UU Urban Ministry Walking Tours
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
UUUM is offering two tours in June (and more throughout the summer). Click HERE for more information about the Tours Program.
WHEN: Saturday, June 11, 10:00am
WHERE: UUUM, 10 Putnam St., Roxbury
Route length: approx. 3 miles
Wear your walking shoes and plan to make it a day in The ‘Bury! This expanded tour leaves from the UU Urban Ministry and will explore public art and places of note in the Fort Hill and Sugar Hill areas of Roxbury. We’ll see the latest public art installations at Malcolm X Park, visit the famous Eternal Presence sculpture, hear the story of the first Black nurse at the Dimock Health Center, learn about Roxbury’s history as a brewery town, and see the outdoor sculptures and murals at Roxbury Community College, winding our way back to the UU Urban Ministry campus.
Tour led by: (D)ayenne Walters, UUUM arts liaison
WHEN: Saturday, June 25, 6:00 - 7:30pm
WHERE: UUUM, 10 Putnam St., Roxbury
The First Church in Roxbury is a Boston landmark and is the oldest surviving wood-frame church in Boston. Built in 1804, it is the fifth building on the site. The original Meetinghouse was featured prominently during the Revolutionary War--serving as a military depot and signal station during the Siege of Boston, and as the first stop on William Dawes’ historic ride to Lexington on April 18, 1775.
There are two parts to the legacy of the First Church in Roxbury: the well-known information found online, and the lesser-known history that the UUUM continues to investigate. That history includes the African and Indigenous people who were enslaved by white parishioners and who continued to be members after the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783.
The tour also covers the history of the Fourth Meetinghouse (1746-1803) on the site, preserved graffiti from the 1800s, the recent restoration of the current building, its role as the home of the UU Urban Ministry since 1976, and its current mission of revolutionary thinking today.
Tour led by: Thomas Plant, historian and UUUM board member
