How to Celebrate Patriots' Day

In 48 states of the Union, April 19th is just another square on the calendar. But in Massachusetts and Maine, it's the day set aside to remember the Shot Heard 'Round the World.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Colonial-era Cookbooks
• Revolutionary War History Books
• Colonial-era Food
• Crushed Ice
• Ginger Brandy
• Rum
• Cocktail Glasses
• Airline Tickets

1. Take a trip to Concord and, at dawn, stand by the crude bridge that still arches the flood, and watch the Concord Minutemen re-enact the skirmish that started the American Revolution.

2. Go to Boston the night before, on April 18th, and join the audience in the Old North Church as descendents of Paul Revere and Robert Newman reenact the procedure that set the business at Concord into motion.

3. Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Landlord's Tale: Paul Revere's Ride." It's by no means an accurate portrayal of the night's events (for one thing, Revere never made it to Concord - he was captured by the British and narrowly escaped hanging) but it's still a rousing good read.

4. Read Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn," written a century after the event for the dedication of Daniel Chester French's famous Minuteman statue at Concord's Old North Bridge.

5. Throw your own Patriots' Day fling wherever you are if you can't make it to New England. Do some homework and stage your own reenactments (straight or tongue-in-cheek) of Paul Revere's ride and the battles at Lexington and Concord.

6. Serve food popular in Colonial New England, such as fish chowder, baked beans and baked Indian pudding. You'll find inspiration and recipes in Colonial- and Revolutionary-era histories and cookbooks.

7. Toast the courage of both Rebels and Tories with a Coow Woow, purported to be the first mixed drink served in America, in 1664.

Tips & Warnings

• To make a Coow Woow, pour 2 parts rum and 1 part ginger brandy over crushed ice, stir and strain into a cocktail glass.
• Robert Newman was the young church sexton who, at Revere's instructions, hung two lanterns in the steeple as a signal that British troops were on the move to capture an arms cache in Concord.
• For more information on Patriots' Day doings in and around Boston, contact the Massachusetts state tourism office and check out the Related Sites.
• If you plan to take in the proceedings at the Old North Church (an active Episcopal church which is technically called Christ Church in the City of Boston), get there several hours in advance; the church is tiny and the pews fill up fast.

[PoetPatriot]

on 2/21/2007 Check out the poem "Liberty Ride of Dawes, Revere" at http://www.poetpatriot.com/PoemsPatriotic5&6.htm#Liberty_Ride

Many more poems of patriotism and others at www.PoetPatriot.com