HAPPY PATRIOT'S DAY!

If you, like me before I moved here, do not know what Patriot's Day is... let me inform you. Back in the day, some very forward thinkers got together and said 'Hey! We are not going to take this!' This was later the influence of a great Twisted Sister song, and give birth to our beloved country. These Patriots stood up for Liberty and Freedom and sent their British oppressors back to the ocean. Well, almost... they were pushed back to Boston, and then started the Siege of Boston... but that did not happen on Patriot's day. That happened after Patriot's day.

Patriot's day is an observation of the starting of the Revolutionary War. Starting at Midnight with the ride of Paul Revere (yes, he sets off from the North Church around midnight, and takes the same path) and moving through the days events. The most interesting to me, as my proximity made it very accessible, was the Battle of Lexington. I may have mentioned this, but I drive past the Lexington Battle green everyday going to and from work, and is a short bike ride from my apartment.

So I set off at 5:30. Thinking that I could get there by 5:50 and see the reactors. No problem. Who shows up at 6:00 AM to watch some silly guys in old clothes.... well turns out a lot of people show up:

This was the general theme....

I am not good at guessing these types of number but I would guess, from my limited perspective, that there were upwards of 10,000 - 15,000 people who had the same idea as me... but they came prepared. With ladders.

This was almost as impressive as anything else.

 Ok, so for some historical buildings. I suggest everyone read the Wiki page on the Battle Of Lexington and Concord if you want more info. So on the way, I jumped off my bike to snap this picture of The Hancock's house (a house owned by the Hancock family, and used as refuge by John H. and Sam Adams during the fighting).

To think about the conversations had in this place... crazy.

After being stunned to not see any of the battle green, I walked around until I saw a little clearing. Of ladders at least, and made perch. Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me long legs... I could kind of see if I was on my tip-toes. And the people in front of me were not holding their child on their shoulders. This place happened to be right in front of Buckman Tavern (were the Militia met before the battle)

 While this was all going on, there was a guy giving a narration/monologue of the events leading to the Battle, and then a little overview of the battle itself. This served to set the stage, and to explain somethings as once the reenactment started, there was no narration. About this time I looked over the green to see yet more Bostonians on a roof:

They really like doing that here.

 And shortly after the narrator stopped, Paul Revere rode up to the Tavern and roused the Militia.

Sorry for the blurriness, he was riding really fast.

  Then, a few at a time, they started to come out... A warning shot was fired (look at the Wiki for the cool way the Patriots communicated) and Patriots started filing to the green.

As they were assembling, you could hear Captain Parker giving orders, assembling the men. There was an air of uncertainty... the crowd got the feeling like something was about to happen, but it was rather nervous... people looking around, people whispering. It was a really cool effect. I don't think it was overly intentional, but it added to the mood. You felt the unease of the Militiamen. After a bit of time, you could start to hear the drums of the British... and then, slowly, the tin whistle. And then a the Red Coats started filling out the rest of the green.

 It was interesting to see the disorganization and confusion of the Red Coats... Eventually they formed ranks and advanced toward the Patriots. Shouts were exchanged... lots of yelling. And then the fabled Shot. I could not see where it came from... I could barely see the fighting at all... but I could hear it. I would guess that every single musket on the green was discharged at least once if not more.

As this was going on, I started to hear shots from behind me. I then remembered stories of this, that there were men in the Tavern who took shots at the Red Coats back. Turns out, I was standing (along with 50 or so other people) between the tavern and the Red Coats...

You get 'em!

Then, after about 1 minute of shots being released, the Patriots retreated to Concord and the battle was over. The British reassembled, and marched on.

On the battle field, there were several dead Patriots. The narrator came back on and started reading off the names of the dead Patriots, and they would stand and salute, or wave, while their street, house number and Family name were read. A number of them received loud and intentional cheers from certain sections of the crowd (I assume either people who live in the house, or near the house, or who are family members). I thought it was an awesome and great way to end the reenactment, and pay tribute to those who lost their life.

What a great day... and that was only up to 6:20 Am! You should hear about the rest of my day! CODDING! I went out with Wes, Ben and Marissa to explore the Cape. Ill try to get some pictures, and ill tell you about it :)