Travel to See April Patriots' Day Commemorations

Massachusetts’ Patriots’ Day Marks Events of April 18 and 19, 1775

Feb 10, 2009

There are many local events marking the anniversary of the Concord and Lexington Fights, as they are known locally.

April 19 is a state holiday in both Massachusetts and Maine (the latter being part of Massachusetts in 1775). Both in Concord and Lexington, as well as in the cities and towns along the line of British retreat where the extended battle was fought all the way back to Boston has parades, re-enactments and lectures scheduled for what is usually a three-day weekend.

Referred to around the world as “The Battles of Lexington and Concord,” these events marked the start of the American Revolution and the furthest west the battles would come in that war.

This is a fine time to visit the Boston area. Though April weather is as variable as, well, an April day, the early magnolias are in blossom, and things are starting to look green. Temperatures can be anywhere between 25 and 75F. It can snow on Patriots’ Day. It can be so warm a few parade marchers become faint in their woolen costumes. (Patriots’ Day parades are always morning and afternoon respectively in Concord and Lexington, and will be held on Monday, April 20, 2009.)

This variety was ever thus: it is said to have been a highly unusually warm season around April 19, 1775. It is told that the apple blossoms were out. The most recent twenty-five years of weather observation has never detected it quite that warm, but certainly, there were years when the apple trees were nearly in bloom. But back in 1775, spring plowing had begun early – thus the famous Minuteman Statue (sculptor Daniel Chester French called it “The Embattled Farmer”) shows the Minuteman with a plow. (See that statue at the North Bridge unit in Concord of the Minute Man National Historical Park.)

Events around the Concord and Lexington Fights actually span much of the month of April. Do be very cautious in viewing specific event information online to make sure that the current year’s events are being shown; previous years’ events are still online and can wreck havoc with those who plan more than a month or two into the future. If the year is not listed, check any date shown against this year’s calendar to make sure it is falling on the day of the week noted in the event listing.

Earlier events include the Merriam Corner Exercise in Concord on the edge of the National Park on Lexington Road. While most of the focus around Patriots’ Day falls on the events on the Lexington Green and at the North Bridge in Concord, the pivotal and bloody fight which dogged the British Regulars all the way back to Boston started at Merriam Corner. The fight at the bridge had stopped, and the British troops had brought their wounded back to the town center. As they left to go back to Boston, they passed by the Merriam farm. Suddenly, pot-shots were taken on one side or another, and a British soldier fell. The rest of the retreat was fought long and hard over the 20 miles back to the harbor, with many casualties on both sides. Many historians feel this was the battle that the Crown could not ignore, and that turned the small skirmishes at Lexington Green and Concord’s North Bridge into the War for Independence. The 2009 Merriam Corner Exercise will be Saturday, April 11 at 1:00 pm.

The 2009 Dawn Salute will be held on Sunday, April 19 at 6 am on the hillside of the Buttrick Mansion at the North Bridge. Church bells will ring in the town center at 5:45AM to sound the alarm. “Dr. Prescott” arrives at the North Bridge after riding across the fields calling out the warning to towns and villages that the Regulars were on the march and that their destination was Concord. The Concord Minutemen fire salutes and the Concord Independent Battery fire several volleys from the field at the Old Manse. Some years, the mist rising from the Concord River and the golden, slanting rays of the rising sun make this event truly magical.

In addition, there’s the mid-April Paul Revere Capture Ceremony in Lincoln, MA, re-enactments of the Lexington Green and North Bridge battles, the Lincoln Alarm and Muster, the Bedford Pole Capping Ceremony, and a variety of demonstrations and lectures through the month. Check the Minute Man Park or ConcordMA.com websites for up-to-date information.

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