By George B. Bartlett.
On a pleasant June morning after a long drive through shady country
lanes, the little pile of rocks was reached, which for two hundred and
fifty years has marked the western corner of the lot, six miles square,
granted to form the plantation at Musketaquid on the second of September
1635. Resting here in the shadow of the pines, listening to the busy
gossip of the squirrels, many scenes and people which have made the town
of Concord, Massachusetts, so noted, seemed to pass in review, some of
which will here be recounted.
Perhaps on this spot Simon Willard and his associates may have stood,
and these rough rocks been laid in place by their hands. Peter Bulkeley,
the wise and reverend, may have consecrated this solemn occasion with
prayer in accordance with the good old custom of the time. To the two
gentlemen above-mentioned the chief credit of the settlement of Concord
is mainly due. Attention was early called to the broad meadows of the
Musketaquid or 'grass grown river' and a company marched from the
ancient Newtown to form a settlement there early in the fall of 1635.
Few of the thousand pilgrims who arrive every year over the Fitchburg
and Lowell railroads can imagine the discomforts of the toilsome journey
of these early settlers as they penetrated through the unbroken
wilderness and wet and dreary swamps, devoting nearly two weeks to the
journey now easily accomplished in forty minutes. Many of their cattle
died from exposure and change of climate, and great heroism and courage
were required to make them persevere. They were kindly received by the
Indians who were in possession of the lands along the rivers, and who
finally consented to part with them so peacefully, that the name of the
town was called Concord.
Near the present site of the hotel stood an oak tree under which
tradition locates the scene of these amicable bargains. On a hill at the
junction of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers, rumor also locates the lodge
of the squaw who reigned as queen over one of the Indian tribes, and
thus introduced into the village female supremacy which has steadily
gained in power ever since. Later the Apostle Eliot preached here often,
and converted many dusky followers into "Praying Indians." Remnants of
their lodge-stones, arrow-heads and other relics were abundant half a
century ago in the great fields and other well known resorts, and a
large kitchen-miden or pile of shells, now fast becoming sand, marks the
place of one of their solemn feasts. The early explorers seem to have
built at first under the shelter of the low sand-hills which extend
through the centre of the town, and perhaps some of them were content to
winter in caves dug in the western slopes. Their first care was for
their church which was organized under the Rev. Peter Bulkeley and John
Jones as pastor and teacher, but after a few years Mr. Jones left for
Connecticut with one-third of his flock. Many other things occurred to
discourage this little band, but their indomitable leader was not one to
abandon any enterprise. Rev. Peter Bulkeley was a gentleman of learning,
wealth and culture, as was also Simon Willard who managed the temporal
affairs of the plantation. It is a curious commentary on the present
temperance question to learn from early records that to the chief men
alone was given the right to sell intoxicating liquors. In many of the
early plantations the land seems to have been divided into parcels,
which were in some cases distributed by lot, and this fact may perhaps
have originated the word _lot_ as applied to land. A large tract
near the centre of the town was long held in common by forty associates,
the entrance to which was behind the site of the former Courthouse, now
occupied by the Insurance Office. Before many years had passed this
little town lost in some degree its peaceful reputation, and became a
centre of operations during King Philip's war, many bodies of armed men
being sent out against the savages, and one to the relief of Brookfield,
under Mr. Willard. Block houses were built at several exposed points,
the sites of which, with other noted places will soon be marked with
memorial tablets.
Trained by this Indian warfare, the inhabitants of Concord were prepared
for the events which were to follow, and when, in 1775, their town
furnished the first battle-field of the American Revolution, they were
able to offer "the first effectual resistance to British aggression." In
the old church built in 1712 was held the famous Continental Congress
where the fiery speeches of Adams and Hancock did so much to hasten the
opening of the inevitable conflict between England and her provinces.
The same frame which was used for the present building echoed with the
stirring words of the patriots as well as with the fearless utterances
of the Rev. William Emerson, who, on the Sunday before Concord fight,
preached his famous sermon on the text "Resistance to tyrants is
obedience to God." The events which preceded the Revolution need not be
recorded here, nor any facts not intimately connected with the history
of the town, which had been quietly making preparations for the grand
event. Under Colonel James Barrett and Major Buttrick, the militia and
other soldiers were drilled and organized, some of whom under the name
of Minute-men were ordered to be ready to parade at a moment's notice.
Cannon and other munitions of war were procured, which with flour and
provisions were secreted in various places.
Tidings of these preparations was carried to the British in Boston by
the spies and tories who abounded in the town, and on the evening of the
eighteenth of April, an expedition consisting of about eight hundred men
was sent out to counteract them. Paul Revere having been stopped at
Lexington, was able to spread the news of the attack by means of Dr.
