Patriots’ Day – North Bridge Program

Commemorate Patriots' Day with a National Park Service program marking the "shot heard round the world."

On April 19, 1775 British Regular soldiers search the town of Concord, Massachusetts for stockpiles of illegal military supplies. When nearly 200 Regulars crossed Concord's North Bridge and headed for the farm of militia Colonel James Barrett, they left 96 men to guard the important river crossing. Meanwhile, hundreds of local militia soldiers gathered on the hillside opposing the bridge. Those soldiers from Concord, Lincoln, Acton, Bedford, Westford, and elsewhere watched as the British searched their homes and eventually lit fires to burn military supplies. Afraid the Regulars would burn the town, the militia decided to act. They marched down the long causeway to a confrontation with British Soldiers guarding the bridge and ignited the American Revolution. Join Park Rangers as they mark the 250th Anniversary with a special ranger walk in the footsteps of those minute men and militia.