Oct 24-Lexington

Back to the history tour now that the leaves are fading! We began our day at the Minute Man Visitor Center that is between Lexington and Concord. They have a fabulous multi-media show that explains the historical significance of the area. We watched the show with about 75 kids on a school tour. Then off to Lexington. April 1775-the British had occupied Boston under General Gage for more than a year. There were rumors that the patriots had a cache of arms stored in Concord, so Gage sent a British regiment to find and capture them. They were also supposed to find John Hancock and Sam Adams and arrest them for insighting the resistance. Well, you know the story...April 18th, Paul Revere and Sam Dawes took off to warn everyone that the Regulars were coming. First, they got the caretaker at Christ Church (Old North Church) to put two lanterns in the steeple as a signal, then they took off on horseback. They evidently didn't yell "the Redcoats are coming" after all, but they did get the point across! They followed different routes but met up and managed to warn Lexington during the night. Revere and Dawes went on down the road to Concord, and got captured before they made it. At dawn on the 19th the British regulars had marched the sixteen miles from Boston to Lexington. The Patriots were supposedly just standing by, and weren't supposed to shoot unless they had to protect Lexington. The British were under orders not to shoot either. Well, somebody fired...and the British killed eight Patriots and wounded a few more. We checked out Buckman's Tavern, where the Lexington militia gathered that day...but we missed the bullet hole that was supposedly made by a British musket ball during the Battle. We saved the Battle Road and Concord for the next day and drove out to Princeton to see Uncle Phil and Virginia. I had heard that Virginia was a gourmet cook, but she REALLY is! We had a delicious dinner and super time. Uncle Phil even found a video tape he'd made of all of us when we were kids. Meg, Catherine, and Barb(ie) in matching red skirts at Christmas. ALL of us getting pajamas for Christmas--even Uncle Phil, Uncle Bill, and Dad in nightshirts...too funny! We had a wonderful time reminiscing. Hello to everyone from Phil and Virginia!