On September 19, 1775, over 1,100 men departed Newburyport on a secret mission to capture Quebec—led by Benedict Arnold and planned with George Washington.

Join Jack Santos as he recounts the stories of Newburyport’s patriots on this daring expedition through the wilderness as we celebrate its 250th anniversary.

250 years ago this year, on the 19th of September, 1775, 1100 farmers, soldiers, merchants, teachers, and laborers left Newburyport on eleven ships for a secret, bold attack on Quebec City.

Had the plan worked, there likely would have been no revolutionary war, and Quebec would have been the 14th state in a new United States of America.

Relatively recently, Jack Santos put his hiking boots on his feet, and his kayak on his car, to follow Arnold's trail through Maine. He followed the diary, maps, and stories of Newburyport soldiers. He visited the same stopping points, slogged through the same mud, and got bitten by the descendents of the mosquitoes of that era.

We'll hear the stories of Newburyporters like Caleb Haskell, Rev Samuel Spring, Jeremiah Wheelwright and others, describing their experiences during that ill-fated journey to liberate Quebec.

Join us to hear about this exciting trek through the Maine backwoods, in a way that presents it as a travelogue of a trip that you, too, can do - highlighting historical locations, museums, and displays to visit first hand.

Central Congregation Church14 Titcomb Street Newburyport, MA 01950 at 3:00 pm

Funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism