Lynnfield’s REVOLUTION 250 celebration kicked off this month with an interview of Alan Foulds on the REV 250 podcast hosted by Professor Robert Allison. Foulds is the Chair of the Lynnfield REVOLUTION 250 events planned by the Lynnfield Historical Society. This 2 ½ year celebration is the latest project from the 68-year-old Historical Society; covering the time from the Boston Massacre in late 1773 to the British evacuation of Boston in 1776.
As the entire Nation prepares for the 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026, REVOLUTION 250 is focusing on the special role Massachusetts played in the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (1773) while events in 1774 escalated tensions between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its mother country. 1775 was a similarly significant year, with the beginning of the American Revolution at Lexington, Concord and Menotomy, followed by the Siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
REV. 250 is a statewide organization founded by the Massachusetts Historical Society and is comprised of over 70 like-minded historical organizations dedicated to telling the stories of their cities and towns as the region moved toward revolution.
Lynnfield’s REV 250 activities will explore the events that dominated the lives of Lynnfield’s (or Lynn End as it was called) residents in the 1770s. A major focus will be the participation of Nathaniel Bancroft’s Lynn End militia company in the battles of April 19, 1775. As Foulds explains on the Podcast, the tiny Lynn End, with fewer than 150 houses, sent its company of 38 men. They saw major action and lost three of their members. Those men participated in the first capture of British supplies and prisoners and fought valiantly at the Jason Russell House in Menotomy (now Arlington).
The REV 250 Podcasts have been busy archiving interviews with prominent historians. Robert Allison, who is Professor and Chair of History at Suffolk University, moderates these Podcasts. He is also Chair of the REV 250 and President of the South Boston Historical Society.
Foulds is a leading historian on the participation of Lynnfield and Reading in the American Revolution and is a recognized expert on the network of Alarm Riders that spread the word all through the night of April 18. He also hosts his own podcast on local history called “It’s Also History,” uncovering little known events that make local history entertaining.
This fascinating REV 250 interview reiterates that the alarm spread by Paul Revere and William Dawes was not a spontaneous event, but part of an elaborately planned secret network of riders established by the Provincial Congress. Foulds explains how Lynnfield’s own Dr. Martin Herrick was waiting at the home of his medical mentor in Medford when he met Paul Revere. Herrick and other former medical students departed on well-planned routes to spread the word of the British march. Foulds shines light on other long-forgotten alarm riders who spread out through dozens of towns and aided in the rapid gathering of thousands of minutemen and militia to oppose the British. That night was no accident.
Foulds applies his deep understanding of the New England Town Meeting to show how this unique form of hands-on democracy made Massachusetts the hotbed for opposition to Great Britain’s colonial rule. The Town Meeting of Lynn, to which Lynn End belonged, was led by Lynn End’s Daniel Mansfield in supporting the Boston Tea Party and protesting the Royal Governor’s punishment of Boston.
The Podcast is enriched by the expertise of Professor Allison, who has published extensively on the Boston’s role in the Revolution. The discussion between Allison and Foulds makes the Podcast entertaining for any listener. This REV 250 interview (as well as many more REV 250 interviews) is now available on the REV 250 website. Foulds’ own podcast “It’s Also History” can be found on Spotify.
See the Facebook page of the Lynnfield Historical Society for more information on Lynnfield’s REV 250 activities/ Anyone wishing to join the Lynnfield REV 250 planning committee can contact Alan Foulds at alan@foulds.org
