history

The 250th anniversary of the first battles of the American Revolution is just around the corner. Here’s what you need to know about getting around and what’s happening in and around Lincoln.

Getting around

Road closures — Road closures in Lincoln will begin on Saturday, April 19 at 5:00am and will remain closed till 5:00pm. Click here to learn more. 

Train — Trains will run once an hour outbound beginning at 4:30am. The first train stops in Lincoln at 5:04am, just in time for the 6:00am dawn salute in Concord. See the train schedule for details (note: bikes will not be allowed on the trains. Residents and visitors planning to ride the train from Lincoln are strongly encouraged to park in the non-paved lot first (approximately 45 spots available). The paved lot should only be used once the non-paved spots are full. 

Bus — A school bus will make continuous loops from the Lincoln School K-4 (Smith) parking lot to the Concord Museum with a stop at the Walden Pond parking lot. This free service runs from 6:00am – 9:00pm. There are not set pickup times at the school; bus frequency will depend on many uncontrollable factors, so allow plenty of time.

• • Lexington and Concord Intercommunity Shuttle
  • MBTA bus service and other information

Transfer station and library

The Transfer Station will be closed on Saturday, April 19 but will remain open until 6:00pm on Wednesday, April 16 (opening at the usual time of 7:30am) to provide additional flexibility for those who are generally unable to use the facility during the work week. The Lincoln Public Library will be closed Saturday, April 19 through Monday, April 21. It will reopen at 9:00am on Tuesday, April 22.

For more Lincoln information, click here. Questions? Email Lincoln250@lincolntown.org. 

Lincoln250 events

“Myths of the Battle of Lexington-Concord”
Thursday, April 10 from 7:00–8:00pm (Zoom)
Lincoln historian and Minute Man Rick Wiggin will talk about what truly happened in Lexington, Concord, and most importantly, Lincoln, on April 19, 1775 and how it became mythologized over time. Click here to register.

“The Forgotten Patriots of Color”
Friday, April 11 at 12:30pm (Bemis Hal)
Lincoln resident and biographer Ray Shepard will read from his work in progress, The Forgotten Patriots of Color: A Story of Local Brown and Black Patriots. Sponsored by the Lincoln Council on Aging & Human Services.

“Loyalists and Revolutionaries: Two Iconic Lincoln Properties at the Heart of a Changing World”
Monday, April 21 from 10:00am–2:00pm
Historic New England invites you walk Lincoln’s trails and visit two of its properties in Lincoln: the Codman Estate (once occupied by Loyalists Charles and Elizabeth Russell, who fled to Antigua when the war began) and the Gropius House designed by Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius and revolutionary in impact. The properties will be open to the public and docents will be on site to share information and answer questions.

“A Sense of Place: Lincoln Then and Now”
At the Lincoln Public Library through April 26
Five artists and photographers show scenes from around Lincoln that existed both in 1775 and now. At the center is Kerry Glass’s 1775 map with an overlay that traces the development of the roadways over the years. Sponsored by the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department.  

Other area events and information

• • Five-town schedule for April 12–27 events
  • General spectator guidelines
  • Minute Man National Historic Park
  • • Schedule of events on April 19 (scroll down to “Programs”)
    • Details on MMNHP events
  • Lexington
  • • Town of Lexington transportation page including bike corrals, handicapped dropoff, etc.
    • Lexington amenities map (restrooms, food trucks, etc.)
  • Concord
  • • Town of Concord transportation page
    • Concord250 including walking map and parade route
  • Arlington
  • • Arlington250

Added April 2: Here are the transcript and video of the skit.

Most Town Meeting attendees dress casually, but seven of them in less comfortable colonial period costume rose in turn at last week’s meeting to argue for or against a 1775 funding measure, based on sentiments that their real-life counterparts expressed 250 years ago.

Lincoln historian Rick Wiggin and others examined minutes from the meeting on March 20, 1775, when voters were asked to approve “the sum of fifty-two pounds four shillings… to provide for those persons who have enlisted as minute men, each one a bayonet belt, cartridge box, steel rammer, gun stock, and knapsack; they to attend military exercise four hours a day twice in a week till the first day of May next.”

The measure had failed to win approval on two previous tries, but it finally got a thumbs-up at a gathering held in the old meeting house where the stone church now stands. Now in 2025, Town Moderator Sarah Cannon Holden called on each speaker as her counterpart would have done 250 years ago.

“How grave does the crisis have to be before we respond?” said the first speaker, Captain Eleazer Brooks, played by Wiggin. But Deacon John Gove (Hafner) countered, saying this would “drag us into war without our consent… belligerence of this sort will only inflame the situation.”

