Is Gloucester ready for Bunker Hill?

Boston Globe

19-06-2025

Ready or not, Gloucester is about to find out, because on Saturday and Sunday, the city's Stage Fort Park will play host to
An aerial view of the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown in 2021.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
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Picture a thousand reenactors portraying Colonists and British soldiers. Three schooners, standing in for the British Navy, firing cannons
from Gloucester Harbor. And perhaps tens of thousands of visitors who are expected to flood the city for the event.
The rebels lost at Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, in the first major battle of the Revolutionary War, but proved their mettle against a trained, British army. The reenactment is part of a wider celebration this year of the beginning of the American Revolution.
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'While we would love to host this event on the original ground, we just don't have that kind of space in Charlestown, and the goal is to do it justice on a larger scale than that piece of land would allow,' said Tom Dietzel, president of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment and one of the organizers of the event.
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'It's a dream come true to be able to pull off something with this scope,' he said, noting that you'd have to go back to the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976 to find a Massachusetts reenactment that approaches this scale.
Still, many locals are unaware, or confused about why the event is taking place at
Visitors climbed the steps on the seawall at Cressy's Beach at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester May 22, 2020.
John Blanding/Globe Staff/The Boston Globe
And while there is certainly some buzz in Gloucester for the battle reenactment — which will be performed over two days to break up the anticipated crowds — it has stiff competition. That's because the following week is
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'All anyone's talking about is Fiesta,' said Horgan, a 31-year-old Gloucesterman who will be walking the greasy pole for the ninth time this year. 'That's all Gloucester thinks about this time of year, but it sounds like we need to start thinking about Bunker Hill before all these people show up.'
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And it could be easy to get people excited, for America's oldest seaport loves its ships. And never has anyone seen what's about to happen in the harbor.
'Very rarely do we in the reenactment community have a chance to involve a naval presence,' said Steve Cole, the captain of the
It's going to be big. It's going to be loud,' Cole said. 'And come Saturday, it's going to take over the city, whether the locals know it or not.
Billy Baker can be reached at