Fair warning - long post with photos.
A highlight of my business trip to the Boston, MA area last week was an opportunity to use my free morning time to visit the American Revolution history commemorated in 1925 with the Lexington-Concord half dollar.
For reference ... here is the coin:
1925 Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial Half Dollar - PCGS MS66/CAC
We started at the North Bridge site in the Minuteman National Historical Park - the site of the start of the war.
North Bridge site:
In the background ... across the bridge ... you can see a statue of interest which I'll come to in a bit.
The inscription on the memorial obelisk in the foreground reads as follows:
HERE
on the 19 of April
1775
was made
the first forcible resistance
to British aggression
On the Opposite Bank
stood the American Militia
Here stood Invading Army
and on the spot
the first of the Enemy fell
in the War of that Revolution
which gave
Independence
to these United States
In gratitude to GOD
and
In the love of Freedom
this Monument
was erected
AD 1836To the left of that memorial is the
British grave marker:
The inscription is kind of macabre:
GRAVE OF BRITISH SOLDIERS
THEY CAME THREE THOUSAND MILES AND DIED.
TO KEEP THE PAST UPON ITS THRONE.
UNHEARD BEYOND THE OCEAN TIDE.
THEIR ENGLISH MOTHER MADE HER MOAN.
APRIL 19, 1775
Sooo ... back to that statue in the background ... the Concord Minuteman. Plow with jacket thrown over it with a rifle in the other hand ... the Patriot ready to leave his farm to defend the new nation.
It's represented on the obverse of the coin ... here I am to show some scale.
The inscription on the statue base is a poem by Ralph Emerson:
BY THE RUDE BRIDGE THAT
ARCHED THE FLOOD,
THEIR FLAGS TO APRIL'S
BREEZE UNFUROLED,
HERE ONCE THE EMBATTLED
FARMERS STOOD,
AND FIRED THE SHOT HEARD
ROUND THE WORLD.
The next morning we set off to find the Lexington, MA Old Belfry - the Reverse of the coin.
This proved to be a bit of a challenge ... GPS directions take you into the heart of Lexington with no belfry in sight. Google search indicates that 'thousands of people pass by this location without knowing about it' ... but gives the critical clue that one must climb a rough trail of a few hundred feet.
Sooo ... find a hill and there we go.
Old Belfry - Lexington, MA
Great fun and truly enjoyable to visit the images and history represented in my classic silver commemorative set ... hopeful that you enjoyed the mini-tour of our 1925 Lexington-Concord half dollar.
Enjoy
Posted 05/19/2018 4:37 pm
