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Lexington and Concord

Saturday morning, we put our bikes back on the car and drove to Lexington. We toured the Buckman Tavern where the Minutemen hung out and waited on the British troops to arrive, having been warned by Paul Revere.

We also strolled around the Green and Kate posed with the Minuteman Statue. My recollections are growing vague, but I seem to remember that the churches flanking the green are not synchronous with the Revolution, but more recent additions. There were a couple of monuments on the green indicating where so and so had once stood, including the meeting house. I tried to picture the battle in my head, having seen a few depictions of it in the tavern, but I couldn't square 2007 with 1775 very well.
From there, we drove to Minuteman National Park, which follows the Battle Road between Lexington and Concord. We biked the remaining five miles from Lexington to Concord.

We saw the place where Paul Revere was kidnapped by the British en route from Lexington to Concord. Thankfully, there were others taking different routes who made it safely and the Concord militia was alerted in time! Along the trail is a low stone wall indicating where farmer's fields would have stood- many are now forest again. We saw many monuments indicating where small skirmishes occurred as the Colonists lay in wait for the British to ambush them. The signage indicated the times the troops had marched through on advance and retreat, as well the numbers of troops on each side. I can't quite express how biking the road made the battle come alive like no battle before ever had for me.

A number of old buildings remain along the Battle Road. We stopped at the Hartwell Tavern and got a demonstration on Colonial surgery techniques and watched a demonstration of Red Coat formation and costuming.

Labels: travel

posted by CP @ 4:20 PM 0 thoughts