I have never been a maker of bucket lists but there has always been one thing that I wanted to experience.  That one bucket list event was to someday travel to the New England and Middle Atlantic states of the USA and experience the places where the beginnings of our nation began! 

My appreciation for and interest in our nation and our founding fathers came from my earliest education at Malad Elementary School.  Beginning with the fourth grade Mrs. Helen Thomas taught us the ‘wonders’ of Idaho, then in fifth grade Miss Lucile Harrison introduced us to the history of our nation.  Mr. Veryl Henrie took over in Junior High where his social science class gave us a greater understanding of the events leading up to 1776.  As juniors at Malad High we met Mr. Joe Davis and experienced his enthusiasm for the greatest nation on earth!  We continued with him into our senior year where we learned of our individual responsibilities to see that this nation continued its course of being a beacon of good for the world. 

On the eve of our nation celebrating its 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and as a gift to ourselves for making it to our 50th wedding anniversary Anne and I packed our bags, boarded a jumbo jet and took to the skies.  Our destination as we soared over the land of the free took us to the “birth place of the American Revolution”  -  Boston, Massachusetts. 

In Boston we met up with my sisters, Jan and Becky and their husbands.  As a group of six we navigated the history of the revolution! The next nine days were filled with the historical adventure of a nation seeking freedom from monarchy and tyranny! 

Our first destination was Boston Common where we joined the Freedom Trail tour experience.  In 1776 Boston Common was an open space where cattle and sheep grazed.  But, as destiny would have it, it became a gathering place where Colonists and Royalists heatedly debated the future of the 13 colonies and the tyranny they faced. 

As we followed the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail through today’s Boston we were able to immerse ourselves in the events that took place there 250 years ago where the “Cradle of Liberty” began.  Our first stop brought us to the Granary Burying Ground.  In this cemetery we reverenced the graves of many of those early patriots.  It included the graves of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and all five Boston Massacre victims.  It was a solemn, peaceful place surrounded by today’s bustling Boston. 

Next we stood on the site where the actual Boston Massacre occurred.  Five Colonists were killed by British soldiers on this spot.  The British described this event as, “the Incident on King Street”.  Little did they know what they had ignited.  John Adams wrote that the “foundation of American independence was laid” on this King Street.   

As we continued this Freedom Trail we next came to the Old North Church. On the night of April 18, 1775, the sexton of the Old North Church would hang two lanterns in the steeple thus alerting Paul Revere and William Dawes that it was time to ride.  That night of 1775, a borrowed steed would carry Paul Revere many miles north to Lexington and Concord alerting patriots along the way that the British army was coming.  Today there is an imposing bronze statue of Paul Revere mounted on his steed and located just south of the church.  Revere’s actions that night are regarded as the spark that ignited the American Revolution! 

The day was getting late, as our group of six marched on towards the Boston docks.  There we were thrilled to walk the plank that placed us on the deck of the USS Constitution or as we learned in those early history classes at Malad High – “Old Ironsides”.  The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the entire world.  The thirty 24 pounder long guns and the twenty-four 32 pounder carronades still line the decks of the warship.  This amazing ship is 305 feet in length, 43 feet in width and its mainmast goes to a height of 172 feet! The sails alone cover an area of 44,000 square feet.  What an experience to realize that the decks we stood on have sailed the high seas, flying the stars and stripes since 1797! 

The last stop of the day found us standing atop the hill known as Bunker Hill. The battle between the Colonists and the Redcoats was one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution.  The untrained, but determined Colonial Army were defending Boston against the best armed military that Britain possessed.  With limited ammunition it was from this position atop Bunker Hill that those men of the Colonial Army were given the legendary battle cry of: “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” The Americans fought to the bitter end and only retreated when there was no ammunition remaining.  Even though the British claimed victory, they took severe loses and it was the beginning of the end for the British occupation of Boston.   

As we left Boston that day, I knew I had witnessed the places where true patriots had sacrificed all they had, even their lives, so that these fledgling 13 colonies might one day become the United State of America! 

