There's a bronze plaque in Bicentennial Park at 40 Central Street that lists 22 Andover men who died during the Revolutionary War. Four of them were killed at Bunker Hill. The memorial was dedicated on Sunday, May 29, 1977, the year after the country's Bicentennial. It has been there for almost fifty years, and on Saturday it was one stop on a strolling tour.
That tour was part of Andover RevFest 250, held October 3 at The Park on Bartlet Street. It was hosted by the Andover Celebrates America 250 Committee in partnership with the Andover Center for History & Culture. The Eagle-Tribune's preview said local author and committee member Christopher Klein was expected to lead a walk to Bicentennial Park. Martha Tubinis, director of programs at the History Center, was slated to run a van tour past historic homes.
The festival lasted one day. The things it pointed to are still here. Andover's part of the 250th is spread across a small cluster of downtown addresses: a burial ground, a memorial, a history center and an art museum. You can walk all of them in an afternoon. Two of them run on deadlines, and one of those deadlines is October 31.
Central Street holds the names
Start where the RevFest walk ended. Bicentennial Park and South Church Burial Grounds sit at facing addresses, 40 and 41 Central Street. The burial ground is at the corner of Central and School streets.
South Church's records list 106 American Revolution veterans buried there. Three of Andover's four militia captains are among them: Abbot, Ames and Furbush. Andover's preservation records name the four Andover men killed at Bunker Hill: Philip Abbot, Samuel Bailey Jr., Joseph Chandler and William Hagget. Read those names in the burial ground, then cross to the plaque. The war dead on the memorial and the captains in the ground across the street come from the same small town.
The History Center adds two people to that story. When the alarm went up for Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, Andover's militia gathered at the North Parish Meeting House. Salem Poor, who had bought his own freedom, fought at Bunker Hill and was cited for bravery by the Provincial Congress.
The larger figures come from the Eagle-Tribune's RevFest coverage. It estimates that about 700 Andover men served in the war. It also points to what committee chair Susan McCready called the Andover Resolve, a vote of local support taken before the Declaration was signed. "I feel like Andover has led in a lot of ways," McCready told the paper.
Main Street holds the objects, until October 31
From Central Street, the next stop is the Andover Center for History & Culture at 97 Main Street. It's open Wednesday through Saturday. The library and exhibits are open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and guided tours of the historic house and barn run at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Admission is free.
The exhibit with a deadline is "Paul Revere Makes a Buck: Symbolism & Currency of the Revolutionary War." It shows currency from the collection of historian Dr. Donald Slater and stays up through October 31. The subject is narrower than it sounds. Revere was the main engraver and printer of Massachusetts paper money from 1775 to 1779, at a time when colonists distrusted paper and preferred coins. Slater argues that Revere chose familiar pine tree imagery to help people trust the new bills. Slater has worked at Phillips Academy since 2002, in the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology and in history and social sciences.
His talk on the collection is now listed for Tuesday, October 27, at 6:30 p.m. The fall calendar originally printed September 17 for that talk, so confirm the date with the Center before you go.
In the same building, "Small Wonders" shows 18th-century objects from the Center's collection. That includes two quilts, one made for the 1876 Centennial and one for the 1976 Bicentennial. With those two quilts, the Bicentennial Park plaque and this fall's programs, Andover now has three generations of anniversary-making on view within a few blocks.
Chapel Avenue holds the long view, until January 31
The Addison Gallery of American Art at 3 Chapel Avenue is doing something it doesn't usually do. "America in the Making" fills the entire building with a chronological installation of the permanent collection, from the 18th century to the present. The museum calls the full-building collection show "unusual" for itself. The show runs from September 8, 2026, through January 31, 2027, and is the museum's marker for the Declaration's 250th. The exhibition page uses Edward Hopper's 1928 Manhattan Bridge Loop as its lead image.
The Addison's curators also describe the collection itself as "neither comprehensive nor objective." They present the show as a portrait of how the collection was assembled as well as of the country. In practice, the Addison is the one stop on this loop that carries the anniversary past the 18th century.
