Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum catches fire.

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Boston Tea Party Museum catches fire
By Javier C. Hernandez, Globe Correspondent, and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum caught fire today and sent black smoke rising above the Financial District.

Fire officials released few details about the blaze, which was reported at about noon. It was not clear what ignited the flames.

Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum had been closed for renovations until the fall of 2008, according to its website.

Witnesses said the blaze began at 11:50 a.m. and described flames rising out of the roof of a red wooden building at the midpoint of the Congress Street Bridge. The building served as the entrance and a gift shop for the museum, which has been closed since it was struck by lightning in 2001.

"There was just tons of smoke," said Antonio Pereira, 65, of New Bedford, who was watching the fire from shore with his grandson.

More than 150 people lined the banks of Fort Port Channel to watch the blaze, including workers from the Financial District on lunch break.

"It's sad they are going to have to rebuild it again,'" said Bob Beyer, a Verizon employee.

At 1:30 p.m., firefighters were still spraying the charred building with water. Flames were no long visible, but dark smoke continued to obscure the blue sky.

The museum commemorates the events of Dec. 17, 1773, when a group of revolutionaries raided three ships at Griffin's Wharf. The men, disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 crates of British tea into Boston Harbor to protest a tax.

The original Tea Party Museum opened in 1973 and included a replica of the Brig Beaver, one of three ships raided by colonists in an act of defiance that helped sparked the American Revolution. The Beaver was hauled out of the water in 2004 and taken to the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center for what was described at the time as a $300,000 reconstruction.

The current renovation was supposed to double the size of the museum, which is owned by Historic Tours of America based in Key West, Fla. The plans called for the addition of replicas of the Dartmouth and the Eleanor, the two other tall ships raided by colonists in 1773.

The structure that caught fire today was heavily burned on Aug. 3, 2001, when it was struck by lightning.

More photos
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/082707_teaparty_fire
 
The adjoining bridge was closed for construction, so I bet this was a contractor's fault.
 
^^ The Herald is confirming that. (In so far as you can trust the Herald to 'confirm' anything.)

The Herald said:
Historic Tea Party dock burns
By Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald Media Reporter
Monday, August 27, 2007 - Updated: 02:26 PM EST

A building on the pier where replicas of the Boston Tea Party ships are usually docked ?went up like a matchbox? today, sending flames roaring into the sky and smoke billowing into downtown Boston.
The blaze, apparently ignited around noon by sparks from a welding torch being used at a nearby bridge project, attracted hundreds of onlookers who lined the docks.
Officials at the scene said the fire is at the old gift shop and entrance to the Tea Party museum.
?It went up like a matchbox,? said the police detail officer who called in the fire. ?The fire was going pretty good.?


Mark Cronin, of Walsh Construction, was working on the Congress Street bridge project and said he and his co-workers tried to douse the flames with a hose, but it was too late.
?I was working on the bridge when I noticed smoke coming up and all of a sudden it was a fire. It came up quick,? Cronin told the Herald. ?By the time we started a hose on it it was too far gone.?
The replicas of the historic Tea Party ship are not in danger. Two of the Brige Beavers, more familiarly known as the Boston Tea Party ship, are in Gloucester being refurbished. The third ship will be constructed on the site that just burnt.
The popular tourist attraction is set to reopen next fall.
?We?re not sure if the fire sets us back or not,? said Shawn P. Ford, the vice president of Historic Tours of America in Dorchester. ?It?s a demolition site and our plans are to construct a new pile field to bring the dock into the modern era. Our plans call for building a bigger, larger facility.?
Ford said the gift shop, which suffered damage in a fire in 2001, was filled with souvenirs, including rubber lobsters and books.
?Truth be told, I?m tired of seeing fires on this site,? said Ford. ?It?s like losing a friend.?
The museum commemorates December 16, 1773, when colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped crates of British tea into the harbor to protest a tax imposed by the colonial government.
The Herald?s Mike Adaskaveg contributed.
For more information on the Tea Party ship, visit www.bostonteapartyship.com.
Click to expand...
Link
 
Of course.
Who else would form a secret organization, plan a devastating attack, hide under such clever disguises and destroy so much of such a vital commodity.

Oh, you are talking about the fire today....
 
A-HA!

There is a "Tax Revolt Day" going on today in New Hampshire today! COINCIDENCE?!?!
Most likely


Isn't every day a "Tax Revolt Day in New Hamshire?
 
?

The point of this tourist attraction is what, again?

I might as well build a replica on my roof, it'd be as legitimate.
 
Plimoth Plantation and Sturbridge Village are 'replicas'; they have their uses.
 
Burned-out Tea Party complex revamp overdue
By Scott Van Voorhis
Friday, June 27, 2008

The Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum, marking one of the city?s most historic events, has sat empty and burned out now almost as long as it took to fight the entire Revolutionary War.

The museum, shuttered after a lightning strike in 2001, was reduced to a scorched hulk last summer in a second fire.

But no steps were taken to board up and secure the property until yesterday, after a flurry of calls from the Herald and nearly a year after last August?s devastating blaze. City Hall owns the site, leasing it to a private Florida-based tourism company.

Plans are now being made to put up a banner touting efforts to rebuild the site. Demolition is expected to start in a matter of weeks.

The charred and rickety condition of the site has raised a range of concerns, from the basic safety of passers-by to the image Boston is presenting to the world.

