Siege of Boston

Explore! Learn! Protect! Become a Junior Ranger at Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park. Opportunities for all ages (even adults) makes becoming a Junior Ranger an experience for the whole family.

Our Jr. Ranger booklets introduce you to the wildlife, geography, and history of the islands. Through activities, you can identify marine life, interview a ranger, and discover all that these islands have to offer!

You can download Jr. Ranger booklets on Spectacle Island, Georges Island, Peddocks Island, and the Camping Islands (Lovells, Grape, and Bumpkin Islands). Visit the Kids and Families page on the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership website to download Jr. Ranger Booklets available in Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, and Haitian Creole.

Explore! Learn! Protect! Become a Junior Ranger at Boston National Historical Park. Opportunities for all ages (even adults) makes becoming a Junior Ranger an experience for the whole family.

The "Liberty" Junior Ranger Activity Book introduces you to the sites along the Freedom Trail^® here in Boston. Travel along the sites as you learn about the early stirrings of the American Revolution.

When you come to the park, visit the Faneuil Hall Visitor Center or the Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Center. A park ranger or volunteer can give you a copy of the Junior Ranger Handbook.

Download a Jr. Ranger Book

Or visit virtually! Most activities in the Junior Ranger book can be completed by reading through the book and visiting the websites of our partners. You can also complete your Ranger guided program by coming along on a virtual tour of the Bunker Hill Monument or learn about the battle with Ranger Patrick. Visit the Park's Junior Ranger page to get your virtual Junior Ranger badge and take the Junior Ranger oath.

Explore! Learn! Protect! Become a Junior Ranger at Boston African American National Historic Site. Activities for all ages (even adults) makes becoming a Junior Ranger an experience for the whole family.

Our Junior Ranger Activity Book introduces you to the sites along the Black Heritage Trail® here in Boston. Travel along the sites as you learn about the free Black community of the north slope of Beacon Hill and their fight for equal rights in the United States.

When you come to the park, visit the Faneuil Hall Visitor Center.  A park ranger or volunteer can give you a copy of the Junior Ranger Handbook.

Download a Jr. Ranger Book

Or become a Junior Ranger virtually! Most activities in the Junior Ranger book can be completed by reading through the book and visiting the websites of our partners. You can also complete your Ranger guided program by coming along on a virtual tour of the Black Heritage Trail, listening to Ranger Shawn discuss the Maritime Underground Railroad, or learning about the story of Anthony Burns. Visit the Park's Junior Ranger page to get your virtual Junior Ranger badge and take the Junior Ranger oath.

The Bunker Hill Parade Committee will host the annual community concert on the Bunker Hill Monument Grounds. This year's event will feature the return of Jinty McGrath.
The Bunker Hill Monument will be open to climb from 5 pm to 7 pm, last climb at 6:30 pm.

Rangers provide FREE Faneuil Hall talks Wednesday through Sunday at 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, and 3:30pm. Each talk lasts about 15 minute. No registration is required.

Join a Park Ranger for a FREE 30 minute interactive program at 2 p.m. in the Great Hall as we recreate a historic meeting. 

Town meeting recreations include suffrage, abolition, and revolutionary era meetings.

Join the National Parks of Boston and BHCC for a screening and discussion of the Mohegan Tribe’s historical film "Up and Down the River."

Spanning the colonial and American Revolutionary eras, Up and Down the River delves into the difficult decisions made by members of the Mohegan Tribe at these pivotal periods in both tribal and U.S. history. Featured in this film is the Ashbow family, including Hannah and her son Samuel Ashbow Jr. Choosing to fight alongside the American colonists, Samuel Ashbow Jr. died at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, becoming one of the first Indigenous soldiers to die in the American Revolution.

Following the film showing, there will be a reflective conversation between Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan, Council of Elders Vice Chair and co-writer of the film) and endawnis Spears (Diné/ Ojibwe/ Chickasaw/ Choctaw, Co-Founder, Akomawt Educational Initiative).

This program is free to the public. Registration is required.

Doors open at 5:30pm. Program begins promptly at 6 pm.

Join a Ranger for a 'Muskets, Men, and Liberty' Program!

Who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill? Listen to a ranger dressed in period clothing discuss why three men from different backgrounds stepped onto the battlefield. They each had different ambitions, motivations, and concerns. The program concludes with a musket firing demonstration!

2026 Season (May 23 - September 27)

 Saturdays at 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 3:30 pm.

Programs are held outside the Bunker Hill Monument and last approximately 30 minutes.

Join our partner, Old North Illuminated,on Zoom, for a conversation with Prof. Greg Jackson about how our current political climate isn't as unprecedented as we may think.

In his new book, Been There, Done That, Professor Greg Jackson argues that while today’s political climate may be dark, these aren’t as unprecedented times as we may think. Our nation’s past is full of massive upheaval, disagreement, and departures from the moral high ground. The political "gentlemanly conduct" of yesteryear is no more than a myth. But that reality never allowed our worst historical selves to defeat our better angels.

