COVER STORY
What Longfellow left out
The Russell House, Arlington
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MORE INFORMATION
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The Russell House is at Jason Street and Massachusetts Avenue one block from Arlington Center. It's open mid-April through Oct. 31, Friday to Sunday 1-5 p.m. $2, children 50 cents. 781-648-4300.
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Longfellow's famous poem about Paul Revere's ride helped put Lexington and Concord on the map. But why did Henry slight Arlington, or Menotomy, as it was known in the 18th century?
That's the question you'll ask after a tour of the Jason Russell House, "site of the bloodiest fighting during the first day of the Revolutionary War," boasts the Arlington Historical Society. And it has the bullet holes to prove it.
Twelve Minutemen were killed by the retreating British on April 19, 1775, in this house on the main road between Boston and Concord (now Massachusetts Avenue). Owner Jason Russell, a 58-year-old farmer, and other Patriot snipers took cover here after they were surprised by a British flank guard. Russell was bayonetted and died on his front doorstep. Chased inside by the Redcoats, eight of the men saved themselves by running for the cellar, closing the door, and training their muskets on it.
Today two bullet holes are visible on the risers in the cellar stairs, located behind a door in the kitchen. Other holes can be found in the master bedroom, parlor, and stairway. It is slightly chilling, and bizarre, to stare at them as you try to imagine the savage fighting that took place at this quaint Colonial farmhouse in what is now a tranquil Boston suburb.
In the kitchen, you'll find a musket leaning against a corner. Look up at the unusual whitewashed ceiling with its large black dots. This "sponge painting" was the earliest form of interior decorative painting in New England. Many of the furnishings are from the Russell family, who lived in the house until 1896.
The historical society also operates the adjacent Smith Museum containing town artifacts like the 42,000-year-old mastodon tusk found in Spy Pond in 1959.
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