Fire takes down Tea Party site, again
Officials believe sparks from a welder’s torch touched off a roaring blaze that demolished the Boston Tea Party & Museum’s shuttered gift shop at the city’s Fort Point Channel - six years after another fire shut down the historic landmark.
The wooden structure went up in flames around noon yesterday and was filled with souvenirs - from rubber lobsters to tea cups and saucers - already ruined by the 2001 lightning fire that closed the popular attraction.
Shawn Ford, vice president of sales for Historic Tours of America, which owns the tourist site, said nothing of “historical significance” was destroyed. Nonetheless, it was difficult to watch. “It’s always hard,” said Ford.
Replicas of the historic Tea Party ship were never in any danger. One is in Gloucester being refurbished, another is under construction and a third will be built on site. The museum once sat on a barge but was moved and dismantled after the 2001 fire, which caused $1.5 million in damages.