In 1773, Connecticut converted the abandoned mine into New-Gate Prison — the first state prison in America. Inmates were lowered into the same shafts the miners had dug, sleeping on straw in caverns lit only by candlelight. During the Revolutionary War, New-Gate held Loyalists alongside the colony's criminal population — including men Washington himself ordered sent from his Cambridge headquarters during the Siege of Boston in December 1775, writing that they were 'flagrant and atrocious villains' too dangerous to keep near his camp. They were deliberately denied prisoner-of-war status, so they couldn't be pardoned or exchanged.

In the early morning light before the June Putnam Heroes event in Carmel, New York, two reenactors walked quietly through the dew-covered grass, discussing how they expected the day to unfold. In that quiet moment, the 250th anniversary felt less like commemoration and more like continuation. This is the essence of my Rev 250 project: capturing the moments that connect 1776 to 2026 through candid observational photography.

This past weekend at Fort Ticonderoga, I captured living history that brought the Northern Continental Army’s 1776 struggles—and echoes of the 1775 Quebec campaign—vividly to life. As part of the REAL TIME REVOLUTION® Signature Reenactment Event “Return of an Army” (July 3–5, 2026), reenactors portrayed the arrival of exhausted troops by bateaux, care for the sick amid smallpox, and the delivery of cannon to fortify defenses.

At the recent Putnam County Heroes Battle the Redcoats event in Carmel, NY, a compact iron 3-pounder cannon from 1777 roared to life once more. Nicknamed “gallopers” or “grasshoppers” (depending on the side) for their lively recoil and nimble movement across fields, these light field pieces delivered outsized punch in the fluid, hard-fought battles of the American Revolution.

In May 1781, General George Washington met with French commander Comte de Rochambeau at the nearby Joseph Webb House to finalize plans for the Yorktown campaign — the decisive maneuver that effectively ended the war.

In the cold dawn light on Lexington Battle Green, Jonas Parker — farmer, father, and one of the first Americans to fall — stands his ground. He had promised he would never run. He kept that promise.