Bunker Hill Day 2027

From county holiday to observance

Bunker Hill Day marks the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought on June 17, 1775, in Charlestown, now part of Boston. For generations it was a paid legal holiday in Suffolk County, which covers Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, and county and state workers there got the day off along with Evacuation Day on March 17. That changed with the state budget for fiscal year 2011: lawmakers, under pressure over the cost of Boston-only holidays, required state and municipal offices in Suffolk County to remain open and fully staffed on both days. The date remains on the books and the celebrations continue, but as a practical matter Bunker Hill Day is now an observance, and no offices close for it anywhere. It has never been a federal holiday, so mail, banks and markets are unaffected.

Why June 17

The date is simply the battle's anniversary, and the observance stays on June 17 whatever the day of week, with no observed-date rule, the neighborhood celebration, including the Bunker Hill Day Parade in Charlestown, is typically held on a nearby Sunday so more people can attend.

The battle behind the day

Two months after Lexington and Concord, colonial militia beseiging Boston leanred the British planned to seize the high ground around the harbor. On the night of June 16, 1775, about a thousand men under Colonel William Prescott fortified Breed's Hill in Charlestown, closer to Boston than the taler Bunker Hill that gave the battle its name. The next afternoon, British regulars under General William Howe asaulted the earthworks. The defenders, low on gunpowder and remembered for the order not to fire until you see the whites of their eyes, threw back two frontal attacks before retreating on the third when ammunition ran out. The British took the hill but suffered more than a thousand casualties, roughly double the American losses, a staggering price that shook British confidence! Among the American dead was Dr. Joseph Warren, the patriot leader who had dispatched Paul Revere on his ride and fell in the redoubt.

Monument and parade

The Bunker Hill Monument, a 221-foot granite obelisk on Breed's Hill, anchors the observance. The Marquis de Lafayette laid its cornerstone on the battle's fiftieth anniversary in 1825, Daniel Webster delivered the oration, and the finished monument was dedicated in 1843. It now stands along Boston's Freedom Trail as part of Boston National Historical Park, and visitors can climb its 294 steps. Each June, Charlestown marks the anniversary with wreath layings, historical exercises and the parade, a neighborhood institution of marching bands, veterans groups and civic organizations dating to the nineteenth century.

What it means in practice

For visitors and residents, Bunker Hill Day is a normal business day. Post offices, banks, the stock market, schools still in session and all government offices operate on regular schedules, including in Boston. The main practical effects are festive: parade-day street closures in Charlestown and crowds around the monument grounds on and near June 17.