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Published: June 17th 2009
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The Minuteman
The Minuteman statue at one end of North Bridge. Tuesday, 16 June (Minutemen & Butterflies): We were a bit lazy this morning and didn’t leave the KOA until after 9am. Heading up I-495 to avoid the Boston-bound traffic on I-95, our first stop was Concord. After checking with the visitor’s center for maps and handouts, we walked up Monument Street to the North Bridge, where the Revolutionary War was started with “the shot heard round the world”. Although not the original North Bridge, it was a neat site with a reconstructed bridge and the famous Minuteman statue of a colonial farmer with a plow in one hand and a musket in the other. They even have an audio you can play describing the events that took place there on my birthday, April 19th, 1775. Not my birth year of course, but it is my birth day. We then walked up to the Minuteman National Historic Park Visitor’s Center to check it out. They have an original cannon and life-sized replicas of the British and Colonial soldiers, and some souvenirs. Next, we headed back to Concord to see the shops, but they seemed to have little in the way of souvenirs. We then decided to drive down Lexington Road to see
North Bridge
The monuments at North Bridge, near Concord, Massachussetts. the various historic points along the way. The only one we found open was Hartwell Tavern, which has been restored and even had a couple of park employees in colonial garb that gave interesting talks on the tavern and the events that took place along “Battle Road”. Since it was past lunch time by then, we headed to Lexington to eat lunch and check out the sights and shops. Maybe we stopped in the wrong part of Lexington, but even near Lexington Green, there were mostly modern stores, few restaurants, and no souvenir shops or historic buildings. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant with a sidewalk café, Bertucci’s, where Manoli had a bowl of Tuscany Minestrone soup and I had a rigatoni dish with Italian sausage and peppers. They included all-you-can-eat salad with the meal. Although the salad was pretty plain, the food was good along with the service, and the prices weren’t bad either. Since it was going on 3pm and we wanted to visit “The Butterfly Place” near Lowell, we gave up on Lexington. The Butterfly Place closes at 5pm and stops selling tickets at 3:30 or 4pm. Tickets seemed a bit steep at $10.00 each, but
Cannon & Soldiers
A revolutionary war cannon and replicas of the British and colonial soldiers, and J.C. the place is awesome. They have a small gift shop and snack bar, a nicely done educational display area showing how butterflies and moths develop, then a decent sized atrium with hundreds of butterflies and moths flitting about. It was so peaceful inside you wanted to just sit down and watch. There were many species all mixed together, along with lots of plants and flowers. Although you’re not allowed to touch any, or even try, I guess it doesn’t work the other way around. I had two land on my head, one on my shoulder and one on my back. See the photo! We finally dragged ourselves away a little before 5pm and headed back towards our KOA. We stopped at Wendy’s for a Frosty, then Wal-Mart to return the DVD and pick up some fruit and cottage cheese for dinner. Tomorrow we hit Boston hard and heavy, since it’s our last day here before heading to New Hampshire for a few days.
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JuJu
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We will definitely go to the Butterfly Place
Hey Guys, I had never heard of the Butterfly Place. We will definitely go there this summer. Great descriptions of the places you go, John. JuJu