“The tyranny is upon us now!” declared Abijah Pierce (Tom Risser). “It is unreasonable that Parliament will restore our charter rights unless we make clear” our intention to fight if necessary.

But others objected. Ben Soule, playing Zechariah Wesson, noted that adopting the proposal would increase the town’s tax burden by one-third (the total town budget that year was £165). And the larger patriot goal of raising an army of 15,000 would mean that one in four men of military age would have to serve — including Wesson’s five sons.

The widow Ruth Gage (Bev Malone) tried to speak and was initially shouted down by Gove/Hafner, who objected that “it has never been our custom” to allow women to speak at Town Meeting. But Holden overruled him, noting that Gage’s late husband held property and therefore she had the right to speak and vote as long as she didn’t remarry.

In the wake of the Boston Tea Party two year prior, colonials had been asked to promise not to buy or consume British tea. “I took quill in hand and signed that pledge,” Gage said. “As a widow, I can ill afford to pay this extra tax… and as a mother, I worry about my son going to war,” she said. “But if our sons and husbands and brothers as Minute Men must face this danger, we need to assure they are properly equipped, for their own safety.” m.

“What will become of our town if declare as enemies those with whom we disagree?” said Ebenezer Cutler (Liam Lewis).

Nonetheless, when Holden called for the vote, the measure “passed” resoundingly, followed by a standing ovation. Select Board Chair Kim Bodnar noted the “poignant arguments” that are still relevant today, especially in light of the turmoil within the federal government.

The reenactment can be viewed in the Town Meeting video that will be posted on the Lincoln TV website soon.

The 250th anniversary of the first days of the American Revolution is being celebrated in Lincoln and neighboring communities this April, and there is a full slate of celebrations beginning on Saturday, April 19 and running through Monday, April 21. Click here to see a list of the celebratory events happening in the Battle Road communities of Arlington, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, and the Minute Man National Historical Park. 

• Parking will be limited so public transportation is highly recommended. The MBTA is offering special event train and bus schedules for our communities — click here to learn more.
• If you would like to attend events in Concord on Saturday, April 19, please consider taking the train from Lincoln Station. Nine trains have been added to the schedule, and there will be no vehicular access to Concord center on April 19. 
• Mark your calendars for the Patriots’ Day events run by our Lincoln Minute Men — click here for dates, times and locations.

By Donald L. Hafner

Lincoln rarely (if ever) held a town meeting in the month of January. But it did on January 9, 1775. And the town was in a defiant mood, ready to make patriotic sacrifices — up to a point.

In the summer of 1774, Parliament had passed the Coercive Acts, shutting Boston harbor and effectively ending 150 years of self-rule in Massachusetts. Lincoln joined other towns in defiance. In quick order, at the January meeting, Lincoln elected Eleazer Brooks as its representative to the Provincial Congress, convened by Massachusetts towns after the royal governor, General Thomas Gage, had dissolved the elected colonial legislature in October 1774. Town meeting agreed to give the Provincial Congress all the tax money that the town in the past would have sent to the royal governor.

Lincoln’s own pledge in August 1774 of non-purchase/non-consumption (annotated for clarity). Aren’t we all glad that the word “boycott” was finally invented in 1880? (Click image for larger view.)

Town meeting also reached agreement on what could have been a very contentious issue—setting up a Committee of Inspection. Back in August 1774, town meeting had called for a pledge by Lincoln families not to purchase or consume any imported British products. The pledge was signed by seventy-eight men—an impressive number, but well short of unanimous. Similar efforts at non-purchase/non-consumption had been tried in past confrontations with Britain. The intent was that the loss of American markets would inflict economic pain on British merchants, and they would compel Parliament to change its policies.

However, most of those prior efforts had failed. Unless there were universal compliance, loyalist tradesmen could prosper while patriotic tradesmen would suffer. To cope with this problem, when the Continental Congress in Philadelphia agreed upon a policy of non-purchase/non-consumption for all the colonies, it called upon communities to appoint committees of inspection, to enforce the policy. Monitoring merchants in the town of Lincoln would be easy—there were hardly any. But would this Committee of Inspection now encourage Lincoln residents to spy upon their neighbors for any suspicious purchases made in other towns? If anyone raised such concerns, they were outvoted.

Economic sacrifice was one matter. Was the town was prepared for even greater sacrifice?

Back in October 1774, the Provincial Congress called upon all towns to form special militia units, to be composed of men “who shall equip and hold themselves in readiness, on the shortest notice… to march to the place of rendezvous.” These would be the town’s minute men, and the Congress urged each town “to pay their own minute men reasonable compensation for their services.”

