Concord Museum
53 Cambridge Turnpike
Concord, MA 01742
Visit its website: https://concordmuseum.org/
“Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. Concord Museum, the epicenter for all things Revolutionary, will reopen to the public on Thursday, April 1, 2021 showcasing its new permanent April 19, 1775 gallery along with a series of in-person, virtual, and outdoor events leading up to Patriots’ Day weekend.
Concord Museum recently completed a $1.2 million permanent exhibition that brings to life the conflict in engaging, emotional ways through powerful animation, artifacts, recordings, and storytelling of that fateful day when the ‘Shot was Heard Round the World’. David Wood, Curator for the Museum remarked, “In Concord Museum’s new installation of April 19th material, first person narratives of participants are joined with the largest collection anywhere of objects that were themselves participants, including muskets, swords, and powder horns that were at the North Bridge. The exhibition is augmented by media based on the most authentic 1775 depictions of the events on that day.”
Interwoven throughout the exhibition is new information about the role of both women and people of color – both enslaved and free who fought and participated on that day. “This new April 19th exhibition tells a more inclusive story, featuring men and women who were traditionally left out of the historical record,” explained Erica Lome, Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate.
Importantly, this story is not just about Concord and Lexington, but the 25 communities across Massachusetts that answered the alarm in 1775 such as Framingham, Dedham, Newton, Watertown, Cambridge, Lincoln, Billerica, Acton, Chelmsford, Menotomy (now Arlington), Medford, Sudbury, Belmont, Wayland, and others. In recognition of these communities, the Concord Museum is offering a special after-hours access to the April 19th exhibition on the evenings of Wednesday, April 7 and Wednesday, April 14, 202. The public is also invited to join the Museum for a virtual evening on April 6 thwith Curator David Wood, Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate, Erica Lome, and historian and author of The Minutemen and Their World, Robert Gross, for an inside look at the roles the Provincials played from these Massachusetts communities.
Leading up to Patriots’ Day on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 and during school vacation week, the Museum has a host of other Revolution themed activities. Families are invited to drop-in the Museum’s courtyard to try their hand using a feather quill pen, making a tricorn hat, and playing colonial games. Culminating on Patriots’ Day the public can witness Acton Minutemen as they prepare for battle in an encampment on the Museum’s lawn. There is also a Tinsmithing activity and Revolutionary Walking Tours.
To view all of the Museum’s Patriots’ Day April events and to reserve a timed ticket for the April 19, 1775 exhibition: www.concordmuseum.org Before or after your visit view Concord Museum’s ‘Shot Heard Round the World’ microsite which was recently recognized by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission. https://concordmuseum.org/april-19-1775-exhibit/
