America’s 250th Birthday & Revere

By Guest

The Lexington Minutemen perform a reenactment at the Revere Heritage Site in May.

By Rich Trotto

I recently went to the Canton Post Office and purchased 4 sheets of the Paul Revere’s Ride and the Old North Church memorial stamps. They were just issued on August 14, to celebrate the founding of the U.S. Letter postage is now 78 cents, which is still a bargain figuring that 78 cents worth of gas in your tank would not allow you to hand deliver a letter very far from home. You can go to Boston2026.org to learn about the 2026 World Stamp Expo to be held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from May 23-30. I collected stamps many, many moons ago and had no clue what Philately and Philatelic meant.

Check out the photo of the stamps below. Paul Revere actually did not ride with the lantern because of the handsfree riding law (just kidding)!

The British troops were in Boston and rowed across the Charles River on April 18, 1775, heading toward Concord to capture the settlers’ supplies of black powder and weapons. Actually, one or two church workers climbed to the church’s steeple, lit and hung the two lanterns (two if by sea) and slipped away. If Paul had ridden with two lanterns and no hands on the reins, the horse would have just returned to the draft horse barn or wherever it was kept before Paul moved to Canton in 1801.

When I learned that the last known original lantern is on display at the Concord Museum, I had to see it. Right next to that lantern was a wall-sized map and timeline motion display representing Paul’s ride, battles, and the minutemen response from all over New England, which actually moved me.

If you are an educator, you must see history come alive on that wall display. Don’t mess with a yet to be formalized Army of hardworking men living off their farmland and hunting with their black powder muskets to feed their families. Taxation without representation was and always will be considered a problem that has to be resolved.

At the museum gift shop, they sell lantern replicas and I absolutely had to have one. I picked an electrified version and inserted a flicker bulb to look like a candle. I joked with the salesperson about riding home to Canton with the lantern on my motorcycle. Fortunately, the lantern made it home in one piece in a paper bag with handles.

We are fortunate to have the Paul Revere Heritage Site and other historic places and reenactments in town to relive history. The Old Powder House “photo” from the Canton Historical Society was preserved as an etching. In 1776, Paul Revere oversaw the building of the black powder house (shed), and the safe location where it was built became the Paul Revere Heritage Site where he built his businesses. The black powder supported the revolution, and the East Branch of the Neponset River (Canton River) supplied power to his businesses when he moved to Canton. We must build a replica of the Old Powder House for the site. What a great background for the Lexington Minutemen musket firing reenactments! That would be in addition to the tent encampments they set up.

I would love to get a photo of Paul Revere standing next to the shed. This paper has previously featured a photo of Paul (impersonated by Michael Lepage, shown below) visiting David and Abigail Tilden’s “Little Red House” at 79 Pleasant Street that they built in 1725. Note that Paul was born in 1735! Paul’s midnight ride was in 1775 when he was 41. He created his businesses and moved into his summer home in Canton in 1801, when he was 65, until he passed away in 1818 at age 83. His death certificate says Boston, where he also kept a home.

I assume he flew a Betsy Ross flag with great pride. The circle of 13 stars represents the 13 original colonies. As the American flag evolved, it had anywhere from nine to 18 stripes (not all officially recognized) but they settled on 13 stripes as the number of stars grew as the country added new states. I bought a Betsy Ross flag for my yard and the salesman mentioned that the version of the flag with “1776” in the center of the stars has been growing in popularity.

Paul Revere’s son Joseph Warren Revere carried on with the Revere businesses and built the Draft Horse Barn. On May 4, 2015, I photographed the barn before it was moved a short distance and restored. That was when I started photographing the Heritage Site evolution, including restoration of the brick Copper Rolling Mill. The Lexington Minutemen reenacting the revolution were photographed at the site on May 17, 2025 (shown above).

The Plymouth Rubber Co. built and expanded their businesses at the site for about 100 years. After the land was sold and in accordance with a development agreement between the town and the new owners, 2.2 acres were set aside for the preservation of the barn and rolling mill and another seven acres was acquired by the town for the park. The transformation back in time is truly mind boggling as if the plan was to celebrate the founding of the country on its 250th birthday. The memorial stamps inspired me to write this article.

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