Lexington Revolutionary War Observance

April 16, 2018 — A week before Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts holiday observing the start of the Revolutionary War, I came to Lexington to see the full-dress rehearsal of the Battle of Lexington reenactment. I had seen the reenactment before, and was contemplating seeing it again on Patriots' Day morning, an annual event that begins at 5:30 a.m., an ungodly hour, especially if you live an hour's drive away, and the crowd is so dense you need to get there no later than 4 a.m. to stake out your spot, or you won't be able to see anything. But this full-dress rehearsal has almost everything the Patriots' Day reenactment offers, just not as much shooting, and it's at 2 in the afternoon. The crowd is smaller, Lexington Green is not roped off as it is on Patriots' Day, and it's easy to find a good vantage point for viewing and photographing the action.

My video and photos of this event, including a tour of the Hancock-Clarke House, can be seen at this link:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/lexington18/

The weather forecast for Patriots' Day was becoming more and more dire as the day approached, so my hopes of seeing the reenactment were diminishing. I decided to return to Lexington two days before Patriots' Day to see another reenactment in Tower Park of a running battle between local militias and retreating British. This event featured lots of musket and cannon fire on a clear but unseasonably cold April day.

Another video and photos of this event, along with a tour of Munroe Tavern, can be seen here:

https://www.linwoodstreet.com/redcoatretreat/

I'm glad I saw these two events, because the weather on Patriots' Day lived up to the worst of the forecasts, with soaking, wind-driven rain all day. This was also the day of the Boston Marathon, held in the worst weather in recent memory.