The Danvers Alarm List Company will lead Patriots’ Day commemorations in Danvers and Peabody on Monday, April 21, at 8 a.m. to honor the seven local men who gave the ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of Menotomy, the opening battle of the American Revolution in April 1775.
The Danvers Alarm List Company is an all-volunteer group of reenactors that marks each Patriots’ Day with a solemn procession to the gravesites of the 7 Danvers men lost at the Battle of Menotomy, present-day Arlington. They have done so for the past 20 years.
This year’s program takes on heightened interest as the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding approaches in 2026.
More than 300 ordinary citizens joined the Danvers Militia, Minute and Alarm list companies and answered the call on April 19, 1775, marching 16 miles from the training field in Salem Village, now Danvers, for 4 hours to confront the British troops, driven by unwavering determination and commitment to liberty.
“We do this each year as volunteers because it’s important that we remember the sacrifices of these ordinary men,” said Henry Rutkowski of Danvers Alarm List.
The re-enactors will arrive at the Village Training Field in Danvers at the intersection of Centre Street and Ingersoll Street via trolley for the first wreath laying. They will then depart on the Trolley at 7:50 a.m. to Peabody for a wreath laying at three gravesites. Members of the public are welcome to ride, space permitting.
Anyone who wishes to ride the trolley must purchase a ticket and be at the Rebecca Nurse House by 7:30 a.m.
Rutkowski will portray Capt. Levi Preston and give a brief background at each wreath laying. The group will proceed from the Training Field in Danvers to lay wreaths at graves in Peabody (South Danvers at the time) before gathering at the Lexington Monument on Washington Street in Peabody, where Mayor Ted Bettencourt, members of the Peabody Historical Society and Peabody Veterans will give remarks.
Following a brief break for refreshments at the Bell Inn on Washington Street in Peabody (a short walk from the monument), the Alarm List Company will proceed to lay wreaths at the site of Capt. Israel Hutchinson, where the bodies of the Danvers 7 were brought after battle, and to the Elliot Street grave of Reuben Keniston. The final wreath will be laid at the grave of Frances Nurse on the grounds of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers. Nurse was the great-grandson of Rebecca Nurse, who was executed in 1692 during the witchcraft trials in Salem Village.
A post-commemoration reception will be held at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead on Pine Street in Danvers beginning at approximately 12:30 p.m. It will include brief remarks, musket demonstrations and refreshments donated by the Emerson family/Putnam Pantry. The Nurse House will be open for free tours as well. The public is invited to attend and observe the ceremonies at one or all sites and to the Nurse Homestead reception.
Assisting DALCO’s efforts this year to highlight the significant role Danvers men played in the American Revolution has been a team effort, with input from the Danvers Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Danvers High School history teacher Chris Hopkins, Eric Emerson of Putnam Pantry, Town of Danvers archivist Richard Trask, State Representative Sally Kerans and State Senator Joan Lovely. Likewise, Peabody ceremonies are being coordinated by DALCO, the Office of Mayor Ted Bettencourt, the Office of State Representative Tom Walsh, the Peabody Historical Society, the Peabody Historic Commission and the George Peabody House and Museum.
