March 22, 2025 • 12 mins
The legendary poem about Paul Revere from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poignantly lays out the dramatic events that unfolded between Boston and Concord on April 18, 1775, setting the stage for the opening battles of the Revolutionary War. Revere wasn't the only man who made the crucial ride to warn the minutemen, but thanks to that poem, Revere's efforts became stuff of legend. Nina Zannieri, Executive Director of the Paul Revere House in Boston, joins Nichole to talk about the work to preserve Revere's legacy and the celebrations they have planned for the 250th anniversary of Revere's ride.
This segment is the third interview in our new series, "Revolutionary Roots", where we take a closer look at the stories, people, events, and local ties that connect New England to the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary in 2026.
This segment is the third interview in our new series, "Revolutionary Roots", where we take a closer look at the stories, people, events, and local ties that connect New England to the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary in 2026.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together here and talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks for joining us again. I'm Nicole Davis. Listen, my children,
and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul
Revere on the eighteenth of April and seventy five. That
(00:28):
poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a classic. You might
have read it in school or just on your own.
It poignantly lays out the dramatic events that unfolded on
that momentous night in seventeen seventy five between Boston and
Conquered Now, Paul Revere was not the only man who
made that crucial ride west trying to warn the minute
Man of the approaching British troops, but thanks to that poem,
(00:51):
his efforts became stuff of legend. Somebody who knows quite
a bit about Paul Revere, his family, and especially what
happened that night is Nina Zeneri. She is the exis
necative director of the Paul Revere House in Boston's North End. Nina,
thank you for the time here. Before we get into
Paul Revere, and that ride tell us a bit more
about the house and the work you do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
The Paul Revere House is in the North end of Boston,
so it's in the oldest, one of the oldest neighborhoods.
The house itself was built in sixteen eighty, so it
was quite an old house when the Reverers moved in.
They owned it from seventeen seventy to eighteen hundred, and
it went through a number of changes over time, and
(01:31):
by nineteen oh two there was some concerns about whether
the house would survive in a changing community, and Revere
descended by the name of John Phillips Reynolds, purchased the
house and an association was formed and the house opened
as a museum on April eighteenth, of course, in nineteen
(01:52):
oh eight, so we have been I haven't been there
quite that long, but we have been a museum for
quite some time and have always been quite an attraction
in the community. And now we are probably up around
two hundred and fifty thousand visitors a year, which is
a little suppressed as we have come out of COVID.
(02:14):
We certainly have had years and we've had more visitors
than that, and we are the association is the owner
of the property. We own two other historic buildings, one
is a visitor center and one is an additional site,
and we are responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, and care
of all of the buildings, which can be a large responsibility.
(02:40):
But we feel good about the work we've done.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And the beautiful thing about Paul Revere is his story
is well known, I think by pretty much anybody who's
been to elementary school, Like everybody learns about the Midnight
Ride of Paul Revere. But it's important to note that
the poem that everybody knows, it's not exactly historically correct.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's true, and I will begin by saying we love
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In fact, the reason that we don't
have to hire marketing people is that Henry takes care
of that for us. So, as you know, he is
well known. The poem was really intended on the eve
of the Civil War to talk about the value of
(03:22):
loan heroes, the value of individuals stepping up the It's
really about more about the Civil War than the American Revolution.
And because the poem is so well known, it both
obscures the actual facts of what happened that night, and
also things that Revere is also should be well known
(03:43):
for other business ventures and things he did. He was
a very accomplished man beyond that single ride that night.
The other thing that gets lost is that in seventeen
seventy four, so the year before the rhyme, Revere made
many rides. He was the chosen express rider. He was
(04:05):
a trusted rider. He went to New York, he went
to Philadelphia, he went to Portsmouth. In fact, at one
point John Adams said, mister Revere will bring you the news.