The Tea Party ship and museum commemorates the famous dumping of British tea into Boston Harbor in 1773 by rebellious colonists. It has traditionally ranked in the top 10 of the city?s most popular tourist attractions.

A steady stream of tourists continues to drop by the site, taking pictures in front of the blackened structure, said Valerie Burns, a longtime resident of the Fort Point neighborhood.

?It just sends a bad message on so many levels, in terms of tourism and the city?s plans for the waterfront,? Burns said. ?I am delighted people are starting to pay attention to it.?

Shawn Ford, vice president of Historic Tours of America, contends more than three years of delays in the renovation of the Congress Street bridge has forced his company to sit idly by. Evelyn Friedman, director of the Department of Neighborhood Development, also cited bridge construction and regulatory issues.

But the slow pace of action contrasts unfavorably with the rapid pace of the cleanup and reconstruction by James Hook & Co., hit by its own fire just weeks ago, observers say.

Meanwhile, debris from the blackened historic attraction blows around the harbor every time a major storm hits, said Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association.

Uncertainty also clouds now long-running plans to rebuild the site.
While Historic Tours contends it wants to start construction of a new and improved Tea Party complex, it can?t start work until it gets approval from the contractor working on the adjacent Congress Street bridge. And that could take months, Ford said.
Click to expand...

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1103532
 
As it stood in September 2006

2006_0905_124832AA.jpg


As it sat 1 month prior to the 2nd fire.

P7060027.jpg


and the 2nd Fire as seen from the Atlantic Ave Observation Deck

1252459692_642fb46d98_b.jpg
 
As it stood in September 2006

2006_0905_124832AA.jpg


As it sat 1 month prior to the 2nd fire.

P7060027.jpg


and the 2nd Fire as seen from the Atlantic Ave Observation Deck

1252459692_642fb46d98_b.jpg
 
The Fence and Plywood are up.

no sign as of yet.

2633865660_e634a1a79f_b.jpg


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/2633865660/

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - 12:00 PM EDT
Owner of burned Boston Tea Party Museum moving forward with replacementBoston Business Journal - by Naomi R. Kooker Boston Business Journal
Demolition of the Boston Tea Party Museum in Boston?s Fort Port Channel is slated to begin next week.

A fire last August charred the museum situated on the water along the Congress Street Bridge.

Fencing went up on the bridge at the site Wednesday and a 22-foot banner, depicting the renderings of the future museum, will also go up Wednesday, said Sean Ford, vice president of Historic Tours of America Inc., which owns and operates the Boston Tea Party Museum.

Ford said the company is spending a hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cleanup, which is being done by RDA Construction Corp. in Quincy.

A construction date for the new museum will be forthcoming, said Ford.
 
Sure are a lot of fires hereabouts recently: this and the Hook Lobster Co. Is there an arsonist? Just coincidence? Vigilante urban renewal?
 
This one was caused by a welder's torch on the adjoining Congress Street Bridge repair project.
 
There were two fires at the Tea Party Ship. The other one was a lightning strike.
 
Boston Tea Party Museum reopening steeped in delay

Boston Business Journal
By Catherine Williams
Friday, August 8, 2008

It?s been seven years since tourists walked the planks at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum in Fort Point Channel. A year after a second fire ripped through the museum?s gift shop, owners say a Boston bridge project has stalled the museum?s projected summer 2009 reopening.

Until the Congress Street Bridge is completed, the museum?s for-profit owner said the reopening is delayed. Bridge construction has blocked utility work and further development of the site, said Chris Belland, CEO of Historic Tours of America based in Key West, Fla.

State officials say the $16 million bridge project, which is overseen by the Massachusetts Highway Department, hasn?t limited site access or caused delays.

?As far as we know, the bridge construction process would not have restricted access to the site,? said Highway Department spokesman Klark Jessen.

Belland said he was in Boston last week to meet with banks and developers. ?We?d like to find a partner moving forward. We?re going to build it,? said Belland, who insisted the delays were related to the bridge repair.

Belland said the company has invested $6 million in the project so far, including $160,000 for site demolition performed earlier this month. Construction could take between 12 and 16 months, he said.

He declined to estimate the project cost to build a 16,000-square-foot building to house a museum, gift shop, restaurant, and observation deck for as many as 500 visitors per hour daily.

The museum commemorates the famed 1773 protest against British tea tax, in which colonists disguised as Indians dumped more than 300 crates of tea into Boston Harbor.

If the museum reopens under Historic Tours? ownership, it would become one of the few for-profit Massachusetts historic sites.

A ?vast majority? of site owners raise money via donations, grants and corporate sponsorships to help cover expenses, said Betsy Wall, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. Wall called historic sites labors of love. ?Frankly, there is no profit to be made on these things,? she said.

In 2007, 18.1 million people visited Boston and Cambridge, said Patrick Moscaritolo, CEO Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. The largest category of visitors ? 30 percent ? were classified as historical and cultural visitors, he said.

Historic Tours became owner of the Tea Party Museum in the mid-1990s. The museum, which opened in 1973, closed after a fire in 2001.

Jessen said bridge construction will be completed by Oct. 31.

[url="http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/othercities/boston/stories/2008/08/11/story6.html?b=1218427200^1681568']Link[/url]
 
This is just sufficiently tacky that you can't feel too guilty about not rooting for them to rebuild.



(Now, Hook is something else.)
 
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