May 16, 2025

Dr. Chris Mackowski, professor of Communication, presented a pair of programs for the American Battlefield Trust in Boston, Massachusetts, in early May. The talks were part of America 250, an ongoing celebration and commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that runs through July 4, 2026.

On May 2, Mackowski gave a day-long tour focused on John and Abigail Adams, which included visits to several Adams-related historic sites. Mackowski is working on a biography of Adams during the Revolution.

On May 3, he conducted a half-day tour at Walden Pond, based on Henry David Thoreau’s life there. It was followed by visits to the Concord, Massachusetts, homes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a visit to the Old North Bridge, site of “the shot heard round the world” that started the American Revolution.