Family Ride along the Minute Man National Historical Park's Battle Road
Father's Day, June 20th 2010
Lincoln / Concord,MA: Over one hundred kids and their families joined the New England Mountain Bike Association and the Friends of the Minute Man Natiional Historical Park for a father's day family ride along the National Park Service's Battle Road. While some of the older kids sported high-end dual suspension mountain bikes, the youngest --some just 3 years old-- were still on training wheels. Docents from the Friends of the Minute Man National Park and the Park Service spoke to the children at Paul Revere's Capture Site and at the historic Hartwell Tavern (where they donned colonial garb), and the kids really seemed to have lots of fun riding their bikes through history!
"It was wonderful to see so many families coming out to celebrate Father's Day on bike," says NEMBA director, Philip Keyes. "I was especially pleased to hear that this was the first time that many of the families had been to the park to learn some of the important lessons of our nation's birth." One participant, Albert Lew, of Winchester remarked: "Great Father's Day today. The whole family rode part of Paul Revere's ride at Minute Man National Historical Park as part of the NEMBA Kid's ride. I thoroughly enjoyed our stop at Hartwell's Tavern and cannot believe I have never stopped by in college or the last 10 years to take a look."
Jennifer Voss, a Friends of Minute Man National Park board member remarked that "one young girl and her sister stopped at Hartwell Tavern to ask Park Staff, 'what did kids do on Sunday at the time of the Revolution?' The answer: 'spend three hours in church, sometimes six!.' The girls felt very lucky to be able to spend the day on a bike ride. Riding this park by bicycle is a wonderful way to get kids outside exercising and learning our nation's history."
We thank the National Park Service for supporting this event, and we're grateful to all the good volunteers from NEMBA and the Friends of the Minute Man National Historical Park for hosting the event and lets both kids and parents spend quality time together on the trail.
Click for a short YouTube Video of the start of the ride
Click Image to Enlarge
Click for a the full set of Family Ride Event Photos |