On January 9, 1775, Lincoln had not yet formed a minute company. But town meeting took up the question whether the town “will pay minute men in case any are appointed.” The decision was: “to make some allowance to minute men if they should be drawn out; voted that further consideration of this article be referred to the next March meeting.” In fact, no decision on equipping and paying the minute men would be made at the next March meeting. Nor the meeting after that, nor the next.

The repeated postponement of this issue suggests deep disagreement in town. But the terse town record is silent on what those disagreements may have been. Might we imagine what arguments would be heard today, if Lincoln’s town meeting took up such an issue? Would we prepare for war?

“Lincoln’s History” is an occasional column by members of the Lincoln Historical Society. See previously published “Did You Know?” pieces here.

• In the August 11 issue of “News Acorns,” the date for the screening of “Cinderella” was incorrect and the location was omitted. The movie will be shown on Wednesday, Aug. 14 in the Lincoln Public Library Tarbell Room. the correct information is listed in the Lincoln Squirrel calendar.

• The August 8 article headlined “August 1774: Boycott pledge starts Lincoln on road to Revolution” has been augmented with a comment by the Lincoln Historical Society’s Donald Hafner about the origin of the word “boycott” (something that residents of Lincoln and other towns were doing with British goods in 1774):

Just an amusing historical note. At the time when the Sons of Liberty were urging non-purchase and non-consumption of British goods, the word “boycott” had not yet entered the English language. That would not occur until a century later, in 1880, when Irish farm laborers refused to work for George C. Boycott, the agent of an absentee landlord. You only have to say “non-purchase/non-consumption” once or twice before you realize what a great invention “boycott” was. Meanwhile, historical re-enactors who turn out in 18th-century garb struggle to stop our tongues before using the word. If only Samuel Adams had given us something better than “non-purchase/non-consumption.”

By Craig Donaldson

During the summer of 1774, citizens of Lincoln were wrestling with a momentous decision.  Earlier in the year, the British Parliament imposed draconian measures to control the increasingly restive citizenry of Boston and Massachusetts. The Coercive Acts were passed in May, closing Boston Harbor and ending self-government in the colony. Town meetings including Lincoln’s were limited to one annual session for electing town officers and assigning taxes. No other issues could be discussed unless approved by the royal governor.

Official copies of the Coercive Acts had arrived in Boston in July and were promptly imposed by the newly appointed royal governor, General Thomas Gage. When the elected Massachusetts legislature met to protest the acts, General Gage dissolved the legislature. In August 1774, Gage attempted to appoint his own governing council, but patriots applied “persuasion” and convinced the appointees to resign.

Across the colony, these developments stirred debate around dinner tables and in meeting houses, taverns, and churches. At stake was the willingness of each citizen to defy laws handed down by Parliament and enforced by arbitrary authorities without representation or consent from those subject to the laws.

Years before, in response to the Stamp Act in 1765, patriots had responded by refusing to buy British goods.  The strategy seemed to work then, so in June 1774, Boston’s Committee of Correspondence once again called upon all towns to adopt a pledge not to purchase or consume any British goods. In response, Lincoln’s Committee of Correspondence, established by Town Meeting in November 1773, drafted a pledge in August 1774 for all adult men to sign:

“We the Subscriber Inhabitants of the Town of Lincoln do sincerely and truly covenant and agree to and with each other that we will not for ourselves or any for or under us, purchase or consume any Goods, Wares or Manufactures which shall be imported from Great Britain after the thirty first day of August seventeen hundred and seventy four, until the Congress of Deputies from the Several Colony shall determine what articles if any to except, that we will thereafter, respecting Use and Consumption of such British articles as may not be excepted, religiously abide by the Determinations of said Congress.”

When it came time to sign the pledge, 77 of the estimated 120 adult men stepped forward and put their names on the document. Though by no means universally supported, this pledge put a majority of the voters of Lincoln in active public defiance of British rule.

Addendum by Donald Hafner of the Lincoln Historical Society:

At the time when the Sons of Liberty were urging non-purchase and non-consumption of British goods, the word “boycott” had not yet entered the English language. That would not occur until a century later, in 1880, when Irish farm laborers refused to work for George C. Boycott, the agent of an absentee landlord. You only have to say “non-purchase/non-consumption” once or twice before you realize what a great invention “boycott” was. Meanwhile, historical re-enactors who turn out in 18th-century garb struggle to stop our tongues before using the word. If only Samuel Adams had given us something better than “non-purchase/non-consumption.”

