First Congregational Church to Build John Adams Memorial Plaza

In 1765, a new law from England known as the Stamp Act infuriated colonialists as an egregious example of taxation without representation. 

Responding to the act, Town Meeting members in Braintree approved a motion by a young lawyer named John Adams. He and a committee drafted the Braintree Instructions, an official protest to the Stamp Act that was published throughout Massachusetts, helping spark a larger movement against the tax and Great Britain's influence in the colonies.

Nearly 250 years later, Adams' declaration will be memorialized with a brick plaza and informational kiosk at the First Congregational Church, the former site of the Middle Parish Church where Adams read the instructions to Town Meeting in 1765.

Town Council members approved $39,500 for the project from Community Preservation Act funds earlier this week, paving the way for the church to begin work on the 1,534-square-foot plaza, which will also be adorned with benches and plantings.

The Community Preservation Committee voted twice, in January and May, to approve the appropriation of funds. Committee members agreed that the project meets the open space criteria of the CPA because it preserves the historic character of Braintree with a permanent and visible memorial.

"These Instructions are one of the significant documents generated by Colonial America which laid the foundation for our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain," Mayor Joseph Sullivan said in a letter to the council.

Braintree passed the Community Preservation Act in 2002. It is a statewide law that allows cities and towns to put aside 1 percent of property taxes to fund open space, historic, affordable housing and some limited recreational initiatives.

The preservation committee recommended to the Town Council a lower number than originally asked for, and suggested that the church pay for some of the landscaping work itself. 

First Congregational has contracted with Mento Landscaping and Paving Inc., based on Washington Street in Braintree, to put together the plaza.

"It's great to see that Braintree is reclaiming John Adams," Councilor Sean Powers said. "[Quincy] might have the houses, but we have the history."