Patriots Day 2005 insanity (huzzah!)
Yes, this is a complete html cut-and-paste from my Xanga... but this makes it easier for all the Livejournal people to use/see/laugh at/comment on. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping this works, because I'm completely LJ-illiterate (by the way). Yes, I took all of these pictures myself... these are only a few out of a friggin million. Enjoy!
So much to say, so little time. Since I'll probably be updating this thing more often as the summer goes on (**Nathan Hale's 250th birthday is in two weeks**), I think I'll just skip the lengthy introduction and get right to the Patriots Day pictures. I'm too lazy to make a whole other webpage, so I just picked a few to put up here. Ah... it was so much fun.
Guess it makes sense to start with the basics: the two famous minutemen statues. On the left is Captain John Parker of the Lexington Minutemen, who told his band of 77 minutemen facing the British the morning of April 19th: "Do not fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" On the right is the famous Concord minuteman statue, an idealized portrayal of "the citizen-soldier of 1775."
There was a giant skirmish that Saturday, recreating the British retreat from Concord all the way back to Boston harbor. The biggest battles of April 19th weren't actually at Lexington and Concord, but rather along the battle road during that long retreat, with the minutemen using guerilla-type warfare against the British columns. As you can see from that picture, there were a heck of a lot of British there Saturday... and the surrounding forests were filled with minutemen snipers. Kick ass.
What was just as cool was seeing all the minutemen just hanging around all afternoon before the skirmish. There were so many of them... walking around, talking, laughing, playing fifes, doing whatever... it was almost surreal. And of course, one of the best parts of the entire weekends is seeing all the little kids try to take all of it in. The little girl on the right was especially spellbound by one of the many colonist couples walking in Minuteman National Park that day, and finally worked up the courage to ask them for a picture. ^_^
The Lincoln Minute Men!! Yes, I've seen many bands of minutemen (and btw, both "minutemen" and "minute men" are correct spellings) and Revolutionary War soldier re-enactors... but I do have a favorite group, and they're it. ^_^ They're kind of the underdogs of the whole area. Lincoln is a small, secluded, gorgeous little farm town that sits right in between Lexington and Concord, and their boys were the first to respond to the alarm sounded by Paul Revere and the other midnight riders. But have any of you heard of the Lincoln Minute Men... or of Lincoln, MA at all? Yeah... that's what I thought. ¬_¬
Anyways, the Lincolnians host a really big fife and drum muster (read: concert) every year on their gorgeous town green. It's one of the best events of the weekend. Then at sunset, they hold a re-enactment of the midnight rider's alarm and muster of the Minute Men. It's neat... a rider on horseback comes through, sounding the alarm, and then next thing you know drums are sounded, muskets fired, and Minute Men are materializing out of thin air and gathering in front of the church. Speeches were said, they drilled a bit, and more fifery was heard. Oh, and that one minuteman in the front row all the way to the right was really something. ^_^; All I have to identify him by is his 1775 alias, which is Enos Wheeler. (Try saying that name aloud. Enos. Oh yes, I had a lot of fun telling my friends that story!) Now why can't there be more handsome, history-loving, civic-minded young men like him around?! Honestly, I ask you.
In Lexington there's a neat museum called the Museum of our National Heritage, and it's run by the Freemasons. There were two really awesome exhibits there: one on Paul Revere (who was a Mason) and one on Manifest Destiny and the West (which I also love to pieces). Obviously, the place is big on Masonry, and they had this gigantic stained glass window in the lobby with various Masonic symbols all over it. I still think the Masons are sketchy, but it's probably one of the prettiest windows I've ever seen.
The re-enactment of the Battle at the North Bridge in Concord on the morning of Patriots Day. Once again, colonists and British everywhere, along with plenty of pomp, circumstance, speeches, parades, and 18th century military music. A great day to end a great weekend. One of my favorite and most-anticipated weekends of the year... and with good reason! Even if you're not a raving Revolutionary War fanatic (like myself), it's still an awesome experience, and a heck of a lot of fun. Who knows... I might end up taking my entire suite next year!
Sorry to cut this short, but I just realized it's past midnight, and I've been having major problems in not getting enough sleep lately... so I'd better try and drag myself off to bed before too long. Goodnight everyone... hope you enjoyed the little picture sampling. ^_^
(late edit: Just a few more I scrounged up...)
A band of minutemen at the Saturday skirmish.
The Middlesex County Volunteers... one of the finest fife and drum units in the country. This is a shot of them playing at the annual Lincoln fife and drum muster on Sunday.
