6th Annual Memorial Day Roadtrip

When Memorial Day rolls around, that means its time for me to hit the road again. I am trying to finish out all the parks in the Northeast so I decided to head over to Boston and finish out all those parks. I've been to Boston several times but never had time to really explore the National Park sites. I left after work on Friday and drove straight through to Wells State Park to spend the night. I got up first thing Saturday and headed up to Lowell, MA. It's an interesting site because it encompasses much of the city of Lowell. It is famous for its water-powered textile mills that employed thousands of immigrants and female factory workers. A lot of the old buildings are still standing and they are massive. Many have been converted to businesses and modern apartments. It's crazy to imagine all the thousands of people that lived there.    
 
 My next stop was the Minute Man National Historical Park which is the site of the opening of the American Revolution. I started at the North Bridge Visitor Center. The gardens there were gorgeous. They overlook the North Bridge, which is the site of the first battle of the Revolution.

There is also a statue of a Minute Man (so named because they provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats). The statue is actually made of 7 cannons from the Civil War.

 There is also a monument to British soldiers, which I thought was nice.

Right around the corner from the statue is The Old Manse which is Ralph Waldo Emerson's ancestral home and later residence of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Later that day I actually saw the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson when I made a wrong turn.
While driving, I got to see the Orchard House, home of Little Women. I've read the book and seen the movie but I didn't really remember much of it. There was an event going on though and there were costumed interpreters there which I always love.


 Further down the road was another event with costumed interpreters at the Hartwell Tavern which is a restored 18th century home and tavern. It sits on the actual Battle Road that ran from Boston through western Massachusetts. This was the road that the British troops used on April 19.
My favorite part was actually the few columbine flowers.  So gorgeous!
The last site on the road to Lexington is the Paul Revere Capture site. For a history lesson, here is the story:
At this stretch of Battle Road, the famous “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” came to an end. While passing through Lexington at around midnight, Revere and William Dawes met Dr. Samuel Prescott of Concord, who was riding home after courting Lydia Mulliken. Prescott agreed to help spread the alarm that “the Regulars were out.”
The three men ran into a patrol of ten mounted British officers posted here to prevent word of the British march from reaching Concord. Revere was captured. Dawes escaped back toward Lexington. Prescott jumped his horse over a stone wall and eluded his pursuers. It was Prescott who carried the alarm to Concord and beyond.
Revere was questioned, held for a while and then released, but the British officers confiscated his horse. Revere walked back to Lexington in time to hear gunfire at dawn on the town common

Minute Man is a great park to actually walk through history. As I was walking along the Battle Road I saw a sign that said "British soldiers buried near here". It really made me stop and imagine all the remains that are scattered under modern roads and homes from the soldiers.