Friday, Nov. 13, 2026 | Old North Church | 5:30 doors
Free Registration on Eventbrite
HUB History launched in November 2016, by introducing our listeners to Pope’s Night, a bizarre holiday celebrated in early Boston. Having evolved out of the British observation of Guy Fawkes Day, Boston took the event to extremes. The virulently anti-Catholic colonists in our town held festive bonfires, parades, and plenty of drinking. Almost every year, the celebration would lead to massive street fights and riots that sometimes turned deadly, all to commemorate a thwarted plot against the British Parliament.
The riots of Pope’s Night are a far cry from the Boston that we live in today. Have you ever wondered how Massachusetts went from the stern and intolerant Puritanism of Increase Mather to the hopeful liberalism of Mike Dukakis? From the most conservative British North American colony to the most progressive American state? This live recording of the HUB History podcast will focus on the Puritan legacy that still shapes Boston and New England today.
Despite their stern and unbending reputation, 17th century Puritans saw themselves as progressive reformers committed to continuous learning and adaptation, and the vast woodlands of New England would be the garden where the seeds of a new culture could grow unimpeded by the religious and governmental constraints of Europe. We will negin with an overview of Pope’s Night festivities, then examine how the Puritans created our modern values of universal literacy and education, direct participation in government, and (eventually) separation of church and state. Then we will discuss how subsequent generations of reformers expanded the scope of these rights beyond white, male Congregationalists to all Americans.
Panel
- Jake Sconyers has been the host of the HUB History podcast for the past decade. Before that, he was a Boston tour guide, a volunteer docent at Roxbury’s Shirley-Eustis House, and an organizer of History Camp Boston. He is also the producer of Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness, a new podcast from Queer History Boston.
- Lori Rogers-Stokes is a public historian and a scholar of the Puritan and later Congregational churches in New England. Her book Heroic Souls explored the powerful and confident religious identities revealed in conversion narratives by 17th century Puritan women, while the more recent Gathered into a Church describes how the indigenous nations of Puritan New England observed and sometimes embraced the Congregational church that was thrust into their midst.
- Special Guest to be announced.
Event Details.
- 5:30pm: Doors open at Old North Church
- 6:00pm: Live episode recording begins
- 7:00pm: Light refreshments will be served at the Two Lights gift shop on the Old North campus
Please bring your questions to ask of the panel. Photos are welcome, but because this is a podcast taping we respectfully ask you not to record video or audio during the presentation.
Parking is limited in the heart of Boston’s North End, but garages and lots are available for a fee nearby on Commercial Street. Old North is an easy walk from the Commuter Rail at North Station or the Orange and Green Lines at Haymarket.