WORCESTER, Mass. - On Patriots Day, visitors at the Worcester Historical Museum were able to view a piece of history displayed only once a year.

John Hancock, played by actor Daniel Berger Jones, is at the museum alongside his 245-year-old trunk which held many historical papers used in the American Revolution. The trunk has been stored at the museum since 1895. Its history dates back to April 18, 1775 when Hancock and Samuel Adams were staying in Lexington, Mass.on the eve of the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

The trunk, which at the time was filled with Hancock’s personal notes and correspondence considered traitorous by the British, was being stowed at a tavern in Lexington. On the morning of April 19, 1775, as the British advanced toward Lexington for the battle, Hancock and Adams were moved to evade capture. Paul Revere and Hancock’s clerk retrieved the trunk from the tavern and hid it from the British, saving a vital piece of American history.

"And you have this piece of it here. So I feel like putting myself as another piece of it here, especially for kids," Berger Jones said. "Brings it right alive. Anybody who hasn't activated that part of their imagination and made the connection that it's a human being, and these were all human beings. We can talk about it like it's something that happened a long time ago to some character in a comic book, or you can bring it to life and you can tell all these amazing stories." 

The Worcester Historical Museum also hosted a Revolutionary War walking tour in downtown Worcester. They will offer additional tours on April 21 and 23. Tours are $10 a person and registration is required. To reserve a spot, call WHM at 508-753-8278.