Prescott who had been sitting up late with the lady whom he afterwards
married. Love overleaps all obstacles, and with cut bridle-rein the
Doctor leaped his gallant steed over walls and fences and reached
Concord very early in the morning. At the ringing of the bell the
Minute-men flocked to their standard on the crest of Burying Hill where
they were joined by Rev. William Emerson, whose marble tomb stands near
the very spot, and also marks the place where Pitcairn and Smith
controlled the operations of the British during the forenoon.
The Liberty-pole occupied the next eminence, a few rods farther east.
Here the little band of patriots awaited the coming of the
well-disciplined foe, ignorant that their country-men had fallen on
Lexington Common before the very muskets that now glittered in the
morning sun. Some proposed to go and meet the British, and some to die
holding their ground; but their wiser commanders led them to
Ponkawtassett Hill a mile away, where the worn and weary troops were
cheered by food and rest, and were reinforced by new arrivals from Acton
and other towns, until they numbered nearly three hundred men. After
destroying many stores in the village, and sending three companies to
Colonel Barrett's in vain search for the cannon, which were buried in
the furrows of a ploughed field, a detachment of British soldiers took
possession of the South Bridge, and three companies were left to guard
the old North Bridge under command of Captain Lawrie.
[Illustration: Henry D. Thoreau.]
Seeing this manoeuvre the Americans slowly advanced and took up their
position on the hill at the west of the bridge which the British now
began to destroy. Colonel Isaac Davis of Acton now offered to lead the
attack, saying, "I have not a man who is afraid to go," and he was given
the place in front of the advancing column, and fell at the first volley
from the British, who were posted on the other bank of the river. Major
Buttrick then ordered his troops to fire, and dashed on to the bridge,
driving the enemy back to the main road, down which they soon retreated
to the Common, to join the Grenadiers and Marines who there awaited
them. The Minute-men crossed over the hills and fields to Merriam's
corner when they again attacked the British, who were marching back to
Boston, and killed and wounded several of the enemy without injury to
themselves. Meanwhile the three companies had returned from Colonel
Barrett's and marched safely over the bridge which had been abandoned by
both sides, and joined the main force of the British who had waited for
them on the Common.
After the skirmish at Merriam's corner, the fighting was continued in
true Indian fashion from behind walls and buildings with such effect
that the British would have been captured had they not been re-enforced
at Lexington by a large force with field pieces.
In 1836, the spot on which the British stood was marked by a plain
monument, and in 1875 the place near which Captain Isaac Davis and his
companions fell was made forever memorable by the noble bronze statue of
the Minute-man by Daniel Chester French in which the artist has
carefully copied every detail of dress and implement, from the ancient
firelock, to the old plough on which he leans.
[Illustration: THE OLD BATTLE GROUND.]
In order to prove her claim to the peaceful name of Concord, this
village seems to have taken an active part in every warlike enterprise
which followed. Several of her men fought at Bunker Hill and one was
killed there. In Shay's Rebellion Job Shattuck of Groton attempted to
prevent the court, which assembled in Concord, from transacting its
business, by an armed force. In the war of 1812, Concord men served
well, and in the old anti-slavery days many a fierce battle of tongue
and pen was waged by the early supporters of the then unpopular cause.
John Brown spent his fifty-eighth birthday in the town the week before
he left for Harper's Ferry, and the gallows from which his "soul went
marching on." The United States officials who came to arrest Mr. Sanborn
for his knowledge of Brown's movements were advised by the women and men
of Concord to retreat down the old Boston road _a la_ British; and
when the call came for troops to put down the late Rebellion, Concord
was among the first to send her militia to the field under the gallant
young farmer-soldier, Colonel Prescott, who at Petersburg,
"Showed how a soldier ought to fight,
And a Christian ought to die."
