How to Celebrate Bunker Hill Day

Bunker Hill Day, on June 17, is a legal holiday in Boston and surrounding Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Elsewhere you'll have to use your own time to celebrate the battle that launched America's war for independence.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Maps
• Airline Tickets
• Maps

1. Visit the Bunker Hill Monument and the adjacent museum, which tells the story of the battle and the subsequent war. While you're in Boston, walk the 2 1/2-mile Freedom Trail, which winds through some of the major shrines of the nation's infancy.

2. Attend one of the stirringly realistic battle re-enactments staged in Boston and environs. And imagine what it must have been like to be a farmer, tradesman, housewife or schoolchild with fighting raging round you, day in and day out.

3. Read a detailed account of the battle, the events that led up to it, and the conflict that followed in Richard M. Ketchum's "Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill."

4. Honor the spirit of the colonists by helping to preserve a building, a battlefield or an art treasure from the Revolutionary era. Volunteer to help at special events, take on a full-time project, or simply send a donation to help with upkeep and expenses.

5. Contact the National Trust for Historic Preservation for ideas on ways you can help if you live far from the scene of the action.

on 6/30/2006 Go to Charlestown, MA on the Sunday prior to June 17 and watch the Bunker Hill Day Parade. Walk up the Bunker Hill monument, it is closed this year (2006) for repair.