WALK IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF WORCESTER'S REVOLUTIONARIES
A project by Worcester Historical Museum and Digital WorcesterFrom Worcester’s Meetinghouse, near the site of today’s City Hall to what we now know as Lincoln Square, Worcester patriots led Massachusetts and later the country toward Revolution. Auspiciously in September 1774, patriots from across the region assembled along Main Street to reject rule under Parliament’s Massachusetts Government Act, close the county courts, and shame their loyalist elite neighbors. Now you can join Worcester Historical Museum and walk in their footsteps, as they forced wellborn local defenders of royal government to walk a gauntlet of common men intent on defending their liberty or as they spread their revolutionary ideas between the town’s taverns and meetinghouse. Read more About Us
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WORCESTER HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Founded in 1875, Worcester Historical Museum has the unique responsibility of collecting and sharing the stories, artifacts and documents of Worcester’s history. At its headquarters at 30 Elm Street,…
SALISBURY MANSION
In 1767, when Stephen Salisbury turned 21, his brother Samuel sent him from Boston to open and operate a branch of the family store in Worcester. For five years Salisbury operated in rented quarters…
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REVOLUTIONARY MAIN STREET
16 Locations ~ Curated by Robert Stacy, Worcester Historical MuseumRandom Stories
WORCESTER'S TAVERNS
In the 1770s Worcester had at least 10 taverns. Taverns provided food, drink, and lodging. They were also gathering places where men discussed farming, local business, and politics, and formed the hubs of political and social networks. Some were…
THE BOSTON POST ROAD
The Boston Post Road, which first came into existence in the 1670s, was Worcester’s means of accessing the wider world. To the east were the towns of Shrewsbury, Northborough, Marlborough and then Boston. To the west was the city of New York by way…
ELIJAH DIX
In the 1770s Elijah Dix was an apothecary (meaning doctor) in Worcester, where he not only tended to patients but was part of the Patriot group. His medical and social connections extended to Boston as well as Worcester and included the Patriot…
HEYWOOD TAVERN
The Heywood Tavern, located at the site of the current deadhorse hill restaurant, was owned and operated by Daniel Heywood, whose family had operated the tavern since 1722. Its clientele was mostly Tory in outlook. It was one of the oldest taverns in…
AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
Printer/patriot Isaiah Thomas founded this learned society in 1812. The Society hosts public tours on Wednesday afternoons, which include an up-close view of the press on which he printed news of the Revolution.
THE GAUNTLET TO THE COURT HOUSE
Four times a year the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace were held in the town of Worcester. By the summer of 1774 the Whig Party (Patriots) in the western counties of Massachusetts had created a solid resistance to royal rule.…