Minute Man National Historical Park

If you live in Massachusetts, you know this park. It is the one that every elementary school student visits on a field trip for their history class. Even if you are not from this area, you know the story of Paul Revere and his famous ride from Boston to Lexington on horseback to warn residents and militiamen of the approaching British forces. Minute Man National Historical Park tells their story year round but it was extra special to visit the site during their Patriot Day celebrations.

For the two weekends leading up to the holiday the park puts on a variety of ranger programs, reenactments, and ceremonies. In addition to touring the two visitor centers, we also participated in a few of these events: The Bedford Pole Capping & The Meriam’s Corner Exercise. Both of these events involved militiamen, fife & drum music, parades, cannon firing, and little known history lessons. 

We didn't have time for this during this trip but there is a lovely 5 mile walk that takes you along the Old Battle Road with many historic sites and monuments along the way like Paul Revere’s Capture Site, Hartwell Tavern and The Old North Bridge.

This is a great park for history buffs but also has a lot of space for everyone to explore!