Berri's Blog: Concord, MA & The Battle Road

Sunday, July 18th, 2010 (continued)

When the British troops left Lexington on April 19, 1775 they continued on to Concord, a distance of about sixteen miles, much of which is now Rt 2-A. I followed 235 years later. A narrow corridor on either side of the route is now Minute Man National Historical Park, including the five mile Battle Road Trail. I stopped at the visitor center and watched a very good movie explaining the significance of various sites within the park, and the chain of events that led up to the historic day.


Pathway to Visitor Center

If I had time and was less jet-lagged I would have spent more time exploring the park. As it turned out, I did return here at the end of my three week trip. But on this day, I continued on to Concord.

Concord is a beautiful, peaceful, small town packed with a surprising abundance of history. In addition to its Revolutionary history, it was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. I stopped at the Concord Museum and got a taste of each of these - they have Emerson's study, a cosy room with a fireplace and one wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves - the tiny, basic desk on which Thoreau wrote Walden and Civil Disobedience - and a lantern that is believed to be one of the two hung in the Old North Church to signal 'One if by land, two if by sea.' I must admit to having my doubts about that lantern, though. Somehow it just didn't feel "right" to me. The museum contains four period rooms in addition to Emerson's study, and many galleries of decorative arts. I could have spent at least half a day there.

After the museum I continued on past downtown Concord and out Monument Street to the Old Manse, which I found to be a profoundly special place. It was built in 1770 for minister William Emerson, and is the location of the North Bridge, where the 'shot heard round the world' was fired. Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived and wrote there for a time, and Thoreau planted a vegetable garden there (now re-created) for Hawthorne's wedding.


The Old Manse

Corn growing in the vegetable garden


Stone wall and path to Concord River

'Flower in a crannied wall' - I know, that's Tennyson, but it seemed appropriate.

From behind the Manse a very short walk leads to the North Bridge. Expecting to find something more imposing, I did not realize at first that the graceful small wooden arch with stone supports was the momentous site. Only the statuary at either end convinced me. I am very glad that I was able to experience this place; somehow the 'human' scale and pastoral landscape made the story much more 'real' to me than anything I could have read.


"By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled, here once the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world." - The Concord Hymn, Ralph Waldo Emerson