Join Prof. Jackson, host of the popular podcast History That Doesn’t Suck! , on Zoom for a look at some of the messier moments from our nation's history. From the Founding Fathers' hyperpartisan print war of the 1790s, to the caning of Senator Charles Sumner in 1856, to the thoroughly corrupt presidential election of 1876, and all the way through the yellow journalism and print war of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, you will recognize how familiar these stories are to our own supposedly unprecedented times.

By showing us the warts of our past with his characteristic humor, Prof. Jackson actually inspires hope for where we're headed. Only by knowing that our country has been here before, and prevailed toward a more just future, can we find the strength to rebound once again.

Join the City of Boston Archaeology team led by Joe Bagley for their archaeological excavation of the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill redoubt. 

The team will be conducting their work on the southwest and northwest quadrants of the Bunker Hill grounds. They will be on site Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, from June 1 through June 12. 

Join a Ranger for a Decisive Day Talk!

Throughout the summer season, join Park staff or a volunteer outside of the Bunker Hill Lodge for a "Decisive Day Talk." These talks provide an overview of the Battle of Bunker Hill and its memory. Hear the stories of the colonial militiamen who constructed the redoubt where the Bunker Hill Monument stands today. Consider the experiences of British soldiers who sustained substantial casualties in pursuit of this position. Learn about the early inspiration for a Monument to commemorate this early battle of the American Revolutionary War and the individuals and community effort it took to construct.

2026 Season (May 23 - September 27)

Tuesday through Sunday at 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, and 3 pm.

These talks are typically 15-20 minutes in length. If there is poor weather, these talks may be moved inside to the Bunker Hill Museum or cancelled.

Bunker Hill Remembrance Ceremony
June 17, 2026
251st Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the 201st Anniversary of the Laying of the Bunker Hill Monument Cornerstone

Admission is free and open to all. We welcome your presence at this solemn and historic observance. Guests are kindly encouraged to arrive early, as seating is limited.

Date and Time: 

Wednesday, June 17, 2026
3:30 pm – 5 pm

Location:

Bunker Hill Monument
Boston National Historical Park
Charlestown, Massachusetts

Presented By:

National Park Service
Bunker Hill Monument Association
American Legion J.W. Conway Bunker Hill Post 26

The art of spinning is best learned by the young, and Zoe Lawson has been practicing the craft of
spinning by drop spindle and on a wheel since childhood. She shares her techniques dressed in 18thcentury garb while illuminating the various methods colonists used to produce their own textiles.

Join our partner, Old North Illuminated for the release of public historian Tad Stoermer’s new book, A Resistance History of the United States.

Tad will be joined by Prof. Vincent Brown of Harvard University to discuss the role resistance movements throughout U.S. history have played in shaping our country. Following the talk, Tad will be available to answer questions and sign copies of his book.

Copies of A Resistance History of the United States will be available to purchase onsite. Doors will open at 6pm, and the talk will start at 6:30pm.

About the Speakers

Tad Stoermer is a public historian, teacher, and author of the forthcoming book A Resistance History of the United States (Steerforth Press / Penguin Random House, 2026). His work dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history — exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. He tells the truth without apology. Not to inspire. To instruct.

With more than 450,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Substack, Tad is one of the most widely followed public historians in the world. His content reaches millions each month and has become a trusted source for people looking to cut through misinformation and confront the real history that shapes American power.

He is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern Denmark’s Center for American Studies and a Lecturer in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He previously taught public history at Harvard, served as a historian at Colonial Williamsburg, and was advisor for history content at C-SPAN.

Vincent Brown is Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He teaches courses in Atlantic history, African diaspora studies, and the history of slavery in the Americas. Brown is the author of The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Harvard University Press, 2008) and Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War (Belknap Press, 2020), and he is producer of Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness (2009), an audiovisual documentary broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens, and the short video series The Bigger Picture (2022) for PBS Digital Studios.

About the Book

Revisit the Salem Witch Trials, the Underground Railroad, and other resistance movements of American history to get a bold new understanding of how resistance shaped our past — and how its principles can change our future.

The United States was shaped by resistance — but not in the way we’ve been taught. The Revolution did not secure liberty; it opened the door to either liberty or oppression, where only white men enjoyed all of the benefits and protections of citizenship.

In A Resistance History of the United States, public historian Tad Stoermer shows how from the very beginning, that tension — between the ideals of resistance and the realities of power — has defined America more than the Enlightenment ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Utilizing powerful storytelling to focus on key — and often lesser-known — moments in American history, this book reveals the truth of how resistance movements from Colonial times have opposed the powers that be. Stoermer covers an impressive roster of pivotal movements, with each chapter identifying a key resistance movement and principle meant to inspire contemporary readers, including:

• Bacon’s Rebellion/Metacomet’s War (1676)
• Salem Witch Trials (1692)
• The Black Loyalists (1783)
• The Underground Railroad (1850)

Through these and many more examples, Stoermer dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history — exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. What emerges is an essential look at how we can take lessons from the past to understand, and effectively respond to, the injustices we face today.