Friends of Minute Man National Park

06/08/2026

06/04/2026

It was a beautiful morning for the Friends of Minute spring bird walk. We spotted a yellow billed cuckoo, several Baltimore oriels, a blue heron flying by, and more!

05/27/2026

In the spring of 1776, the people of Massachusetts had been at war with Great Britain for more than a year. In early May, the Massachusetts House of Representatives requested that the towns assemble in meeting and express their views on the question of American independence. The goal was to faithfully instruct their delegation in the Continental Congress on the true sentiments of the people.

On May 27 the freeholders in the town of Malden MA were the first to respond. They wrote, “The time was, sir, when we loved the king and the people of Great Britain with an affection truly filial; we felt ourselves interested in their glory... and without reluctance expended our blood and our treasure in their cause... but our sentiments are altered, it is now the ardent wish of our soul that America may become a free and independent state.”

Referencing the “ever memorable nineteenth of April” (of 1775) they wrote "We remember that fatal day! The expiring groans of our countrymen yet vibrate on our ears!... We hear their blood crying to us from the ground for vengeance, charging us, as we value the peace of their names, to have no further connection” with Great Britain.

Lastly, they promised that should the Congress declare independence, their citizens would defend it “to the last drop of their blood, and the last farthing of their treasure.”

Read the full text of the Instructions https://www.cityofmalden.org/690/Malden-Town-Instructions

Sources:
American Archives, A Documentary History of the English Colonies of North America, Vol. 6, Fourth Series, Peter Force, ed., Washington, D.C.: M. St. Claire Clark and Peter Force, 1846, p. 702

Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. 1st Vintage book ed. Random House, 1998.

05/26/2026

You asked, and we listened.

The “shots heard around the world” are on exhibit at the North Bridge Visitor Center! The exhibit, sponsored by Eastern National, showcases the six musket balls found at the North Bridge. These musket balls were fired by the provincials toward the British gathered on the opposite side of the bridge. The exhibit will be open when the North Bridge Visitor Center is open, 10am-5pm everyday. Photo by John Collins Photography.

More Information: https://www.nps.gov/mima/learn/historyculture/north-bridge-musket-ball-discovery.htm

05/22/2026

Commemorate Memorial Day weekend at Minute Man National Historical Park

On Saturday, May 23, join park rangers and living history volunteers at the North Bridge Visitor Center to learn about the “Minute Men of 1861.”

In the spring of 1861, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for volunteers to suppress the secessionist rebellion brewing in the south. As a result, thousands of men from local communities in Massachusetts answered the call as “Minute Men.” On April 19, 1861, a secessionist mob attacked the 6th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (Minute Men) while transferring trains in Baltimore, Maryland. For many of the Massachusetts soldiers, the symbology of their first combat experience occurring on the same day their grandfathers started the revolution was poignant. Learn more on our website. https://www.nps.gov/mima/planyourvisit/special-event.htm

On Sunday, May 24 visit Concord’s North Bridge and Hartwell Tavern for the opening of our summer programming. See our program schedule on our website https://www.nps.gov/mima/planyourvisit/ranger-programs-and-tours.htm

As always we are grateful for the support of the Friends of Minute Man National Park who help make these programs possible.

05/15/2026

Spring has sprung at Minute Man! Read our latest newsletter to learn about the Minute Men of 1861, Buttrick Garden tours, a spring bird walk, the iris rehabilitation project, forest restoration at the Park, and more at https://conta.cc/4fa8hi3.

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