King’s Chapel

King's Chapel tickets: which one to buy

King's Chapel stands at the corner of Tremont Street and School Street in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and it is a stop on the Freedom Trail. Entry is by a small donation, and guided tours, including the bell and crypt tour, are ticketed and offered on certain days. It was the first Anglican church in Boston and later became the first Unitarian church in the United States. The King's Chapel Burying Ground, the oldest cemetery in Boston, stands beside the chapel and is free to enter.

Walking tours of the Freedom Trail combine the chapel with the Boston Common, the Park Street Church, the Old State House, Faneuil Hall and the Paul Revere House. The chapel is a short walk from Park Street and Government Center stations. Concerts are held on Tuesday lunchtimes. The chapel is active, with Sunday services. The Freedom Trail's red line passes the chapel, and visitors can follow it without a guide.

Visiting King's Chapel: what to see

The first King's Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 on land taken from the burying ground, for the Church of England, at a time when Puritan Boston was hostile to Anglicanism. The present chapel was built between 1749 and 1754, designed by Peter Harrison, and it is made of granite blocks, one of the first major granite buildings in America. Its tower was never completed as planned, and the portico of wooden columns, painted to look like stone, was added in 1785. After the American Revolution, many Anglican members, loyal to the king, left for Canada, and in 1785 the congregation adopted Unitarian beliefs.

Inside, the chapel has an elegant Georgian interior, with Corinthian columns, box pews and a pulpit from 1717, the oldest pulpit in continuous use in the United States. The bell, cast by Paul Revere in 1816, is the largest he made, and it still rings. The chapel's governor's pew, used by royal governors before the Revolution, is marked by its canopy. The organ case, from 1756, is one of the oldest in the United States. The crypt beneath the chapel holds family tombs. The bell tour includes the belfry and Paul Revere's bell. The chapel's windows are clear, filling the interior with light. Memorial tablets on the walls commemorate early members. The burying ground holds the grave of William Dawes, who rode with Paul Revere.

King's Chapel opening hours and the best time to go

The chapel is open daily for visitors in the warmer months, with shorter hours in winter. The Freedom Trail is busiest in summer and autumn, when many visitors come to Boston. Tuesday lunchtime concerts are free with a donation. Autumn is especially beautiful in New England.

The Burying Ground is open daily and holds the graves of John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, and Elizabeth Pain, said to have inspired Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Allow about half an hour for the chapel and burying ground, and continue along the Freedom Trail. The Old State House, a short walk down School Street, holds a museum about the Revolution and a balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read.