Dawes Island Park

Dawes Island Park is named in memory of William Dawes, one of the patriots who made possible the independence of the United States. Located at the intersection of Garden Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, across the street from Christ Episcopal Church on the West, and Harvard Yard across the other half of Massachusetts Avenue to the East, it commemorates the man who was actually the person who brought news of the impending advance of the British Regulars to Lexington and Concord…
Yes indeed. His name has languished into obscurity, primarily due to the fact that his name didn’t fit in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s immortal poem and as a result, Paul Revere was the one who went down in history as the one (incorrectly so) who entered Concord.
In order to alert the Patriots at Lexington and Concord about the British advance, Paul Revere set by boat across the Charles to catch a waiting horse on the Charlestown side of the Charles; and Dawes set on horse through Boston Neck to the South, supposedly with a rendezvous at Lexington. Right outside Lexington, Paul Revere was stopped by the Red Coats and after detaining him, they allowed him to proceed after confiscating his horse, meaning he had to go on foot the rest of the 7 miles from Lexington to Concord. Dawes, who was behind Revere, was able to detour and continued to Concord to warn the American patriots. The rest is history.
Dawes Park is a small wedge shaped island that contains a memorial to William Dawes, and 27 bronze horse hoof prints inset on the concrete sidewalk to commemorate the exact place that Dawes’ horse took on the wayto Concord. An almost forgotten, but indispensable part of our American History…
I only wish the park was better maintained. For an immortal part of our common heritage, it hasn’t received the care it requires.