[Illustration: R. Waldo Emerson]
In memory of the brave who found in Concord "a birthplace, home or
grave" the plain shaft in the public square was erected on the spot
where the Minute-men were probably first drawn up on the morning of the
nineteenth of April. 1775 to listen to the inspiring words of their
young preacher, Rev. William Emerson, and ninety years after in the same
place his grandson R.W. Emerson recounted the noble deeds of the men who
had gallantly proved themselves worthy to bear the names made famous by
their ancestors at Concord fight. The Rev. William Emerson in 1775
occupied and owned _The Old Manse_, which was built for him about
ten years before, on the occasion of his marriage to Miss. Phoebe Bliss,
the daughter of one of the early ministers of Concord. Mr. Emerson was
so patriotic and eager to attack the invaders at once, that he was
compelled by his people to remain in his house, from which he is said to
have watched the battle at the bridge from a window commanding the
field. He soon after joined the army as chaplain and died the next year
at Rutland, and his widow married some years after the Rev. Dr. Ripley
who succeeded him in his church and home, and lived until his death in
the Manse which has always remained in the possession of his
descendants. Dr. Ripley ruled the church and town with the iron sway of
an old-fashioned New England minister, and the old Manse has for years
been a literary centre. In the old dining room, the solemn conclave of
clergymen have cracked many a hard doctrine and many a merry jest,
seated in the high-backed leather chairs which have stood for one
hundred and twenty years around the old table. Here Mrs. Sarah Ripley
fitted many a noted scholar for college in the intervals of her
housekeeping labors before the open kitchen fireplace. In an attic
room, called the Saint's chamber, from the penciled names of honored
occupants, Emerson is said to have written _Nature_, and perhaps
other works, as much of his time was spent in the Manse at various
periods of his life. Here Hawthorne came on his wedding tour and lived
for two happy years and wrote the _Mosses from an Old Manse_ and
other works. In his study over the dining-room, his name is written
with a diamond on one of the little window panes, and with the same
instrument his wife has recorded on the dining-room window annals of
her daughter who was born in the house.
[Illustration: Nathaniel Hawthorne.]
On the hill opposite, the solitary poplar, the last of a group set
out by some school-girls eighty years ago, still stands. Each of its
companions died about the time of the decease of its lady planter, and
as the one who set out the present tree has lately died, the poplar
suffered last year from a stroke of lightning which may cause it to
follow soon.
Nearly opposite the Manse on the road toward the village is the well
preserved house, formerly the home of Elisha Jones, which bears in the
L the mark of a bullet fired into it on the day of Concord fight. On
the same side of the way a little farther down is a house, a portion of
which was built by Humphrey Barrett as early as 1640. As the route of
the retreating British from the bridge is followed for half a mile down
this road the common is reached, which is bounded on the Northern end by
the stores, from which the British took flour and other Continental
supplies, and at the opposite end stands Wright tavern which the gallant
Pitcairn immortalized by stirring his brandy with a bloody finger,
unconscious that the rebel blood he promised to stir would cause his own
to flow at Bunker Hill.
Opposite Wright tavern is one of the oldest burying hills in the
country, on which may be seen the stone of Joseph Merriam, who died in
1677 and those of Colonel Barrett who commanded the troops, and of Major
Buttrick who led them at the bridge, and of his son the fifer who
furnished the music to which they marched. Here also is the inscription
to John Jack famous for its alliteration, and the tablets of the old
ministers and founders of church and State. Some of these headstones
bear coats of arms and rough portraits in stone, while others more
symbolic, are content with the winged cherubim or solemn weeping willow,
and others older still preserve the antique coffin shape. About one
quarter of a mile in the rear of this historic Burying Hill is Sleepy
Hollow, the cemetery now so famous, which will be for centuries as now,
the Mecca of pious pilgrims, for here Emerson sleeps beneath the giant
pine of which he loved to write and which in grateful recognition ever
whispers its solemn dirge over the dead poet, who will live forever in
his writings. His grave is now marked by a rough rock of beautiful pink
crystal-quartz, and his son Waldo lies close beside him, with no
monument but the imperishable one of _Threnody_. Mrs. Ruth Emerson,
the mother of the poet and his brothers, nephews and grandchildren rest
near him, and close by is the grave of Miss Mary Moody Emerson, the
eccentric genius whom he well appreciated.
[Illustration: THE STUDY IN THE TOWER OF THE WAYSIDE.]
Ridge Path leads up the steep hill past the grave of Emerson and also to
most of the noted burial places. On ascending this path at the western
end, Hawthorne's lot is first reached, surrounded by a low hedge of
Arbor Vitae and the grave of the great writer is marked only by two low
white stones one of which bears his name. At his head lies his little
grandson, Francis Lathrop, and by his side Julian's little daughter
Gladys. Behind is the grave of Thoreau, a plain brown stone, and very
near are the graves of two of the little women, Amy and Beth, by the
side of their noble mother, Mrs. Alcott. Colonel Prescott and many noted
citizens are buried on this path which has for a chief ornament the
handsome monument of the Honorable William Whiting, nearly opposite
which is the Manse lot, with its memorials to Mrs. Ripley and her sons.
On the side of this hill is the Monument to Honorable Samuel Hoar which
bears upon its upper portion an appropriate motto from Pilgrim's
Progress, and an oft-quoted inscription which with the one in the same
lot to his daughter, is recommended to all lovers of pure English as
they are true records of the pure souls they commemorate.
