Battle Road: Crisis, Choices, and Consequences

Using historical documents, landscapes, buildings and artifacts as investigative tools, participants will examine the concerns, conflicts, dilemmas, decisions, and dramatic confrontations of people along the road to revolution. Presented by the Massachusetts Historical Society and partnering organizations, the workshop takes place in locations throughout Boston, Lexington, Lincoln and Concord. An outstanding group of historians, educators, and site interpreters will work with the group over the course of the four day workshop.

This workshop is open to teachers and the general public, and is funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Educators can earn PDPs and 2 graduate credits (for an additional fee) through Framingham State University.

Registration

$125 ($100 for teachers and MHS fellows/members)

Workshop fee includes:

• Four-day program (daytime, plus one Thursday evening) with additional half day for educators
• Admission to all partnering sites
• Packet of reading materials
• Welcome breakfast on Monday at the Massachusetts Historical Society, lunches on Tuesday (Concord Museum), Wednesday (Lexington Historical Society) and Thursday (Old Manse), and a final evening with living history characters, colonial entertainment, and dessert in Minute Man National Park

To register, complete this registration form and send the form with your payment to:

Kathleen Barker
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215
education@masshist.org

Complete directions for public transportation options, parking, and special lodging rates in Concord will be sent to all registrants. Questions? Call workshop directors Jayne Gordon (617) 646-0519 or Kathleen Barker (617) 646-0557.

Workshop Schedule

MONDAY, August 5: in Boston
Morning:

• Welcome breakfast at the Massachusetts Historical Society Introductions of participants, partners, places, and theme
• The Curious Newspaper Collections of Harbottle Dorr 
• Documenting the Coming of the American Revolution

Afternoon:

• Lunch on your own in Boston
• Background walking tour with Historian Bill Fowler (from the Common to the North End)

TUESDAY, August 6: in Concord
Morning:

• The Characters and the Community with Historian Bob Gross/ Part 1 (Concord Museum)
• “Reading” the artifacts in the “Why Concord?” gallery (Concord Museum)

Afternoon:

• Lunch at the Concord Museum
• The Characters and the Community with Bob Gross/ Part 2 (Concord Museum)
• “Reading” the Landscape: the world and worries of the Concord farmer with historian Brian Donahue (Minute Man National Park, Battle Road Farm fields)

WEDNESDAY, August 7: in Lexington
Morning:

• Paul Revere Capture Site and The Road to Revolution film (Minute Man National Park)
• Who Shot First 1? Depositions and other accounts with NPS Education Coordinator Jim Hollister (Lexington Green)

Afternoon:

• Lunch at Munroe Tavern (Lexington Historical Society)
• The experience of the British soldier (at Munroe Tavern)

THURSDAY, August 8: in Concord and Lincoln

Morning:

• Using primary source documents to (re)construct lost lives with Historian Mary Fuhrer (Major John Buttrick House, Minute Man National Park)
• Who Shot First 2? Depositions and other accounts with Jim Hollister (North Bridge)

Afternoon:

• Lunch and tour of Old Manse: William Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Legacy of Revolution
• Research/Writing workshop: “People at a Crossroads” with Mary Fuhrer and Educator Joanne Myers (on the grounds of the Old Manse)
•  Break for supper on your own in Concord

Evening:

• Special living history program “Battle Road Heroes” (Hartwell Tavern historic area, Minute Man National Park)
• Dessert and colonial entertainment in the Hartwell Barn

FRIDAY, August 9: in Boston

• Optional morning for educators to work on lesson plans with teacher-facilitator Duncan Wood (MHS)