Liberty Ride in Lexington and Concord

The Liberty Ride is a 90-minute trolley tour of Revolutionary War and literary history in Lexington and Concord, but you'll probably want to spend a whole day (or more) where the revolution began and 1800s literary lights shone brightly.

Trolley tracks are long gone, but passengers on the motorized trolley replica can get on and off to spend time at decidedly non-Disney attractions along the Battle Road. The non-transferable pass is good for 24 hours.

Guides in colonial costumes tell passengers about the events of April 19, 1775, when British soldiers marched on colonial Minutemen. There was fighting, and deaths, on Lexington Green and later at Concord’s North Bridge.

The redcoats were routed in Concord, where today you can see. Daniel Chester French’s Minute Man statue, the graves of British soldiers, and battle monuments near North Bridge.

Liberty ride rolls to Lexington's Battle Green, where some 75 Minutemen faced ranks of the king's troops on their way to seize arms and ammunition in Concord. It also stops at places like Munroe Tavern, used as a field hospital by British forces during their retreat from Concord.

The guides also tell of the literary legacy centered in Concord that heavily influenced American identity and culture.

There’s Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott and the setting for Little Women. There are the homes of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with the Concord Museum (see Revere’s lantern there), Concord visitor center and the landmark Colonial Inn.

There’s free passenger reboarding at historic sites and attractions in Lexington and Concord. And passengers have on/off stops close to local attractions, hotels, shopping, and dining.

The non-profit Liberty Ride tour is run by the town of Lexington May 29 to Oct. 31. Trolley departs daily at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 1 and 2:30 p.m. from the National Heritage Museum in Lexington.

Tickets are sold in Lexington at the National Heritage Museum, 33 Marrett Rd./Rt. 2A, Lexington Visitor’s Center, 1875 Massachusetts Ave.,1 Bedford St., Buckman Tavern, 1 Bedford St., and in Concord at the Colonial Inn, 48 Monument Square.

Tickets include admission to three Lexington Historical Society houses, where you can also buy a Liberty Ride pass. Cost is $25 for adults and $10 for ages 5-17. Children under 5 are free. For recorded information call: 781 862 0500, ext. 702.

The tour includes free, all-day parking in Lexington at National Heritage Museum and at Minute Man National Historical Park, which extends from Lexington, through Lincoln and into Concord. A monument in the park marks where the midnight ride of Paul Revere came to an abrupt end with his capture by British troops.

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)