Place

Site of the Coffin Pitts House

A multi-story grey building with three windows on each floor and a brick building on either side.
The site of Coffin Pitts' house at 67 Joy Street (formerly Belknap Street).

NPS Photo/Pollock

Quick Facts
Location:
67 Joy Street
Significance:
Home of an early Black abolitionist
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private Residence

Coffin Pitts lived at this site from 1835 until his death in 1871. Pitts served in the Massachusetts General Colored Association, an early Black abolitionist organization, and assisted freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. For example, Pitts’ harbored Anthony Burns in his home prior to Burns’ arrest in May 1854.1

Selection about Anthony Burns boarding at Pitts' home.

This text describes Anthony Burns working at Pitts' store. (Credit: Charles Emery Stevens, "Anthony Burns: A History," 1856)

Footnotes

  1. Kathryn Grover and Janine V. Da Silva, "Historic Resource Study: Boston African American National Historic Site," Boston African American National Historic Site, (2002), 55-58.

Boston African American National Historic Site

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Last updated: January 8, 2023