WHERE HISTORY LIVES ON
LONGFELLOW’S POEM CAME TO LIFE DURING OUR DAY TRIP TO
Lexington and Concord as we traced the path of the American silversmith and patriot on his midnight gallop to alert the countryside on the approach of the British forces.
About 15 miles from the city of Boston, the small preserve of Lexington is where the first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired, and it is home to several parks and monuments, mostly dating from colonial times, all with historical importance.
The Battle of Lexington – our tour guide pointed out it was more of a skirmish – was fought on April 19, 1775, which marked the outbreak of the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its 13 colonies in America.
We immediately headed to the 2.5-acre grassy triangle known as the Lexington Common, the historic spot where the neighborhood militia organized to defend settlers from civil unrest and impending attacks. They earned the nickname Minutemen because they were ready to fight all at a minute’s notice.
This particular sprawl was where nearly 240 British soldiers advanced to meet an undersized contingent of Minutemen. As they cautiously eyed each other, a bullet suddenly whizzed through the morning air – dubbed as “the shot heard round the world” – which started the uprising.
A towering flagpole, engraved with the words “Birthplace of American Liberty” on its base, boasts of a huge flag which flies 24 hours day and night as declared by an act of Congress, one of the few exceptions in the entire United States of America where it is free to do so.
Among the many stones and boulders which dot the remembrance were commemorative markers, including the site of the Old Belfry Tower “from which an alarm was rung” during the start of the war, and the location of the first three houses in Lexington built in 1692 when the town was a parish of Cam- bridge.
Today, the entire park has been designated as a Registered National Historic Landmark. On the day of our visit, we noticed young men and women in complete uniform from the nation’s police force on familiarization trips, all showing reverence as they spoke in hushed whispers.
The setting is likewise surrounded by old wooden houses – some of which probably date back to the 1770s – all proudly displaying the country’s Stars and Stripes on their front yards.
A structure of note is The Buckman Tavern, yet another National Historic Landmark closely tied to the revolution and now concurrently a museum.
The pub’s interior features a Tap Room with a homey hearth and a central chimney, which magically resembles a sentimental sepia photograph of olden days.
Back then, the bar was a favorite gathering place for militiamen after their trainings at the close-by Lexington Green. During the hours leading to the war, the military waited inside the tavern-headquarters for the invasion of the British troops.
This bar is likewise considered one of the busiest watering holes, and later on hosted the town’s very first then-essential post office.
Our next stop was the nearby pocket town of Concord, just another 15-minute drive away.
We headed to the Minuteman National Historical Park, which commemorates the opening battle.
Our attention was caught by costumed volunteers who were re-enacting anecdotes on the past occurrences. One of them recalled that after the British forces killed some Americans on Lexington Green, their advance to Concord was thwarted by militia lying in wait, who intercepted them and inflicted over 120 casualties.
The sacred ground hosts the Old North Bridge – the current wooden pedestrian walkway is a replica of the original one – from where Major John Buttrick issued the fateful command, “Fire, fellow soldiers, for God’s sake, fire!” For the first time, colonists were ordered to fire upon the army of their King.
Overlooking this platform is The Old Manse, the home from where William Emerson Sr. witnessed this battle. He went on to become a chaplain in the continental army.
His grandson, essayist, lecturer and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, known for his essay “Nature” which sparked the transcendentalist movement, eventually moved into this chateau and quickly became the town’s most prominent citizen.
Through the years, not to be outdone, though, other literary geniuses were likewise inhabitants of this suburb.
The peach and gray abode called The Wayside became the home of novelist and poet Louisa May Alcott, best known for her masterpiece
Little Women, which details the passage of four sisters from childhood to womanhood. It was then rented by dark romantic novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The
Scarlet Letter which explores social stigmatization, and eventually became the house of children’s story writer Margaret Sidney of Five Little Peppers fame. We later learned that this has become the first site with literary connections which has been acquired by the National Park Service and is open to the public.
To wind down our day trip, we paid a visit to a monument which hosts the grave of British soldiers, a wall of rocks near the eastern edge of a bridge which carries
verses from James Russel Lowell’s poem Lines, dedicated to some of the men who died here. Soon after, the Concord residents placed a plaque bearing words from the poet’s work to mark the other graves. One of the plaques read:
“They came three thousand miles and died,
To keep the past upon its throne,
Unheard beyond the ocean tide,
The English mother made her moan.”
As we drove back to Boston, we passed by several individuals – in impeccable costumes which do justice to the details of yore – rehearsing with drums and trumpets, firing their muskets into the air. Others, also in appropriate attire, watched from the sidelines.
Here in Lexington and Concord, history lives on.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere… – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Paul Revere’s Ride (1861)