So he was vouching for this rider, for this gentleman,
Paul Revere. And so the fact that reverer Was chosen
on the night of April eighteenth, along with other riders,
(04:29):
it's because he was the guy. He had already proven
his value and what he could do, and that he
could be trusted to get where he needed to go
and pass along information.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, that night was of course, I mean, it changed
everything for us here in what used to be known
as the Colonies. And we're coming up to the two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of this important ride. So tell
us a little bit about the plans that you've got
leading up to the anniversary. Of course, the night of
the eighteenth, we'll talk about that. But how are you
(05:02):
at the house getting ready for all of this.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, we have a publication that's going to come out,
so that's taken up some of our time. But we
also have been doing some sprucing up. We did some roofwork,
We have smartened up our entrances so we're ready for
visitors to come. In fact, we did add a visitor
center now seven or eight years ago, but knowing that
(05:28):
these anniversaries would be coming, so that we would have
better facilities for people to use. And the staff has
been working on Last year we covered what we called
many Rides of Paul Revere. We've been doing some additional research,
staffing up, and then getting ready to do a program
on the eighteenth that we think will be quite special,
(05:50):
along with other programming that we'll fill the entire year.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's right, because the two hundred and fiftieth, this
is just the anniversary of kind of kicking everything off,
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the nation. What
we're celebrating is twenty twenty sixth, so correct got a
long way to go here. But still April eighteenth is
kind of the big night for.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You, absolutely, and what we're trying to do with a
coalition of other organizations including Old North Church and the
Park Service and folks in Charlestown, and we are going
to do something that we have not done before. We
have done an event where Revere has rowed across the Charles,
(06:32):
but this time we're going to start early in the evening,
about five point thirty, with Paul and Rachel Revere at home. Okay,
Paul is in the house, he's getting ready to leave.
He will be on the second floor putting his boots
on and sort of getting his head together, and Rachel
will be on the first floor, probably putting a button
(06:52):
on his outer coat, his surtout, maybe packing a little
snack for him to take on the ride. And obviously
they're thinking about the fact that he might not come back.
He might not come back because he gets detained, he
gets hurt, something happens. So it's a really a poignant
moment for the family. You'll only see Paul and Rachel,
(07:16):
but they had a good number of children. She had
six children in the house and a babe in arms
that night, so she's concerned, so she is going to
see him to the front door. They will say goodbye.
He will go out the front door. We hope people
will have gathered to escort him down to the waterfront,
where he will go into the Coastguard station and get
in a row boat. There will be viewing areas along
(07:37):
the waterfront, so you can see Revere rowed by. He'll
do a little loop. He will go to the Navy
Yard and there will be greeted by the commander of
the USS Constitution, not something that would have been there
that night, but kind of an honor. And he will
be escorted through the Navy Yard and then on into
(07:58):
Charlestown where he will borrow a horse from John Larkin,
as he did that evening, and then he will ride off,
not the full ride to Lexington, but he will ride
away so you will see for the first time Revere's
full departure from Boston, which we think is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I think that's awesome, and I agree wholeheartedly. Riding down
route to in colonial Garb on a horse probably not
the smartest idea.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's shall we say, we've met with some resistance for
doing that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I wonder why late at night Mastot probably doesn't like
that idea, but so, I mean, what an immersive experience.
And of course you've got to have the lantern signal
right one if by land to if I see, how
is that all playing out?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, the Old North Church, the Old North Illuminated is
going to be doing an event on the pall reverr
Mall where the statue is, so that people can't get
in the Revere House. They can go there, they can
go to a viewing area and then as after Revere
passes by, you will see the lantern signals. The point
behind that is most people have this notion of Revere
(09:05):
having to see the signal. He didn't have to see it.
