Town of Pepperell 250th Anniversary - Prudence Wright Re-enactment

The Prudence Wright Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the Pepperell 250^th Anniversary Committee are pleased to announce a re-enactment of the “The Women Who Guarded the Bridge” on May 3, 2025 (Rain Date May 4th) Previously re-enacted by the Town’s Covered Bridge Committee in 2010 at the Grand Re-Opening of the Pepperell Covered Bridge and by the DAR in Pepperell’s annual Fourth of July Parade, this historic event is back again by popular demand.
The re-enactment features Pepperell’s local heroine Prudence Wright, who assembled a band of women dressed in men’s clothing to guard the bridge over the Nashua River in Pepperell, during the start of the Revolutionary War.  Their strong will and bravery resulted in the capture of a British spy in late April of 1775. 
The 2025 re-enactment will take place at the Prudence Wright Scenic Overlook, alongside the historic Pepperell Covered Bridge, on land owned by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife. The Prudence Wright Overlook and the Pepperell Covered Bridge are symbols of the struggles and successes that occurred outside the battlefields of Lexington, Concord and Boston during our ancestors’ fight for America’s independence. All are invited to join us as we mark this important 250-year milestone in our history. For more information about the DAR visit https://www.massdar.org/prudencewright.html                                                                                                                                                        
From a poem written by Susan H. Wixon, of Fall River,
and published in the "American Monthly Magazine," November 1899.
"The women over field and farm
Kept faithful watch and ward;.
Shielded the town from ev'ry harm,
Nor thought their duty hard.
They guarded bridge and forest wood.
These women fair and slight;
And for the right they ever stood.
At morning. noon and night.
The story of their gallant feat
Flew swift o'er hill and dell;
And "Reg'lars" then, cared not to meet
Prudence of Pepperell.
Their country's honor. in an hour
Most serious and grave,
Was thus upheld with grace and power.
By women true and brave.
And on the scroll where heroes' names
Appear in shining light.
With names our country proudly claims.
Gleams that of Prudence Wright."