26 July - Lexington, Concord and Liberty Ride Tour

26 July
Today we took a short drive to Lexington Mass. and took a guided tour called the Liberty Ride.  Their trolley was broken down so they used a bus.  At least it had some air conditioning since it was very warm and humid.  It departed from the Lexington Visitors Center a traveled a 90-minute route along the "Battle Road Scenic By-Way" between Lexington and Concord.  Tour guides dress up in costume of the period.

As a refresher, British regulars got wind of the colonists storing weapons and gun powder in Concord MA.  On April 18, 1775 the Red Coats headed there through Lexington to capture the weapons.  Paul Revere and other riders heard about this and they rode through the towns to warn the colonists. The colonists then massed to challenge the British. There is quite the controversy whether the first shot, or the "shot heard round the world" was fired in Lexington or in Concord.  Nevertheless, the resulting battles caused the British to retreat and launched the colonists into a fight for their independence.

Back to the tour, we passed the Minute Man statue which is America's oldest war memorial.  "Lexington Battle Green" is where the Lexington Militia confronted over 800 British Regulars the morning of April 19, 1775.

We then continued down the road towards Concord to the location that Paul Revere was captured by the British.

We passed the Orchard House which is the home of Louisa May Alcott who wrote "Little Women".  and The Wayside where the Alcotts, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Sidney lived.

Further down the road we stopped at the North Bridge, where colonial militia were first ordered to fire upon the British regulars by Maj John Buttrick.  They retreated across the bridge and tore it the bridge as they did to stop the pursuit.

At the bridge is also Daniel French's Minute Man statue.  It also represents the citizen-soldiers who drop their plows and pick up their muskets in time of our Nations need - the original National Guard.

After returning to Lexington we toured the Buckner Tavern which was next door to the Visitor Center.

Taverns in those days were more than purveyors of alcoholic beverages.  They were gathering places where men would discuss politics, eat a meal and socialize.  The colonial militia would also meet there, which is what occurred the night before the British arrived.

Artifacts from the battle

The kitchen area

Dining area

Musket ball hole through the front door, which they removed and preserved.

I got this right away.  Most people have no clue.  These are leather water buckets in case of fire.

The tavern area

 That was enough heat and humidity for one day.  We stopped for an ice cream cone at one of the local establishments and then called it a day.  We will return to Lexington and to Concord on Thursday to drive to some of the places we saw on the bus tour.

Later in the afternoon my Air Force buddy Ernie Souther from Livermore Falls Maine drove down and came to the RV for supper.  It was great to see him again.  We drove to the train station in preparation for our journey to the ballpark tomorrow morning.