He knew he in fact set up for Pulling and
Newman to hang the signals. The signals were two of
the Charlestown Patriots, so if Revere were stopped and didn't
get out of Boston, riders would be dispatched. In fact,
at least one rider was dispatched but didn't go to
Lexington for some reason. So the Patriots knew that they
(09:29):
needed to have a multiple ways to make this alarm
out into the countryside if reverer couldn't get out there
was DAWs. DAWs went by a land route. And what's
interesting is that all of this information is included in
three accounts that Revere wrote, two in seventeen seventy five
where he talks about what happened, and then one in
(09:52):
seventeen ninety eight when he's older, where he recounts exactly
what happened that night. So we know what he did
and we can sort of put that history to this
wonderfully dramatic and exuberant poem. The poem is wonderful, and
(10:13):
the actual accounts are wonderful as well.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Honestly, I have to say the actual accounts when I'm
learning right now, that is more interesting to me than
anything else. The layers upon layers of these plans and
thinking so far ahead in advance. This was a really
complex thing that they put together here.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, and I'm also I think about the families. He's
leaving his family. Yeah, a lot of people left their
families that night, and we know ourselves now at a
time when there is disruption in many countries, that people
leaving their families gives you a bit of a It
(10:52):
hurts your heart to think about it, and you know
Rachel's thinking what if he doesn't come back, And we
don't know when she found out that he was okay,
because the only thing we have was a letter from
May where he's writing to her to say, I want
to help you and the family get out of Boston.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Wow, where did they go?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
They went to Watertown? Oh? Not that he ends up
in Watertown and the family goes to Watertown and then
they won't return to their home until the next year.
I think it's in probably early spring, so they're out
of the house for quite some time. But there's that
whole I mean, Boston. Once the war starts, Boston as
a city under siege, it's not a good place to be.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Absolutely not well. I am so curious to see how
all this plays out. I'm going to try and get
myself a spot down near the Charles and watch Paul
do his thing. But if people want to find out
more information, if they want to come see the house,
of course you've just done all these renovations, tell us
where they can find out all the info they need
to know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You can certainly find everything you need on our website,
Paul Revere House dot org. There will also be information
at the National Park Service, the National parks at Boston
on their website Old North Church, so any of the
key partners Charlestown as well will have information, but certainly
(12:14):
one stop shopping would be to go to Paul Revere
House dot org.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Phenomenal. All right, Nina, thank you so much for your time,
and I hope that everything goes just a plan and
that Paul makes his ride without any issues.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, and we hope the weather is spectacular Fingers crossed.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Thanks so much, have a safe and healthy weekend. Please
join me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week we come together here and talk about all
the topics important to you and the place where you live.
Thanks for joining us again. I'm Nicole Davis. Listen, my children,
and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul
Revere on the eighteenth of April and seventy five. That
(00:28):
poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a classic. You might
have read it in school or just on your own.
It poignantly lays out the dramatic events that unfolded on
that momentous night in seventeen seventy five between Boston and
Conquered Now, Paul Revere was not the only man who
made that crucial ride west trying to warn the minute
Man of the approaching British troops, but thanks to that poem,
(00:51):
his efforts became stuff of legend. Somebody who knows quite
a bit about Paul Revere, his family, and especially what
happened that night is Nina Zeneri. She is the exis
necative director of the Paul Revere House in Boston's North End. Nina,
thank you for the time here. Before we get into
Paul Revere, and that ride tell us a bit more
about the house and the work you do.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
The Paul Revere House is in the North end of Boston,
so it's in the oldest, one of the oldest neighborhoods.
The house itself was built in sixteen eighty, so it
was quite an old house when the Reverers moved in.
They owned it from seventeen seventy to eighteen hundred, and
it went through a number of changes over time, and
(01:31):
by nineteen oh two there was some concerns about whether
the house would survive in a changing community, and Revere
descended by the name of John Phillips Reynolds, purchased the
house and an association was formed and the house opened
as a museum on April eighteenth, of course, in nineteen
(01:52):
oh eight, so we have been I haven't been there
quite that long, but we have been a museum for
quite some time and have always been quite an attraction
in the community. And now we are probably up around
two hundred and fifty thousand visitors a year, which is
a little suppressed as we have come out of COVID.
