Day 14 started off again with a leisurely morning, although slightly earlier than the previous day so we thought we would get in the car and drive a bit further out of Boston. One of the visits I had planned for quite a while was to go out to the battle sites at Lexington and Concord which marked the start of the American War of Independence. After our experiences with the John Adams Museum and Salem we've come to the conclusion that the various museums and exhibits run by the National Parks Service are generally of significantly better quality and value than any of the private museums and collections. With that in mind, we decided to visit the Minuteman National Park as the main part of our trip.
First off, however, we stopped at Lexington, to see the spot where the first shots were fired, as well as to get directions to the National Park. There was a good visitor centre here with a diorama of the battle at Lexington, although “battle” is pushing it as it was essentially just 700 British troops charging down 70 militiamen and killing 8 of them (the real battle came later). After we got directions, we went out to the green where this all went down and where there are flags and statues to commemorate it. Now it's just a very pretty looking village green, with some attractive American houses with perfectly manicured lawns. Apparently house prices here are double that of nearby areas which I can well believe.
Moving on from Lexington, we stopped at the Minuteman National Park visitor centre on the road to Concord. Here they show a 25 minute video - sorry, “multidimensional movie experience” - about April 19, 1775 - the day those first shots were fired. It was a really fascinating video which also traced the movements of British regulars and colonists on a map on the wall. It gave a really good overview of the conflict, which essentially came about because the British had set out to march from Boston to Concord to destroy arms and munitions the colonists had stockpiled in preparation for rebellion. The colonists, getting word of this, decided to make a stand, first at Lexington, where several were killed, and then again at Concord where they were more successful, and with their numbers swelling over the course of the day they forced the British to retreat and kept them under constant gunfire all the way back to Boston. Obviously there's a whole lot of history before and after that day, but that wasn't really the focus of today's visit. Today just focused on the first momentous day. I'm sure it sounds a lot better if you're watching the video in the historic location!
After watching the video and exploring the visitor centre, we decided to walk part of the route to Concord, hoping for a slightly better reception than the Brits 230-odd years ago! Aside from the fact that it's next to a busy highway (it is a direct route to Concord after all so make senses that it would still be used), it’s all very scenic: a very green, wooded area with multiple markers along the route depicting points of interest. Pretty smooth, even surface for a wheelchair as well. Very nice to walk along in the sunshine, but we kept it quite brief as we hadn’t eaten and knew that none of the buildings along the path were actually open.
Back in the car, we decided to move on to Concord for some food and take a brief look around. We drove around for a bit and saw as much as there seemed to be to see, then just stopped off at the local Starbucks for refreshments. It had to be done at least once!
In the evening, following up our intention to be more adventurous, we decided to take a look for a new restaurant. After a rather circuitous route, passing by a couple of quite pricey restaurants that we really weren't dressed for, we found yet another American bar and Grill which I decided we should try. Seem to be quite a good choice as they serve a very decent steak frites. My Dad seems to be developing his role of cheesecake aficionado well, rating tonight's cheesecake as fourth out of the four he has had so far. That actually seems remarkably restrained considering we've been here seven nights! Still, tomorrow it's back to the cheesecake factory so he'll be able to fit in at least one more!
Another good day today, and just one more left in Boston which I still haven't decided what to do with yet! Most likely however it will be another trip out from the city.
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