Boston Tea Party Museum Damaged by Fire Amid Renovations

A long-closed museum commemorating the Boston Tea Party caught fire, sending smoke billowing from the structure.

The cause is under investigation. There were no immediate reports on injuries.

The museum is built on pilings next to the Congress Street Bridge in Boston’s Fort Point Channel, which leads to Boston Harbor.

The Web site of the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum says it’s closed for renovations until fall of 2008. The museum was established in 1973, but closed after a fire in 2001.

The museum commemorates December 16th, 1773, when colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped crates of British tea into the harbor to protest a tax imposed by the colonial government.