The next days flew by for Anne and I and our group. We traveled north to the land of the Green Mountain Boys – today’s Vermont.  This brave militia of young men fought and defeated the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga.  With this victory the Green Mountain Boys acquired 78 cannon from the British fort.  These cannons were then taken 200 miles south, over treacherous mountain terrain in the middle of a brutal winter to Boston.  The arrival of these arms was the final straw that broke the backs of the British army.  They were soon in full retreat and leaving Boston, heading south towards New York. 

After visiting the birth place of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Sharon, Vermont we turned our sights toward the Middle Atlantic states leaving the beauty of New England behind.  The 366 miles to Philadelphia would take us a full day as we took time to visit Plymouth Rock, the landing spot of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims in 1620. Then on to Cape Cod where we walked the sandy beaches and dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. 

We did not know what we would find at the end of our drive to the City of Brotherly Love.   We only knew that we wanted to find out why Philadelphia, like Boston, has been referred to as the Birthplace of America and the Cradle of Liberty!  We were not disappointed.  The events that took place in Philadelphia cemented in my soul that our nation was a nation of destiny. 

Our first night in the Philadelphia area we stayed in a hotel near Valley Forge.  This is where the Continental army, during the bitter winter of 1777, found refuge. They had been driven by the British army from New York, south through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. To make matters worse the British forced the Continental army from Philadelphia, the colonial capital. This area of Valley Forge, only 25 miles from Philadelphia, proved to be a pivotal time in the seven year fight for freedom and liberty.  The British army decided to hold up in Philadelphia and enjoy the spoils of the captured capital.  Meanwhile General Washington took his beleaguered, ill supplied army of colonists and trained them into an army that was prepared to fight back.  For six months during that winter those ordinary citizens, including  farmers, merchants and craftsmen  evolved into a diverse fighting force that turned the tide of a new nation.        

After spending time at the Valley Forge historical site we headed into Philadelphia where we arrived at Independence Hall!  This stately edifice was the location for the gathering of the Continental Congress in 1776.  Patriots such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Hancock sat together as delegates from all 13 colonies and crafted the Declaration of Independence.   

As we joined the tour of Independence Hall our dedicated national park ranger guide began by telling us the story of those men who knew they were about to give their all to this fledgling nation.  We first entered the court room side of the building.  It was interesting and inspiring but what we experienced next was the moment we will always remember.  We entered the room where delegates from all 13 colonies gathered to make the break from Britain declaring, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…..”  The magnitude of what those men did on that July 4th 1776 can be summed up in the last sentence of the actual Declaration of Independence.  It reads: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”   

During our time spent in that room our park ranger related to us another event that took place in that very room. He shared with us an event that took place eleven long years after July 4th 1776.  On September 17, 1787, the United State Constitution was signed.   Anne’s journal entry from that day summed up our 10 days of travel.  She wrote the following description of what she saw and felt, “I could not take my eyes off the chairs where Jefferson and Franklin would have sat on the right side of the room.  I was standing close to the chair where Adams would have hotly jumped to his feet with fire in his voice and perhaps a patriotic fist raised to punctuate his assertions.  But the crowning location in that room that day was the chair at the head of the room.  Our guide directed our attention there.  It was the very chair from which George Washington calmly conducted the floor of the debates.  The park ranger related the poignant story of Benjamin Franklin gazing at the sunburst emblem atop the back of this chair.  Franklin said that during those sweltering days of debate he often looked at the sunburst on that chair and wondered if the sunburst was a rising or setting sun for this new nation.  At length Franklin said, “I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.”   

As Anne and I left Independence Hall that day we looked back at the hall with its tall steeple rising above those rooms we had just visited.  We were so grateful to know that that steeple held the bell that was ready to ring out the declaration of Liberty and Freedom for us all!   

We feel with all our hearts that the sunburst on the back of Washington’s chair not only represented a rising nation of that day but has continued for 250 years!  We celebrate that conviction today.   

 As the Oneida County Republican Precinctman for the first district, I want to thank our Republican Party Central Committee for allowing me to share my experience of this past summer.