In a number of ways, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can be considered the birthplace of the USA,¹ though the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New York have strong claims, too.² But, we're going with Massachusetts in this esay, so everyone suck it up, chill and be cool about it.

The strong case for Massachusetts as the birthplace of the nation begins with the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620, which led to Plimoth Plantation,³ the first permanent settlement by the British in North America. The settlers and their descendants eventually spread out over Cape Cod and beyond, including to Boston. Boston became the home of the first urban neighborhood in the colonies, the North End.⁴ Boston was also the site of much fomenting of revolution and intrigue, including the Boston Tea Party⁵ -- the real one, not the Koch Brothers' version. Because of that fomenting stuff, in 1768, England sent troops to Boston to keep order. They remained for seven years, during which time some of the troops were quartered in buildings owned by private Bostonians.⁶

On March 5, 1770, a Redcoat was allegedly attacked, resulting in casualties and injuries to Bostonians and Redcoats. This event was pivotal in the run up to the Revolutionary War, with Bostonians riling up people in other colonies about "the Boston Massacre."⁷ Massachusetts was also the place where the first shots in the Revolution was fired at the battles of Lexington and Concord -- and therein lies a tale--the tale of Patriots' Day, to be specific.

British troops had been seizing arms from colonists and storing them in the Massachusetts town of Concord. The patriots learned that Redcoats would be going from Boston to Concord. However, the rebels needed to know whether the Redcoats would sail out of Boston to Concord or travel by land. Basically the colonists wanted to ambush troops at the town Lexington, which was about half way between Boston and Concord and also engage troops in Concord. The plan was for a North End resident, Paul Revere,⁸ John Dawes and others to wait across the water at Charlestown for a signal from the tower of the (Old) North Church.⁹ The date was the 18th of April in '75, 1775.

One light beaming from the steeple would mean the Redcoats were traveling from Boston to Concord by land, while two would mean they were sailing from Boston. (History does not tell us of a signal for a two-pronged departure.) Supposedly, Robert Newman, the sexton of the church, and Captain John Pulling, Jr. each carried a lantern up the stairs to the church steeple while Thomas Bernard stood watch outside the church. Of course, the mission was very dangerous and the Redcoats and the rebels were all British citizens, so no one shouted "The British are coming!" or shouted at all.

The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired the next day in the battles of Lexington and Concord, yet another reason why some consider Massachusetts the birthplace of the nation. Yadda yadda, some general named George Washington and rebels under his command fought General Howe and the Redcoats in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester (now home to, among other things, the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate). Then, the Redcoats finally left Boston for Nova Scotia on March 17, 1776 (Evacuation Day), never to occupy Boston again (so far).

Paul Revere had done a number of "rides" in the service of the patriots, as had many other colonists. Some cynics say that no one would even remember Paul Revere if Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also a Bay Stater, had not, eighty years later, written a poem about this ride, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.¹⁰ I don't agree because this particular ride was crucial to the first battles of the Revolution.

Me? I cynically wonder if the anniversary of "Paul Revere's ride," Patriots' Day, would have been made an official holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 119 years after the ride (1894), if it had not been for the Boston Marathon.¹¹ (With Patriots' Day now a Monday holiday, residents of Massachusetts often enjoy one to three extra days to file their income taxes, but that's only an incidental bonus.) I also cynically wonder of Evacuation Day would have become an official holiday in the City of Boston 126 years after Evacuation Day (1901), were it not the same date as St. Patrick's Day in a city that had, by 1901, become heavily Irish. (I'm sure other explanations exist. I just don't feel like googling them.)

Over the years, the Boston Marathon has given locals many vignettes and stories, some funny and some inspiring, including those of Team Hoyt.¹² Sadly, however, the Boston Marathon of 2013 ended in tragedy. Now, the Boston Marathon begins, not at the start of the route in Hopkinton, but at the finish line in Boston, with a solemn service of remembrance for the victims of the bombings, during which Boston is often referred to as "Boston Strong" or "One Boston." Boston native Mark Wahlberg also produced a film about the attack, which pleased some locals and incensed others. ¹³

Most of the Boston historic sites mentioned in this essay and many more are along a route that is now called "the Freedom Trail."¹⁴ The City of Boston was so important to the founding of the nation and its early years, that the city, including the Freedom Trail, is a 43-acre national historic park,¹⁵ though very different from national parks like Yellowstone.

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¹ Some of us don't acknowledge anywhere near often enough that the first peoples to occupy our continent were the ancestors of First Nations. While we refer to them as "indigenous," according to Dr. Spencer Wells, they were actually the first of many waves of immigrants, predating Europeans by about 50,000 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Wells; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journey_of_Man; Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (13 parts, over 15 hours) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6eE05Q6EJw; Journey of Man; PBS http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=1402989

² In addition to the 1607 settlement in Jamestown, the Constitution of the United States was modeled on that of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson had written. Although Jefferson was overseas for much of the Constitutional Convention, he and James Madison communicated often about it by diplomatic pouch. Pennsylvania's claim, of course, comes from the Constitutional Convention's having been held in Philadelphia; and New York's claim from New York City's having been the first seat of the federal government, with President George Washington living--you guessed it--on Manhattan's Wall Street.

³ You can visit a reproduction of Plimoth Plantation, see re-enactors and even eat a sit down Thanksgiving dinner there, if you book at the right moment--sells out fast! Otherwise, you're relegated to eating outdoors. Even on Thanksgiving Day, educational programs continue. https://www.plimoth.org/

⁴ https://www.boston.gov/neighborhood/north-end The North End continued to be home to waves of immigrants, Irish; Jewish; including entertainer, Sophie Tucker (after whom Bette Midler named her daughter) and Italian. Residents dove off its piers for recreation and many made a living fishing there until the harbor "died." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Harbor The still gentrifying North End, is now less than forty percent Italian -- an ever-declining percentage -- with students and yuppies accounting for most of the balance.

⁵ https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/

⁶ Quartering was a big factor in colonists insisting upon the Third and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Quaint footnotes to history! Given government-owned buildings, including forts, quartering is unlikely to occur again; and we all know what happened to the Fourth Amendment. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/redcoats-in-the-out-house-some-myths....

⁷ http://www.bostonmassacre.net/

⁸ Paul Revere's home still stands in Boston's North End. https://www.paulreverehouse.org/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere There lived Paul and his second wife, Rachel Walker Revere, mother his eight younger children; his widowed mom, Deborah Hitchorn Revere; and his kids (sixteen in all, including two daughters who married Lincoln brothers). http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincoln-was-related-to-paul-revere/ The home has been restored from the rooming house it had become to an approximation of its original condition, furnishings and all. Tourists can now see various re-enactments there during summer and at certain other times throughout the year, including around what is now the long Patriots Day weekend.

⁹ Events during the Patriots Day weekend include a service at Old North Church attended by enthusiasts in colonial garb. http://oldnorth.com/

¹⁰ https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/paul-reveres-ride (full text)

¹¹ http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history.aspx http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/boston-marathon-history.aspx; http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/event-information/course-map.aspx

¹² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Hoyt

¹³ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4572514/

¹⁴ https://www.thefreedomtrail.org

¹⁵ https://www.nps.gov/bost/index.htm