Peabody, Danvers To Co-Host 250th Anniversary Patriots Day Events

PEABODY, MA — Two North Shore communities are teaming up to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the actions and battles that launched the Revolutionary War.

The events will take place on Patriots Day with some street closures planned.

A speaking program and presentation by re-enactors from the Danvers Alarm List Company will include markers set at Peabody's historic Lexington Monument — erected to honor the seven soldiers from Danvers that gave their lives in April 1775. The Danvers Alarm List Company has marked the loss of the Danvers residents at the Battle of Menotomy in Arlington for the past 50 years.

More than 300 ordinary citizens joined the Danvers Militia, Minute and Alarm list companies and answered the call on April 19, 1775, marching 16 miles from the training field in Salem Village, now Danvers, for four hours to confront the British troops, driven by unwavering determination and commitment to liberty.

"We do this each year, as volunteers, because it's important that we remember the sacrifices of these ordinary men," said Henry Rutkowski of Danvers Alarm List.

The reenactors will arrive at the Village Training Field in Danvers (the intersection of Centre and Ingersoll streets) via trolley for the first wreath laying. They will then depart on the Trolley at 7:50 to Peabody for wreath layings at three gravesites. Members of the public are welcome to ride, space permitting, with tickets available here.

Rutkowski will portray Capt. Levi Preston and give a brief background at each wreath-laying. The group will proceed from the Training Field in Danvers to lay wreaths at graves in Peabody before gathering at the Lexington Monument on Washington Street in Peabody, where Mayor Ted Bettencourt, members of the Peabody Historical Society and Peabody Veterans will give remarks.

Following a brief break for refreshments at the Bell Inn on Washington Street in Peabody, the Alarm List Company will proceed to lay wreaths at the site of Capt. Israel Hutchinson, where the bodies of the Danvers 7 were brought after battle, and to the Elliot Street grave of Reuben Keniston.

The final wreath will be laid at the grave of Frances Nurse on the grounds of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers. Nurse was the great-grandson of Rebecca Nurse, who was executed in
1692, during the witchcraft trials in Salem Village.

From 9 a.m. to noon, Peabody will close a portion of Washington Street from Main Street to Pleasant Street. Parking is available in several nearby lots, so visitors can enjoy the temporary plaza from the Bell Inn property at historic Eagle Corner to the Peabody Historical Society HQ in the General Gideon Foster House at 35 Washington Street.

Visitors are welcomed at the Peabody Historical Society Washington Street campus from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for free entry into the Foster House and to explore Peabody's Revolutionary era history and learn of the seven young men of Danvers killed in the early battles, the history of the Lexington Monument and the brave soldiers that were in all the battles during our Revolutionary War.

More information can be found at the Peabody Historical Society here.

A post-commemoration reception will be held at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead beginning at approximately 12:30 p.m. and will include brief remarks, musket demonstrations and refreshments donated by the Emerson family/Putnam Pantry. The Nurse House will be open for free tours as well.

The public is invited to attend and observe the ceremonies at one or all sites and to the Nurse Homestead reception.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)