The Boston Massacre took place 250 years ago on March 5, 1770, and this week historians, public officials, students, local residents and visitors took part in a series of activities to commemorate the historical occasion.
Revolution 250, a local organization preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding in 2026, is promoting a number of events to commemorate the Boston Massacre this year, according to Suffolk University history professor and author Robert J. Allison.
“The Boston Massacre is the first event on the path to Revolution. Over the next six years, Revolution 250 is planning more commemorations of the Revolution, to inspire the next generation of scholars and citizens. It is, as Benjamin Franklin reminded us, a republic, if we can keep it,” Allison said.
On March 5, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held a wreath-laying ceremony at Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street in downtown Boston, where the tombstone of the Massacre five victims is located.
The ceremony include a musket salute from the Colonel Henry Knox Regimental Color Guard.
DAR President General Denise Doring VanBuren said, “Nearly two hundred Daughters from across the United States” came to Boston for the commemoration. She called the ceremony the “first formal 250th anniversary event associated with the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration, and we are honored to visit Boston, where so much Revolutionary War history took place.”
On the evening of March 5, the annual reenactment of the Boston Massacre took place outside of the Old State House, where the actual skirmish took place. The Newport Historical Society was a co-sponsor of the event.
The reenactments continue on Saturday, March 7, at the Old State House, Old South Meeting House, and the Printing Office of Edes & Gill at Faneuil Hall.
Here is information about visiting Boston and Massachusetts.