A Day at the Parade

The Bunker Hill Day Parade was an amazing experience.  On June 17^th, 1775 the first battle of the American Revolution was fought. That makes this year the 241^st Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Every year the event is remembered with a parade. This year I was able to participate by riding along in a Patrol vehicle.  There were thousands of people lining the streets of Charlestown. It was a huge event. Every time the parade stopped I got out and handed kids junior ranger badge stickers and American flags. Their joy filled reactions made the day very rewarding.

 The adults in the crowd saw the National Park Service coming, they clapped and waved, and even thanked us. I heard shouts saying “Thank you for protecting our history”, and "We love our parks, thank you”.  Hearing these kind words of appreciation let me know that the work I was doing and would continue to do was well worth it and much appreciated. It was so great to hear that from the public and helped to push me even harder to constantly learn more and work harder.

I spent the rest of the week working with Boston African American National Historic Site. I was able to learn so much about Boston’s fight against slavery during the abolitionist movement. The park preserves many important sites such as The Robert Gould Shaw and 54^th Regiment Memorial, Hayden House, Abiel Smith School, and the African Meeting House, just to name a few.  

My time spent at Boston African American National Historic Site taught me a lot of history as well as how a smaller park works together with other parks in the area.  It also gave me a much closer look at how the park works with other organizations in order to interpret our history. 

In just one week I was able to experience two very different time periods in American history in one great big city. I am so ready for whatever next week has in store for me.