Built in 1723, the Old North Church is the oldest standing church in Boston. It played a small, but pivotal, role in the American Revolution.

In 1775, a group of patriots raided the British fort at Portsmouth and stole guns and powder. The commander of the British army in Boston, General Gage, ordered his soldiers to seize the stolen arms. Gage decided to march to Lexington and Concord. Some patriots learned of these plans but did not know what route the British would take.

The only question for the rebels was the route that the British would take. They could follow the land route across Boston Neck or go by water from Boston Common to Cambridge. To warn the patriot forces which route the British took, Sexton Robert Newman waited in the steeple of the Old North Church. He was to shine one lantern if the British chose a land route and two if they went by water.

When the signal came, Paul Revere and William Dawes were to warn the countryside of the invading British army. Dawes was assigned the longer land route. Revere was to cross the Charles River in a rowboat and then ride a horse through countryside. They would meet Sam Adams and John Hancock at Reverend Jonas Clark's house in Lexington. Revere narrowly escaped being captured by the British, but both men made it to Lexington.

Joined by Dr. Samuel Prescott, Revere and Dawes rode on to Concord, warning the militia the British were coming. Because of their warnings, the patriots in Concord and Lexington were ready for the British.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow celebrated the rides in his poem "Paul Revere's Ride." Paul Revere was later buried in the Granary Burying Ground.