Longfellow Serenade

Before the day is out, I just wanted to note that today is the 228th anniversary of Paul Revere's famous midnight ride through the countryside outside of Boston (known these days as the Route 128 corridor) to warn the local militiamen that the British were coming. As practically everyone who went to public high school remembers, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow romanticized Revere's midnight ride in a famous poem that is now read in schools all across the country. Ironically, I never read Longfellow's tribute to Revere, and Longfellow was one of the few poets I didn't read in college for my English major.

Paul Revere's act of courage was indeed inspiring, but it's worth knowing that before Longfellow wrote his poem, America's second most famous midnight rider (after Gregg Allman, of course) had been largely forgotten by history, remembered if at all for his skill as a silversmith in colonial Boston. Also, Revere wasn't the only rider out on that dark April night; two other riders, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, made the trek to Lexington and Concord to warn of the British advance. Revere himself didn't make it to Concord; after warning Lexington, he was intercepted and captured by British soldiers. The fact that Revere rode at all was good enough for the Massachusetts state tourist industry, of course; Revere-related sites such as Old North Church and his own house (both in Boston) are still visited frequently by vacationers from all over. To be fair, though, the Revere House is an interesting example of seventeenth-century dwellings, particularly when so little architecture from that era is left in the original thirteen states.

One if by land, two if by sea . . ..