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Bunker Hill Monument Grounds Repair and Restoration, 2021 & 2023

Staircase leading up to the Bunker Hill Monument
The historic landscape of Bunker Hill is undergoing critical repair and restoration work.

NPS Photo/Sullivan

Beginning in September 2021, the National Park Service is making improvements to the Bunker Hill Monument grounds. Major elements of this project include repairing the granite stairs of the four entrance gates, the historic fence surrounding the grounds, and restoring the electrical system in the Bunker Hill Lodge. Funded through the agency's Cyclic Maintenance program, this $1.2 Million investment will ensure that the historic landscape will be restored and safe for visitors and residents to enjoy.

During the period of repair, visitors and local community members can expect some disturbance in the flow of foot traffic up to the monument grounds. Starting in mid-September, two sets of stairs will be closed at a time. This work will begin with the Connecticut and New Hampshire gates. Once work is complete on the Connecticut and New Hampshire gates, they will reopen and the Massachusetts and United States gates will close. Directional signage will guide visitors to open stairs and around the area of construction. The National Park Service does not anticipate any noise or vehicular traffic issues for the local community. Please note, however, that the construction work will require some use of existing on-street parking spaces, cordoned off in coordination with the City of Boston.

Map of Bunker Hill Monument Grounds indicating that all gates are open
In December 2021, restoration work on the Connecticut (eastern), New Hampshire (northern), Massachusetts (southern), and United States (western) Gates completed. All gates are currently open to the public.

NPS

Someone with purple gloves holding a plaster mold of a floral medallion.
Preservationist holding a mold cast from one of the original medallions that still survive in the Bunker Hill Lodge.

NPS Photo

One of the more subtle but historically significant elements of this restoration work includes the Bunker Hill Lodge. Completed in 1902, the Lodge has undergone many repairs and replacements. The lighting in the statuary hall, for example, originally incorporated beautiful medallions set into the ceiling. Later, these medallions were covered and/or replaced with modern fixtures and exposed metal raceways. Work is now underway to restore this original electrical lighting plan, using molds from surviving medallions to create replacements.

Updates

July 17, 2023

Contractors returned to this project to focus on corrections to the mortar repointing work. Contractors worked on half of each stairs at a time, leaving the other half available at each entrance for visitors to use. This work will began July 18 and was completed the beginning of August.

December 22, 2021

The Bunker Hill stairs at each gate (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and United States) are now all open to the public. Resident parking was restored at three of four gates around 8:30 a.m. Parking at the final gate opened by the end of the day.

December 7, 2021

Residential parking will once again become available this Thursday, December 9, 2021 by 3:30 p.m. at the Connecticut and New Hampshire stair gates. Weather permitting, the anticipated re-opening of the Massachusetts and United States Gates and the demobilization of the stairs work will be completed by the end of the month. The anticipated restoration of resident parking following the stair work is early January 2022.

Current work at the Massachusetts and United States Gates include: demolition of concrete at the top of both stairs; removal of stair rails at the stairs; raking and prepping of masonry joints; and the resetting of top steps of the stairs.

December 3, 2021

Work on the New Hampshire and Connecticut Gate has been completed and the gates are now open to the public. At this time, work will transition to the Massachusetts and United States Gates. Throughout December the restoration team will excavate at the stairs, demo and replace concrete at the top of the stairs, and install new drainage.

Boston National Historical Park

Last updated: August 29, 2023