“Lincoln’s History” is an occasional column by members of the Lincoln Historical Society.

An archeologist at Minute Man NHP holds a 1887 musket ball they just unearthed.

Editor’s note: This is an edited version of a press release from Minute Man National Historical Park.

Visitors to Minute Man National Historical Park on Saturday, July 13 can see five recently discovered musket balls that were fired during the world-changing event known as “The Shot Heard ’Round the World” on April 19, 1775.

Early analysis of the 18th-century musket balls discovered by National Park Service archeologists indicates they were fired by colonial militia members at British forces during the North Bridge fight in Concord. The battle site within Minute Man NHP marks the moment when provincial militia leaders ordered members to fire upon their own government’s soldiers for the first time.

The musket balls were discovered by archeologists conducting compliance activities in preparation for the park’s Great American Outdoors Act project. They were found in an area where, according to contemporary accounts, British soldiers formed up to resist the river crossing. Further analysis of the musket balls indicates that each one was fired from the opposite side of the river and not dropped during the process of reloading.

“It’s incredible that we can stand here and hold what amounts to just a few seconds of history that changed the world almost 250 years ago,” said Minute Man Park Ranger and historic weapons specialist Jarrad Fuoss. “These musket balls can be considered collectively as ‘The Shot Heard ’Round the World,’ and it’s incredible that they have survived this long. It’s also a poignant reminder that we are all stewards of this battlefield and are here to preserve and protect our shared history.”

Visitors can learn more about the musket balls at Minute Man NHP on Saturday, July 13 during the park’s Archeology Day events in Lincoln and Concord (they will be on view in Concord):

 Minute Man Visitor Center (210 North Great Rd., Lincoln)

• 11:00 a.m. — “Investigating Hallowed Ground: Battlefield Archeology at Minute Man National Historical Park,” with Joel Dukes of the NPS Northeast Region Archeology Program. 
• 1:00 p.m. — “Arms, Ammunition, and Archaeology: A Scientific Look at April 19, 1775” with Joel Bohy, director of Historic Arms & Militaria at Blackstone Valley Auctions.

North Bridge Visitor Center (174 Liberty St., Concord)

• 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Members of the public can view the musket balls on display at the North Bridge Visitor Center. Visitors can talk to park curators about the musket balls and the science behind preserving them.
• 2:30 p.m. — “North Bridge Battle Walk” — visitors can join park rangers for an interactive walking tour tracing the footsteps and the archaeology of those who fought at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775.

On that day, roughly 800 British soldiers marched from Boston to Concord to destroy military supplies that colonial rebels had gathered. Thousands of local militia members intercepted the British advance thanks to a system of midnight riders who gave warning the night before. Near dawn, a brief encounter between militia members and British soldiers on Lexington Green left eight militia dead and 10 wounded. Once the British regulars arrived in Concord, a detachment of roughly 200 redcoats marched over the North Bridge as they headed for the home of Col. James Barrett. British informants believed Barrett had stockpiled military goods on his farm, including several artillery pieces. At the North Bridge, British forces left 96 soldiers to protect the river crossing.

Soon, the number of militia members and local Minute Men grew on the hills northwest of Concord. A plume of smoke rising above the town center spurred the militia into action, as they feared British troops had started to burn the colonists’ homes. The militia loaded their weapons and began to march. As the head of the militia neared the North Bridge, the British soldiers panicked and began firing. Musket balls began to hit the provincial soldiers, and Maj. John Buttrick of Concord issued his famous order: “Fire, fellow soldiers! For God’s sake, fire!” The militia fired heavily into the British ranks and charged across the bridge.

Under heavy gunfire, the British ranks dissolved, and the soldiers retreated to their reinforcements near Concord center. The fighting at the North Bridge lasted less than three minutes, but when the smoke cleared, 18 men lay dead or wounded. Three British soldiers killed in the engagement remain buried in Concord to this day.

The recent archaeological survey was conducted by trained professionals using scientific techniques specifically meant to preserve and document the findings within their archaeological context. Metal detecting, relic hunting, and other forms of looting are strictly prohibited on NPS land. The NPS is reminding visitors that violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act can result in felony charges, including up to five years in prison and fines of more than $100,000. Click here to learn more about ARPA and the ethics of protecting resources in Minute Man National Historical Park visit 

The event is co-sponsored by Friends of Minute Man National Park. For more background, images and timelines about the battle on April 19, 1775, click here. To learn about the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution at Minute Man National Historical Park in 2025, click here.

The Old North Bridge at dawn.