In April 1775, at the outbreak of the American Revolution, the British Army arrogantly considered the colonial militiamen nothing more than “a rabble in arms,” timid farmers who would run away at the first sight of redcoat bayonets. The British even concluded their mauling at Lexington and Concord was a fluke, but two months later in Boston, the Battle of Bunker Hill proved them wrong — the Americans not only could fight, they could fight well.

Q: What do people from Georgia, Rhode Island, Iowa, Colorado, Wisconsin, California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey know that you don’t?

A: They know that Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester is an amazing place. There were people at Shaker Village from each of those states, as well as England, on the October morning we visited.