[Illustration: A. BRONSON ALCOTT.]
Returning from the cemetery to the square, we still follow the British
down the Boston road and pass at the corner near the church another
building from which stores were taken and on the left houses of
historical fame, the house and shop of Captain Brown who led the second
company in the fight, the home of the patriot Lee and John Beatton who
left funds for church purposes. Below this house which is two hundred
years old, a guard was posted on the day of the fight and before it
stand two elms so old that they are filled with bricks inside, and
mended outside with plaster in order to preserve them. The next house on
the right is the home of Emerson, a plain wooden building with trees
near the western side, and a fine old-fashioned garden in the rear. His
study was in the front of the house at the right of the entrance. One
side is filled to the ceiling with books, and a picture of the Fates
hangs above the grate, a table occupies the centre, at the right of
which is the rocking chair in which he often sat, and his writing
implements lie near on the table. From the study two doors lead to the
long parlor with its large fire-place around which so many noted people
have gathered.
After passing the home of Emerson the road turns toward the left and
leads past the farm and greenhouses of John B. Morse, the agricultural
author, to the School of Philosophy which has just completed its seventh
session with success, the attendance having steadily improved certainly
as far as culture is considered. It stands in the grounds of the Orchard
House now the home of Dr. Harris who has carried out the idea of Mr.
Alcott of whom he bought the place, by laying out beautiful walks over
the crest of the wooded hill. He has surrounded a tall pine on the hill
top with a strong staircase by which it can easily be climbed to a
height of 54 feet from the base and 110 feet from the road in front of
the school building or chapel. Orchard House was for years the home of
the Alcott family where Louisa wrote and May painted and their father
studied philosophy. A broken rustic fence one of the last traces of Mr.
Alcott's mechanical skill forms the slight barrier between the grounds
at the Orchard House and Wayside, which Mr. Alcott bought in 1845 and a
few years later sold to Nathaniel Hawthorne who owned it at the time of
his death. The house is a strange mixture of the old and new, as the
rear part bears evident traces of antiquity, at the right were the
Hawthorne parlors and reception rooms, at the left of the entry his
library, sometimes called the den, and in front a small room with a low
window separates the dining room from the reception room and the whole
is crowned with a tower built by Mr. Hawthorne for a study where he
found the quiet and seclusion which he loved. Much of Mr. Hawthorne's
composition seems to have been done as he wandered up and down the shady
paths which wind in every direction along the terraced hillside, and a
small crooked path is still shown as the one worn by the restless step
of genius. Mr. G.P. Lathrop who married Rose Hawthorne sold the place to
Daniel Lothrop, the Boston publisher, who has thoroughly repaired it and
greatly added to its beauty by reverently preserving every landmark in
his improvements, and now in summer his accomplished wife, known to the
public by her _nom de plume_ of Margaret Sidney, entertains many
noted people at Wayside. On the Boston road and a little farther on is
the garden of Ephraim Bull, the originator of the Concord grape and
below is Merriam's Corner to which the Minute-men crossed and attacked
the British as above mentioned. Half a mile across country lies Sandy
Pond from which the town has its water supply which can furnish daily
half a million gallons of pure water, each containing only one and
three-fourths grains of solid matter. From Sandy Pond several narrow
wood-roads lead to Walden, a mile distant where Thoreau lived for eight
months at an expense of one dollar and nine cents a month. His house
cost thirty dollars and was built by his own hands with a little help in
raising and in it he wrote Walden, considered by many his best book. Mr.
Thoreau died in May 1862, in the house occupied by the Alcott family on
Main street where many of the principal inhabitants live. At the
junction of this street with Sudbury street stands the Concord Free
Public Library, the generous gift of William Munroe, Esq. which was
dedicated October 1, 1873, and now owns nearly twenty thousand volumes
and numerous works of art, coins and relics, the germs of a gallery
which will be added in future. Behind the many fine estates which front
on Main street, Sudbury river forms another highway and many boats lie
along the green lawns ready to convey their owners up river to Fairhaven
bay, Martha's Point, the Cliffs and Baker Farm, the haunts of the
botanists, fishermen and authors of Concord, or down to Egg Rock where
the South Branch unites with the lovely Assabet to form the Concord
River which leads to the Merrimac by way of Bedford, Billerica and
Lowell. But most of the boats go up the Assabet to the beautiful bend
where the gaunt hemlocks lean over to see their reflection in the amber
stream, past the willows by which kindly hands have hidden the railroad,
to the shaded aisles of the vine-entangled maples where the rowers moor
their boats and climb Lee Hill which Mr. C.H. Hood has so beautifully
laid out.
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