To commemorate the start of the American Revolution and Acton’s role in the fight for independence, the town established the Acton 250 Committee. Starting in 2023, this group of a dozen volunteers has presented talks, walks, and other events for residents to learn about Acton’s past. “We’ve been doing a ‘Countdown to April 19, 1775,’ ” says history enthusiast Steve Trimble, chair of the Acton 250 Committee. “All of our speakers have lined up in order—1773, 1774, and 1775.”
“It’s nothing I learned in high school,” says committee member Bob Ferrara, who represents Friends of Pine Hawk and the Historical Commission. “With digitalization, history is being revised. It’s more accurate—people can get to the primary sources much easier.” Adds Trimble, “If you think you know history around this time, you don’t.”
Pam Lynn, chair of the Acton 250 history subcommittee, Acton Memorial Library trustee, and retired from 45 years teaching at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School has been in charge of identifying notable speakers for the monthly lecture series, while Ferrara handled all the logistics. Acton TV broadcast the talks live and recorded them for later viewing on its website as well as the Acton 250 site.
The free lecture series kicked off in September 2023 with Professor Robert Allison’s account of the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Historian Mary Fuhrer, an Acton resident, followed with a talk on daily life in colonial Acton and, later, one on “Crown Resistance Day.” Other local speakers have included Robert Gross on “Acton and Concord’s Road to Revolution,” and Bob Pion, Anne Forbes, and Bill Klauer on Acton’s early Black residents, some of whom fought in the Revolution. Sculptor Meredith Bergmann, also of Acton, spoke about creating bronze statues of great Americans, including the “Something Is Being Done” monument to women in Lexington and Boston Women’s Memorial in Back Bay, Boston.
The talks have drawn audiences of more than 100 with dozens of Acton-Boxborough Regional High School students in attendance. (Thanks to Acton 250 committee member and high school Social Studies teacher Mary Price Maddox for encouraging participation.) Still more people watched online.
In addition to the talks, the Acton 250 Committee has sponsored history-focused walking tours of Acton Center and South Acton. Professional tour guide and local resident Amy Cole has created tours that allow participants to step back in time. Historians Anne Forbes of Iron Work Farm (stewards of the Jones Tavern and Faulkner Homestead) and Bill Klauer of the Acton Historical Society have helped Cole develop content for the tours. “There’s nobody that knows our history better than Anne and Bill,” notes Trimble.
The Acton 250 Committee has also supported a Troop 32 Eagle Scout project by Acton- Boxborough high school junior Aaryan Arora. Working with ABRHS social studies teacher Maddox, Arora has created an American Revolution-themed scavenger hunt for all fifth graders in Acton and Boxborough. The activity takes participants to eight historic sites in Acton, Concord, and Lexington, where they are immersed in the story of what happened there. For example, at the Faulkner Homestead in Acton, the students are challenged to find the replica of the musket that was fired three times to muster the town’s Minutemen for the march to Concord. The experience is designed to recreate the anxious feeling soldiers had at the time. “Acton was leading the charge,” says Arora. “I hope the students develop a huge appreciation for their sacrifice in the making of the nation.”
While always interested in history, Arora wasn’t aware of all the historic sites in Acton before embarking on this project. For instance, he had never noticed the library in the addition behind Hosmer House on Main Street and was impressed to find “hundreds of years of documents on town meetings.”
Students who complete visits to at least six of the eight sites will receive a tricorn hat and a commemorative Acton 250 sticker. Arora’s project was recognized by the Acton-Boxborough School Committee in November. He hopes the scavenger hunt will become an annual activity.
Merchandise commemorating Acton 250 is also available through the committee’s partnership with MacKinnon Printing in Acton. The memorabilia include T-shirts, caps, bags, and shot glasses proclaiming, “Shot heard around the world.” “The biggest sellers are probably the coffee mugs and pint glasses,” says Trimble, who handles the merchandise, and event publicity, with Sue Peterman. “Money from the sales goes into the town celebration fund to offset some of our expenses.”
The Committee has also partnered with Dirigible Brewing Company in nearby Littleton to sell Isaac Davis Brown Ale, a craft brew based on colonial recipes. Introduced at the brewery in September 2024 and relaunched in March 2025, the commemorative ale now also sells in Acton retail stores. Dirigible Brewing Company gives the Acton 250 fund $1 for every beer sold.
Last year, the Acton 250 Committee commissioned an artist to paint a mural behind the Isaac Davis plow in the display case in the Town Hall entry. Acton town meeting approved $10,000 from the Community Preservation Act to redesign the display, which was installed in the glass case in 1954 along with a 48-star flag. Work on the much needed update will be completed in April in time for the commemoration. The town has also cleaned all of the Acton Minutemen’s Line of March granite markers and the Davis Monument in the town center.
Coming events:
Join the Acton 250 Committee for a celebration of the Acton Minutemen on Wednesday, April 16, from 6 to 8:30 pm at the Discovery Museum, 177 Main Street. The free event, sponsored by the Middlesex Savings Bank and open to residents over 21, will feature Acton 250 Isaac Davis Brown Ale from Dirigible, food, and more. Acton 250 merchandise will be available for purchase.
Acton Minutemen are holding their annual Isaac Davis March on Friday, April 18, 2025 starting at the site of the Davis House on Hayward Road at 6:30 am. Parking is available in the high school parking lot. Bob Ferrara, who moved to town in 1977, has completed the six-mile march retracing the steps of the Minutemen about 30 times! Buses will return walkers to Acton.
The Acton 250 Committee plans to continue lectures, on a less frequent basis, until the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 2026. Watch for future announcements.
Committee members include: Robert Ferrara, William Klauer, Mike Gowing, Suzanne Peterman, Ann Kadlec, Mary Price Maddox, Pamela Lynn, Stephen Trimble, Dean Charter, Steve Crosby, Anne Forbes, and Olivia Wennerod.
Nancy Knoblock Hunton is a volunteer writer for Acton Exchange, specializing in profiles of people who have made contributions to the community.
