The Jason Russell House was the site of the bloodiest fighting during the first day of the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775. Today it and the adjoining Smith Museum hold collections of the Arlington Historical Society.
2008 SeasonRegular hours resume for the season on April 26 and are 1 pm to 4 pm, Saturday and Sunday. See the visitor guide for more information. Located at Mass. Ave. and Jason St, the 1740 Farmhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. Members of the Arlington Historical Society are volunteer guides. Most of the fighting on the first day of the American Revolution April 19, took place in Arlington, then known as Menotomy. Jason Russell and eleven minute men were killed in the house that bears his name by British troops during their retreat from Concord and Lexington. Musket ball holes can still be seen in the house. See The Battle of Menotomy for more details. Currently on exhibit in the attached Smith Museum is "Family Ties: 200 Years of Arlington Town Life". In 1807 West Cambridge (now Arlington) separated from Cambridge, and the new exhibit celebrates the old Puritan-era settlers and the vibrant immigrant families of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (Photo by John Graham) |