Barge towed from Quincy shipyard to Tea Party Museum
By Steve Adams
The Patriot Ledger
A key component of the new floating Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum was towed from Quincy to its permanent berth in the Fort Point Channel last week.
Boston Tea Party Museum & Ships - Fort Point Channel Boston
(Photo Credit: Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum)
The 360-ton barge constructed at the Fore River Shipyard will contain many of the exhibits at the $27 million museum, including one of two surviving crates of tea from the 1773 anti-tax uprising.
Marine contractor RDA Construction of Quincy assembled the steel structure over a six-month period.
Using bulldozers and cranes, work crews last week suspended the barge above the water line on a teeter-totter assembly until the next high tide tipped it into the Fore River, said Shawn Ford, executive director of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum.
It took a pair of tugboats four hours to tow the 200-foot-long barge to its permanent home alongside the Congress Street bridge.
“The reason it took so long is it wasn’t built to go through water,” Ford said. “It doesn’t have a bow. It’s a big square 380-ton box.”
The original Tea Party Museum closed after a fire in 2001, and preparations for its reopening were set back by a second blaze in 2007.
The floating museum will include interactive exhibits, a tavern, tea room and gift shop. Two tall ship replicas are being built in Gloucester and will be berthed alongside the museum. A third will be built after the museum opens June 25, Ford said.
The company that is behind the project, Key West, Fla.-based Historic Tours of America, has received funding assistance from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which granted it an $18 million loan, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which gave the project a $3-million grant.
Steve Adams may be reached at sadams@ledger.com.
Copyright 2011 The Patriot Ledger.
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Boston Tea Party Museum Video
Article Courtesy of: NorthEndWaterfront.com
The City of Boston, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Freedom Trail® Foundation, and partner representatives joined forces to open the new waterfront Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Visitor Information Center and launch the Foundation’s Pirates & Patriots Tour, including (back, left to right) Mike Cantalupa, Boston Properties; Tim Kirwan, InterContinental Hotel; Pat Moscoritolo, Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau; Bill Linehan, Boston City Councilor; Mayor Thomas Menino; Shawn P. Ford, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum; Mimi La Camera, Freedom Trail Foundation; Jim Rooney, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority; with (front, left to right) Freedom Trail Foundation Players patriot Jon Rice and pirates Chris Schultz and Josh Rudy.
The new waterfront Visitor Information Center, located at 510 Atlantic Avenue, and the Pirates & Patriots Tour, offered daily at 12:30 p.m. from Faneuil Hall’s ArtsBoston booth, provide fun and educational information for residents and visitors alike.
(Photo Credit: Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum)
Check out the new Pirates & Patriots tour, leaving from Faneuil Hall Marketplace (ArtsBoston Booth) every day at 12:30 P.M.
More information:
http://www.bostonteapartyship.com
http://www.thefreedomtrail.org
http://www.friendsoffortpointchannel.org
Social - Fort Point Boston