Today my town had a re-enactment followed by a parade to celebrate Patriots Day, which is a holiday officially observed tomorrow to commemorate the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Patriots Day is only recognized in Massachusetts, Maine, and oddly enough Wisconsin — a state that needs to borrow reasons to celebrate. Patriots Day is also Marathon Monday, but I’ll reserve that topic for tomorrow’s post.
My town is midway between Boston and Lexington/Concord, and in fact the bike trail that I walk and run upon is roughly the same route that Paul Revere took to warn the colonial Minuteman army that “The British are coming! The British are coming!” The next day, British soldiers arrived in Lexington and Concord and were quickly overwhelmed in battle by Minutemen. When the British retreated back to Boston, they marched through my town (then known as Menotomy) and individual homeowners joined militia to fight against them, resulting in what has been called the Jason Russell House Battle. In fact, more blood was shed in Menotomy than another other town during the whole battle.
Given my town’s historical significance to Patriots Day, obviously something extra special has to be done. I knew that a parade was planned, but I never imagined that the British’s march through Menotomy would be re-enacted with the help of dozens of costumed British and Colonial re-enactors. The official event description:
“The Menotomy Minutemen along with re-enactors from all over New England will be recreating the Jason Russell House Battle starting at 12:30pm on Sunday, April 20. British troops will march down Massachusetts Avenue from Arlington High School while being harassed by Colonial minute companies. They will then attack the Minutemen defending Jason Russell and his home.”
Which is pretty much what happened this afternoon. I give the re-enactors credit — they made history come alive — but it was more infinitely more bizarre that I ever imagined, like being a sentient object in someone else’s dream. I’m just glad they didn’t use live ammo.