(02:14):
We certainly have had years and we've had more visitors
than that, and we are the association is the owner
of the property. We own two other historic buildings, one
is a visitor center and one is an additional site,
and we are responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, and care
of all of the buildings, which can be a large responsibility.
(02:40):
But we feel good about the work we've done.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And the beautiful thing about Paul Revere is his story
is well known, I think by pretty much anybody who's
been to elementary school, Like everybody learns about the Midnight
Ride of Paul Revere. But it's important to note that
the poem that everybody knows, it's not exactly historically correct.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's true, and I will begin by saying we love
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In fact, the reason that we don't
have to hire marketing people is that Henry takes care
of that for us. So, as you know, he is
well known. The poem was really intended on the eve
of the Civil War to talk about the value of
(03:22):
loan heroes, the value of individuals stepping up the It's
really about more about the Civil War than the American Revolution.
And because the poem is so well known, it both
obscures the actual facts of what happened that night, and
also things that Revere is also should be well known
(03:43):
for other business ventures and things he did. He was
a very accomplished man beyond that single ride that night.
The other thing that gets lost is that in seventeen
seventy four, so the year before the rhyme, Revere made
many rides. He was the chosen express rider. He was
(04:05):
a trusted rider. He went to New York, he went
to Philadelphia, he went to Portsmouth. In fact, at one
point John Adams said, mister Revere will bring you the news.
So he was vouching for this rider, for this gentleman,
Paul Revere. And so the fact that reverer Was chosen
on the night of April eighteenth, along with other riders,
(04:29):
it's because he was the guy. He had already proven
his value and what he could do, and that he
could be trusted to get where he needed to go
and pass along information.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, that night was of course, I mean, it changed
everything for us here in what used to be known
as the Colonies. And we're coming up to the two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of this important ride. So tell
us a little bit about the plans that you've got
leading up to the anniversary. Of course, the night of
the eighteenth, we'll talk about that. But how are you
(05:02):
at the house getting ready for all of this.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, we have a publication that's going to come out,
so that's taken up some of our time. But we
also have been doing some sprucing up. We did some roofwork,
We have smartened up our entrances so we're ready for
visitors to come. In fact, we did add a visitor
center now seven or eight years ago, but knowing that
(05:28):
these anniversaries would be coming, so that we would have
better facilities for people to use. And the staff has
been working on Last year we covered what we called
many Rides of Paul Revere. We've been doing some additional research,
staffing up, and then getting ready to do a program
on the eighteenth that we think will be quite special,
(05:50):
along with other programming that we'll fill the entire year.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, that's right, because the two hundred and fiftieth, this
is just the anniversary of kind of kicking everything off,
the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the nation. What
we're celebrating is twenty twenty sixth, so correct got a
long way to go here. But still April eighteenth is
kind of the big night for.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
You, absolutely, and what we're trying to do with a
coalition of other organizations including Old North Church and the
Park Service and folks in Charlestown, and we are going
to do something that we have not done before. We
have done an event where Revere has rowed across the Charles,
(06:32):
but this time we're going to start early in the evening,
about five point thirty, with Paul and Rachel Revere at home. Okay,
Paul is in the house, he's getting ready to leave.
He will be on the second floor putting his boots
on and sort of getting his head together, and Rachel
will be on the first floor, probably putting a button
(06:52):
on his outer coat, his surtout, maybe packing a little
snack for him to take on the ride. And obviously
they're thinking about the fact that he might not come back.
He might not come back because he gets detained, he
gets hurt, something happens. So it's a really a poignant
moment for the family. You'll only see Paul and Rachel,
(07:16):
but they had a good number of children. She had
six children in the house and a babe in arms
that night, so she's concerned, so she is going to
see him to the front door. They will say goodbye.
