If you’d like to know how much we love running this account, here’s all the proof you’ll need: A big snake slithered quickly past us at this house, and we still continued to take some photos. Granted, my mom had to shudder about 9,000 times first, but we eventually got the job done.

Located in Minute Man National Historical Park, the Jacob Whittemore house is one of eleven witness houses to the battles on April 19, 1775 that kicked off the Revolutionary War.

Jacob and Elizabeth Whittemore lived here with their daughter, Sarah, her husband, Moses Reed, and their three small children. Even though Jacob and Moses trained with the Lexington Minute Men, neither fought in the battles that day.

Instead, the two carried Sarah, who was still dangerously ill 18 days after childbirth, to a nearby wooded area that was safer. The rest of the family also laid low there until the battle had passed their home.

To the west of the house, Captain John Parker led the Lexington militia in engaging the British Regulars.

The family survived the day, Sarah recovered, and Moses went on to serve in the Continental Army. The family lived in the house from the time it was built (around 1716-1718) by Jacob’s father, Nathaniel, until 1780, when it was sold by the family.

The house is open to the public, and sometimes staffed with a ranger or staff member.