The museum's free "America in the Making" curator tours break the show into parts. The overview tour is October 27 at 3 p.m., and registration is required. Curator Gordon Wilkins leads the second tour on November 18 at 3 p.m. It covers 18th-century art through the start of the 20th century. The overview tour and the Slater talk fall on the same Tuesday. You could see the Addison at 3 p.m. and hear about Revere's currency at the History Center at 6:30.
The sites without a sign on the door
A few Revolution-era places in Andover have no exhibit at all. You find them by knowing where to look.
- Samuel Phillips Jr.'s gunpowder mill. The History Center puts the mill on the Shawsheen River near today's North Main and Stevens streets. South Church places it at the current Andover Post Office. According to the Eagle-Tribune, citing the History Center, the mill made powder for the Continental Army, and General George Washington sent it back because he didn't like the quality.
- Phillips and Main. Phillips Academy's own account says Samuel Phillips opened the school in an old carpenter's shop at the corner of Phillips and Main streets on April 30, 1778, while the war was still going.
- Elm Street. The History Center's "Journey Down Elm Street" walking tour includes Abbot's Tavern, where, according to Andover News, George Washington once stopped. RevFest brought the old Abbot Tavern back for the day at The Park, with a talk on Revolutionary-era cocktails.
Put the mill and the school next to the burial ground, and Phillips's name connects the war years to the academy. He made powder for the war and opened a school before the war was over.
The remaining calendar, by deadline
The town set up its 250th Anniversary Committee to plan events and highlight Andover's contributions to the Revolution, working with the History Center, schools and civic groups. Members' terms run through June 30, 2027. The committee page doesn't list another event date after RevFest. Until it does, these are the 250th-related dates on the calendar.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 22, 6–7:30 p.m. | "Rachel Revere Speaks," an audience-participation performance with Judith Kalora; $15 for 18 and under, adults from $25 | History Center, 97 Main St. |
| Sat., Oct. 24, 10 a.m.–noon | Free plein-air painting session with Artists of Andover | Outside the Addison, 3 Chapel Ave. |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Guided history walk with historian Jane Cairns on the Tucker family and early Andover; ages 10 and up | Ward Reservation |
| Tue., Oct. 27, 3 p.m. | "America in the Making" overview tour; free, registration required | Addison Gallery |
| Tue., Oct. 27, 6:30 p.m. | Donald Slater currency talk, as currently listed | History Center |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Last day of "Paul Revere Makes a Buck" | History Center |
| Wed., Nov. 18, 3 p.m. | Curator Gordon Wilkins tour, 18th century to early 20th | Addison Gallery |
| Sun., Jan. 31, 2027 | Last day of "America in the Making" | Addison Gallery |
The Rachel Revere program is set on May 2, 1775, during the Siege of Boston. Audience members help Rachel decide how to get her children out of Boston, and the evening ends with a short talk on 18th-century Boston geography. The Ward Reservation walk is the farthest stop from downtown on the list, and the only one about a specific Andover family and property.
One afternoon, in order
If you have a free Saturday before October 31, this order covers the time-limited exhibit first and saves the Addison, which runs into January, for last:
- History Center, 97 Main Street, for "Paul Revere Makes a Buck" and the 1876 and 1976 quilts in "Small Wonders."
- South Church Burial Grounds, 41 Central Street, for the graves of Captains Abbot, Ames and Furbush.
- Bicentennial Park, 40 Central Street, for the plaque with 22 names.
- The corner of Phillips and Main, where the academy opened in 1778.
- The Addison, 3 Chapel Avenue, for as much of "America in the Making" as the rest of the afternoon allows.
Sandra Naroian has spent more than 30 years working in Andover and the towns around it, and the questions people bring her often go back to the history behind a street or a house. If you'd like to talk about Andover's historic downtown streets, or about what owning a home with a long local history involves, The Naroian Group is glad to help. Book a local market consult.
