Spring Break - Day 5

Easter Sunday! We started our day off at church and then headed over to the Boston Tea Party Museum. What a fun place!

We received our helpful disguises...

and a card telling us who we were.

As we sat listening to the long list of wrongs committed by King George, a message arrived. The suspense was killing me. "What does it say?" I called out. The plan was made and, after a few more words to rile us up even more, we were all ready to go toss some tea!

We all got a chance to toss some tea overboard! Some of us did it a little more enthusiastically than others, I might add. The videos are wonderful!

The man who helped us find our inner rebel.

Our lovely guide who was with us from the beginning.

After a little fun in the gift shop...

and a few final pictures...

we were on our way. Next stop - the Boston temple.

Unfortunately there was a huge construction machine right in front of the temple! We had to do some special maneuvering to block it out.

We spent the afternoon at Lexington and Concord. For me, this was one of the highlights of our trip!

We spent a few minutes in the little Visitors Center.

We then headed outside to spend the next hour with an amazing Battle Green Guide decked out in traditional Revolutionary garb who walked us through the events of what took place at the Lexington Green on April 19, 1775.
This marker stands on the green where the Belfry stood that sounded the alarm to call militia to arms.

He had us stand in the exact spot where the local militia engaged the British Regulars who were on their way to Concord to destroy military supplies.

The home of Jonathan Harrington, a member of the local militia who was wounded on the green and then dragged himself back to his house and died at his wife's feet.

Unfortunately the British regulars were too much for the local militiamen and some retreated behind trees in this area.

Looking down the road the British regulars took as they made their way to Concord.

This granite obelisk is considered the oldest memorial to the Revolution, erected in 1799. "In 1835 the remains of seven of the eight militiamen killed in the battle were exhumed from the nearby Old Burying Ground and reburied within the monument's iron fence. The monument also marks the approximate western end of the Patriot's line."

This tavern is where several dozen militiamen gathered to await the arrival of the British troops.

Several other memorials on the fringes of the common.

We headed up the road a bit to check out the Hancock-Clarke parsonage, the destination of Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18, 1775. It was here that John Hancock and Samuel Adams, both leaders of the colonials, were staying before the battle.

Our next stop was the Minute Man Visitor Center. After a movie, we explored the exhibits.

The Paul Revere capture site.

Continuing our exploration of the Minute Man National Historical Park, we drove the 5 miles of the "Battle Road Trail"...

and eventually made our way to Concord's North Bridge. The Obelisk Monument is believed to be the country's first memorial to its war casualties.

It was at Concord's North Bridge where the second battle of the day took place. Colonial commanders ordered militia men to fire back at British troops resulting in the death of two regular army soldiers and eight more being wounded. Ralph Waldo Emmerson immortalized the North Bridge Fight in his 1837 poem as "the shot heard round the world".

What an absolutely gorgeous spot! I could not stop taking pictures!

The Minute Man statue of 1875.

The Old Manse stands in the background. We didn't get a chance to visit the home but it was built in 1770 for the Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We struck out on touring the Orchard House due to it being Easter Sunday but I made sure we stopped for some pictures in front of this famous home where the author Louisa May Alcott grew up.

We were supposed to stay one more night in Boston and head home Monday but the kids convinced David and I to make the long journey home that night. We pulled into our neighborhood at midnight and, even though it had been a super long day, I was glad we had Monday to recover. What an amazing trip, one that I will cherish forever.