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Make-A-Wish recipient takes part in Boston Tea Party reenactment

A teenager who can trace his roots back to colonial America visited the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum during its special anniversary through Make-A-Wish.

Make-A-Wish recipient Benjamin O., 19, and his parents, Karen and Kelly, visited the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum for the 250th anniversary of the storied protest. Courtesy of Michael Blanchard Photography

By Audrey Cooney

It’s been a big couple of days for the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. Last week, they celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, complete with an hours-long reenactment of the events surrounding the storied protest.

And this week, the ships played host to a family from the other side of the country as part of a teenage boy’s Make-A-Wish experience.

“Whenever I hear that a Make-A-Wish family has requested that the museum be part of their wish, I’m awed and inspired and it makes what we do here even more special,” Operations Manager Ted Galo said in a press release from Make-A-Wish Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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Make-A-Wish recipient Benjamin O., 19, and his parents traveled from their home in Washington state to visit Boston and the museum. The organization said Benjamin, who has cystic fibrosis, is a big fan of American history, genealogy, archeology, and historic city designs.

Make-A-Wish recipient Benjamin O. helped celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. – Courtesy of Michael Blanchard Photography

“He can trace his maternal ancestors to the Mayflower and the Boston Tea Party and has distant relatives who were neighbors of Paul Revere, so he wished to travel from his hometown of Everett in Washington state to Boston to explore historic sites,” Make-A-Wish said in the release. 

The family spent several days in Boston, the organization said. They attended the 250th anniversary celebration of the Boston Tea Party on Friday as special guests and visited sites along the Freedom Trail, the North End, and several museums in the city. They also visited the site of a family ancestor’s home.

“My mother has a book of family history that includes early Boston settlers in the 1600s and includes the stories of working the shipyards, fighting in the American Revolution, and participating in the formation of the new nation,” Benjamin said.

Then on Tuesday, Benjamin and his family got a VIP tour of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum before heading home.

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“Each day at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, we work to make history fun and bring a smile to all of our guests’ faces,” Galo said. “We have been involved with a half dozen or more of these wishes and each time everyone at the museum is excited to help out and be part of the special moments, from our actors to our gift shop and the staff of Abigail’s Tea Room. It means a lot to us all.”