He will go out the front door. We hope people
will have gathered to escort him down to the waterfront,
where he will go into the Coastguard station and get
in a row boat. There will be viewing areas along
(07:37):
the waterfront, so you can see Revere rowed by. He'll
do a little loop. He will go to the Navy
Yard and there will be greeted by the commander of
the USS Constitution, not something that would have been there
that night, but kind of an honor. And he will
be escorted through the Navy Yard and then on into
(07:58):
Charlestown where he will borrow a horse from John Larkin,
as he did that evening, and then he will ride off,
not the full ride to Lexington, but he will ride
away so you will see for the first time Revere's
full departure from Boston, which we think is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I think that's awesome, and I agree wholeheartedly. Riding down
route to in colonial Garb on a horse probably not
the smartest idea.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's shall we say, we've met with some resistance for
doing that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I wonder why late at night Mastot probably doesn't like
that idea, but so, I mean, what an immersive experience.
And of course you've got to have the lantern signal
right one if by land to if I see, how
is that all playing out?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Well, the Old North Church, the Old North Illuminated is
going to be doing an event on the pall reverr
Mall where the statue is, so that people can't get
in the Revere House. They can go there, they can
go to a viewing area and then as after Revere
passes by, you will see the lantern signals. The point
behind that is most people have this notion of Revere
(09:05):
having to see the signal. He didn't have to see it.
He knew he in fact set up for Pulling and
Newman to hang the signals. The signals were two of
the Charlestown Patriots, so if Revere were stopped and didn't
get out of Boston, riders would be dispatched. In fact,
at least one rider was dispatched but didn't go to
Lexington for some reason. So the Patriots knew that they
(09:29):
needed to have a multiple ways to make this alarm
out into the countryside if reverer couldn't get out there
was DAWs. DAWs went by a land route. And what's
interesting is that all of this information is included in
three accounts that Revere wrote, two in seventeen seventy five
where he talks about what happened, and then one in
(09:52):
seventeen ninety eight when he's older, where he recounts exactly
what happened that night. So we know what he did
and we can sort of put that history to this
wonderfully dramatic and exuberant poem. The poem is wonderful, and
(10:13):
the actual accounts are wonderful as well.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Honestly, I have to say the actual accounts when I'm
learning right now, that is more interesting to me than
anything else. The layers upon layers of these plans and
thinking so far ahead in advance. This was a really
complex thing that they put together here.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, and I'm also I think about the families. He's
leaving his family. Yeah, a lot of people left their
families that night, and we know ourselves now at a
time when there is disruption in many countries, that people
leaving their families gives you a bit of a It
(10:52):
hurts your heart to think about it, and you know
Rachel's thinking what if he doesn't come back, And we
don't know when she found out that he was okay,
because the only thing we have was a letter from
May where he's writing to her to say, I want
to help you and the family get out of Boston.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Wow, where did they go?
Speaker 2 (11:15):
They went to Watertown? Oh? Not that he ends up
in Watertown and the family goes to Watertown and then
they won't return to their home until the next year.
I think it's in probably early spring, so they're out
of the house for quite some time. But there's that
whole I mean, Boston. Once the war starts, Boston as
a city under siege, it's not a good place to be.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Absolutely not well. I am so curious to see how
all this plays out. I'm going to try and get
myself a spot down near the Charles and watch Paul
do his thing. But if people want to find out
more information, if they want to come see the house,
of course you've just done all these renovations, tell us
where they can find out all the info they need
to know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You can certainly find everything you need on our website,
Paul Revere House dot org. There will also be information
at the National Park Service, the National parks at Boston
on their website Old North Church, so any of the
key partners Charlestown as well will have information, but certainly
(12:14):
one stop shopping would be to go to Paul Revere
House dot org.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Phenomenal. All right, Nina, thank you so much for your time,
and I hope that everything goes just a plan and
that Paul makes his ride without any issues.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, and we hope the weather is spectacular Fingers crossed.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Thanks so much, have a safe and healthy weekend. Please
join me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio
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