are the banks and post office in Boston closed on those days, addie?
Only the state licensed banks. If it says Federal before or N.A. after the name, they are open. It is a state holiday. The Post Office is open I think. They just hold back the mail to businesses to be delivered the next day. Mailmen hate those days. It makes the next days work twice and heavy. All courts and state offices are closed.
We make a big deal out of those two days. After all, everyone's freedom in this country started in Boston. It was our discontent with all the new laws and taxes that England was placing on the colonies that set us off to rebelling. Then when the Boston Massacre happened, that really did it. We have in the Massachusetts Historical Society some documents that the rest of the country is not privy to unless they are willing to travel here and read them under the tightest security.
And you have to remember, John Adams, Hancock, Sam Adams, and Ben Franklin among others came from Boston. Yes, Ben Franklin. He was born and lived here until he was 17. His parents have the biggest grave marker in the Granary Burial Grounds.
March 17th - Remember, Boston was the only town that was blockaded by the British. By both land and sea. They were finally driven out of Boston Harbor on March 17th. Long before it was celebrated as St. Patirck's Day.
April 17th - The British went to Lexington and started the war there on the Town Green. And then they marched on to Concord. Most people think it all started in Concord. There is a plaque at the place in Concord where British soldiers are buried. On Ralph Waldo Emerson's property.
Yes, we take our history very seriously. Every where you walk in downtown Boston, there is a plaque commerating an event that led up to the war or where someone of interest lived.
I love Boston history. Get me started on it, and there is no stopping me. As you can tell by this missive.