Paul Revere Heritage Site

The Paul Revere Heritage Site includes a nine-acre park, historic buildings, waterways and dams, and the Northern Spy Restaurant.

 

From their website; edited:

The Paul Revere Heritage Site (PRHS) is a nine-acre parcel on the east branch of the Neponset River located in the heart of Canton, Massachusetts. It was here that the genius and audacity of Paul Revere and his family met a young nation’s need for high quality copper sheathing, along with brass items from bells to cannons.

It was also here that the major threads that ran through American politics and philosophical ideology at the turn of the 19th century can be found: the rise of the entrepreneurial spirit, the debated need for a strong navy and centralized government, the importance of water to power manufacturing, the need for water rights.

Each of these elements played out and became key factors in the struggles and ultimate triumphs of Paul Revere, his son Joseph Warren Revere and lastly his grandson Frederick Walker Lincoln.  Their success significantly impacted the town of Canton and on a larger scale economic development in an increasingly mechanized world.

The Revere Copper Company

In 1776, Paul Revere, on instructions from the Continental Congress, supervised the construction of a gun powder mill on what is now the Paul Revere Heritage Site.  But it was in 1801 that 65-year-old Paul Revere, having won a US naval contract to roll copper sheets to cover the hulls of new warships, bought the site from the owners of the Leonard and Kinsley forge, moved to the site and built the Revere Copper Company. The site, on the east branch of the Neponset River, was crucial to Paul Revere as he required an energy-providing water supply for his ‘manufactury’.

Revere’s copper company rolled copper for the hull of the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), the dome of the Massachusetts State House, and the boilers of Robert Fulton’ steam ships. Revere Cannons survive on many Civil War battlefields and the Revere bells hang from many a steeple.

In a period of the company’s expansion from 1845-1855, Joseph Warren Revere, built the two remaining structures from the original Revere Copper Company: the  brick Copper Rolling Mill and the wood Historic Barn.

Toward a heritage park

In 2015, the Paul Revere Heritage Commission was appointed by the Canton Select Board and planning for the development of the historical site began.

The nine acres of parkland were opened in the spring of 2020 and provided the community with much needed open space during the pandemic with accessible walkways and landscaped premises. Visitors now learn of the site’s history and importance through many interpretive signs, view the two beautiful dams on the property and witness the return of wildlife, including the sighting of a Great Blue Heron among other river animals.

The brick Copper Rolling Mill 

Renovation of the brick Copper Rolling Mill, shown above, was completed in 2021.  Though the original mill had just one level, the restored mill has two. 

The second level of the mill houses Copper Mill Hall, with previews of the exhibits and themes now under development in preparation of the future museum to be housed in the adjacent yellow Historic Barn.  

The Revere & Son Heritage Trust Corporation

The new Board of Directors of the Revere & Son Heritage Trust Corporation, established in 2020 by a Special Act of the Massachusetts State Legislature, is now involved in the master planning of the permanent home of the museum to be located in the adjacent yellow barn.

Source: Paul Revere Museum site; edited by The History List.