tombs were sealed with concrete or brick around 1860. Seven years prior to this, the city of Boston passed a law stating that people could no longer be buried in a building occupied by the living. Embalming didn’t become a standard practice until the Civil War, so in the early days rotting bodies were placed in the coffins. However, members of the Old North Church refused to obey the law and kept burying people until space simply ran out.

Partially exposed original wooden door to a tomb in Boston’s Old North Church crypt

The coolest stop on the crypt tour is an empty tomb that you can enter. On display are an adult and child coffin from the 1830s and one of the shelves that coffins were placed on inside the tomb. What has happened in most of the tombs is that over the years the shelves have collapsed or the coffins have fallen apart, and there is now nothing but a pile of splintered wood and bones on the floor. If you take the Bells and Bones Tour at King’s Chapel you actually get to look inside a tomb and can see the mess. Workers accidently busted open another tomb at King’s Chapel and reported the same situation. The guide at the Old North Church agreed that their tombs were most likely in similar condition.

Open tomb in the crypt of Boston’s Old North Church

Coffin lid and shelf that held coffins inside a tomb in the crypt of Boston’s Old North Church

There are no nationally famous people buried in the crypt at the Old North Church, but there are a few who may be known to history buffs. The biggest name is that of Samuel Nicholson, the first captain of the USS Constitution. There is a ceremony at the tomb every summer for new Petty Officers assigned to the ship, and those who serve on the Constitution traditionally come to the tomb to pay respects to Nicholson.

Tomb of Captain Samuel Nicholson in the crypt of Boston’s Old North Church

The Old North Church Crypt Tour was my second favorite tour at Boston National Historical Park, just behind the similar Bells and Bones Tour at King’s Chapel.

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