The town of Lexington, Massachusetts, is gearing up to celebrate 250 years since the Battle of Lexington, and one resident has contributed by recreating an important piece of history.”I call it my retirement obsession. I’ve been working on it for several years,” said Ben Soule, a craftsman.Soule has created a small replica that tells a big story — one dating back to the American Revolution.”This is Lexington’s second meeting house. It was the one that stood here on the common when the British came to visit in 1775,” Soule said.Soule, a lifelong Lexington resident, spent three years creating the historically accurate model. It features details from a skirmish on the Lexington Battle Green the morning of April 19, 1775.”There is a cannonball hole where the British visitors set up a cannon and, as a warning to the colonials, put a cannonball in one side and out the other,” Soule said.The structure stands 36 inches tall and is painted in the color Soule believes it would have been all those years ago. A closer look inside reveals another piece of history Soule discovered in his research.”The histories I have read said that there was a keg of gunpowder in the meeting house, and I assumed it was in the second gallery at the time the British marched into Lexington,” Soule said.The replica is now on display at First Parish in Lexington. With the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord fast approaching, Soule hopes visitors view his creation as a window to the past.”I want them really to be able to put themselves in the meeting house. I hope that the world finds it interesting and appreciates it and learns something from it,” Soule said.
The town of Lexington, Massachusetts, is gearing up to celebrate 250 years since the Battle of Lexington, and one resident has contributed by recreating an important piece of history.
“I call it my retirement obsession. I’ve been working on it for several years,” said Ben Soule, a craftsman.
Soule has created a small replica that tells a big story — one dating back to the American Revolution.
“This is Lexington’s second meeting house. It was the one that stood here on the common when the British came to visit in 1775,” Soule said.
Soule, a lifelong Lexington resident, spent three years creating the historically accurate model. It features details from a skirmish on the Lexington Battle Green the morning of April 19, 1775.
“There is a cannonball hole where the British visitors set up a cannon and, as a warning to the colonials, put a cannonball in one side and out the other,” Soule said.
The structure stands 36 inches tall and is painted in the color Soule believes it would have been all those years ago. A closer look inside reveals another piece of history Soule discovered in his research.
“The histories I have read said that there was a keg of gunpowder in the meeting house, and I assumed it was in the second gallery at the time the British marched into Lexington,” Soule said.
The replica is now on display at First Parish in Lexington. With the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord fast approaching, Soule hopes visitors view his creation as a window to the past.
“I want them really to be able to put themselves in the meeting house. I hope that the world finds it interesting and appreciates it and learns something from it,” Soule said.
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