Next stops:
--June 4-5: East Haddam, CT Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution encampment and muster in honor of Nathan Hale's 250th birthday
--June 11: Coventry, CT A&L Society's 250th birthday celebration at the Nathan Hale homestead
--June 17: Charlestown, MA Battle of Bunker Hill re-enactment and ceremonies
And that's just the next 3 weeks! =P
So much to say, so little time. Since I'll probably be updating this thing more often as the summer goes on (**Nathan Hale's 250th birthday is in two weeks**), I think I'll just skip the lengthy introduction and get right to the Patriots Day pictures. I'm too lazy to make a whole other webpage, so I just picked a few to put up here. Ah... it was so much fun.
Guess it makes sense to start with the basics: the two famous minutemen statues. On the left is Captain John Parker of the Lexington Minutemen, who told his band of 77 minutemen facing the British the morning of April 19th: "Do not fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" On the right is the famous Concord minuteman statue, an idealized portrayal of "the citizen-soldier of 1775."
There was a giant skirmish that Saturday, recreating the British retreat from Concord all the way back to Boston harbor. The biggest battles of April 19th weren't actually at Lexington and Concord, but rather along the battle road during that long retreat, with the minutemen using guerilla-type warfare against the British columns. As you can see from that picture, there were a heck of a lot of British there Saturday... and the surrounding forests were filled with minutemen snipers. Kick ass.
What was just as cool was seeing all the minutemen just hanging around all afternoon before the skirmish. There were so many of them... walking around, talking, laughing, playing fifes, doing whatever... it was almost surreal. And of course, one of the best parts of the entire weekends is seeing all the little kids try to take all of it in. The little girl on the right was especially spellbound by one of the many colonist couples walking in Minuteman National Park that day, and finally worked up the courage to ask them for a picture. ^_^
The Lincoln Minute Men!! Yes, I've seen many bands of minutemen (and btw, both "minutemen" and "minute men" are correct spellings) and Revolutionary War soldier re-enactors... but I do have a favorite group, and they're it. ^_^ They're kind of the underdogs of the whole area. Lincoln is a small, secluded, gorgeous little farm town that sits right in between Lexington and Concord, and their boys were the first to respond to the alarm sounded by Paul Revere and the other midnight riders. But have any of you heard of the Lincoln Minute Men... or of Lincoln, MA at all? Yeah... that's what I thought. ¬_¬
Anyways, the Lincolnians host a really big fife and drum muster (read: concert) every year on their gorgeous town green. It's one of the best events of the weekend. Then at sunset, they hold a re-enactment of the midnight rider's alarm and muster of the Minute Men. It's neat... a rider on horseback comes through, sounding the alarm, and then next thing you know drums are sounded, muskets fired, and Minute Men are materializing out of thin air and gathering in front of the church. Speeches were said, they drilled a bit, and more fifery was heard. Oh, and that one minuteman in the front row all the way to the right was really something. ^_^; All I have to identify him by is his 1775 alias, which is Enos Wheeler. (Try saying that name aloud. Enos. Oh yes, I had a lot of fun telling my friends that story!) Now why can't there be more handsome, history-loving, civic-minded young men like him around?! Honestly, I ask you.
In Lexington there's a neat museum called the Museum of our National Heritage, and it's run by the Freemasons. There were two really awesome exhibits there: one on Paul Revere (who was a Mason) and one on Manifest Destiny and the West (which I also love to pieces). Obviously, the place is big on Masonry, and they had this gigantic stained glass window in the lobby with various Masonic symbols all over it. I still think the Masons are sketchy, but it's probably one of the prettiest windows I've ever seen.
The re-enactment of the Battle at the North Bridge in Concord on the morning of Patriots Day. Once again, colonists and British everywhere, along with plenty of pomp, circumstance, speeches, parades, and 18th century military music. A great day to end a great weekend. One of my favorite and most-anticipated weekends of the year... and with good reason! Even if you're not a raving Revolutionary War fanatic (like myself), it's still an awesome experience, and a heck of a lot of fun. Who knows... I might end up taking my entire suite next year!
Sorry to cut this short, but I just realized it's past midnight, and I've been having major problems in not getting enough sleep lately... so I'd better try and drag myself off to bed before too long. Goodnight everyone... hope you enjoyed the little picture sampling. ^_^
(late edit: Just a few more I scrounged up...)
A band of minutemen at the Saturday skirmish.
The Middlesex County Volunteers... one of the finest fife and drum units in the country. This is a shot of them playing at the annual Lincoln fife and drum muster on Sunday.
Next stops:
--June 4-5: East Haddam, CT Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution encampment and muster in honor of Nathan Hale's 250th birthday
--June 11: Coventry, CT A&L Society's 250th birthday celebration at the Nathan Hale homestead
--June 17: Charlestown, MA Battle of Bunker Hill re-enactment and ceremonies
And that's just the next 3 weeks! =P