Minute Man National Historical Park

Hartwell Tavern (1733)

The first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired on April 19, 1775. British troops had been sent to Concord, Massachusetts, to seize guns and ammunition that had been secretly stored by the rebel Patriots. Through the efforts of Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, the Patriots were informed of the British advance. The resulting skirmishes in the towns of Lexington and Concord, and along the road that connects the two, set the stage for open hostilities between the British and the Patriots. Minute Man National Historical Park is a thin strip of land along the old road that preserves and interprets the events of April 19, 1775.