Jonathan Lane, Executive Director of Revolution 250, shared an overview of the Battle of Gloucester reenactment weekend’s events at the kickoff press conference. (Photo Courtesy Battle of Gloucester Reenactment Committee)
GLOUCESTER, Mass. — The Battle of Gloucester Reenactment Committee held a press conference Thursday morning, marking the beginning of a weekend at Stage Fort Park that will bring to life the Battle of Gloucester, which occurred 251 years ago in the same harbor where the weekend events will take place.
The Battle of Gloucester reenactments will be held at Stage Fort Park on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21. For more information on the schedule of events, parking, spectator guidelines, and more, visit https://battleofgloucester.com/.
Committee members and members of host reenactment groups gathered at Stage Fort Park overlooking Gloucester Harbor as speakers reflected on the battle’s critical place in history as a skirmish that sparked the birth of the U.S. Navy and previewed the unique elements of the weekend events to come, including the sea battle, in which reenactors will fire volleys from traditionally built and period appropriate schooners, and the immersive civilian experience that will be brought to life through reenactments and additional programming.
“We’re here to have a reenactment to showcase this moment 251 years ago,” said Jonathan Lane, Executive Director of Revolution 250. “It’s going to highlight Gloucester’s position as the preeminent fishing community that it was 251 years ago and still remains today.”
Speakers at the press conference included:
- Michael Graves, Officer Commanding of His Majesty’s Tenth Regiment of Foot in America
- Ruth Hodges, Founder/Director of the Ladies Association of Revolutionary America
- Michael De Koster, Battle of Gloucester Committee Cultural Heritage & Maritime Coordinator
- Jonathan Lane, Executive Director of Revolution 250
- David Kemper, Fundraising Committee Chair of the Lexington Minute Men
Michael Graves of His Majesty’s Tenth Regiment of Foot in America, one of the host reenactment groups, spoke to the historical relevance of the Battle of Gloucester and the role of reenactors in bringing their stories to life.
Michael De Koster, Battle of Gloucester Committee Cultural Heritage & Maritime Coordinator, spoke about the unique role local ships will perform during the reenactment.
“We are very pleased to have a couple of local schooners who are going to be representing the two merchant schooners who were coming up from the West Indies, and that is the schooner Ardelle from the Maritime Heritage Charters and the schooner Lewis H. Story from the Essex Ship Building Museum,” said De Koster. “These are period accurate vessels and we are also going to have the schooner Dennis Sullivan coming appropriately from Boston, playing the HMS Falcon.”
Though previous reenactments, including last year’s Battle of Bunker Hill reenactment at Stage Fort Park, featured naval elements, the Battle of Gloucester reenactments seek to go even further into the experience soldiers and civilians alike faced as they confronted the times’ most powerful Navy.
Ruth Hodges, Founder and Director of Ladies Association of Revolutionary America (LARA) spoke to the unique ways in which these elements of 18th-century Gloucester will be brought to life in the weekend events.
“During the battle reenactments, LARA will represent the townspeople in Gloucester on August 8, 1775, when the HMS Falcon appears on the harbor, setting off a panic that is so well described in a letter written by Gloucester native Judith Sargent Stevens,” said Hodges, “Judith’s letter so aptly describes the very human side of this harrowing event in Gloucester’s history and the reenactment of this confrontation wouldn’t be complete without including the women who experienced it.”
To plan your trip and for up-to-the-minute updates, visit battleofgloucester.com.
For media members seeking more information, visit battleofgloucester.com/mediakit.
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