[Illustration: FIRST PARISH CHURCH, CONCORD
Built in 1901 on the site of the old church where the first and second
Provincial Congresses sat, with John Hancock presiding.]
[Illustration: FIRST PARISH CHURCH, CONCORD, IN A SUMMER SETTING
The tree in the foreground went down in the hurricane of September,
1938. Concord was a heavy sufferer in the catastrophe.]
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE HILL BURYING GROUND
Across the street is Wright's Tavern (built in 1747), the British
headquarters on April 19, 1775 where Colonel Smith boasted that he
would stir the blood of the Yankee rebels.]
[Illustration: SPRINGTIME ON THE CROSSROADS
The focal point in Concord where the Mill Dam, Concord Square and
Lexington Road meet.]
[Illustration: Wright's Tavern, the oldest existing tavern in Concord,
is still run as a hostelry.]
[Illustration: THE COLONIAL INN, CONCORD
At the end of Monument Square is this historic inn, dating from 1770
and still thriving. It is composed of three old houses joined
together. The building on the extreme left was a Revolutionary
store-house, while the wing in the foreground was once a Thoreau
residence. The old tap room is still intact, and many relics of the
Revolution are still in evidence.]
[Illustration: A TEMPLE OF COMMERCE ON THE MILL DAM
The business heart of Concord received the name of the "Mill Dam" due
to the fact that it was the site of a dam for almost two centuries.
Some of its buildings still retain a fine old Colonial character.]
[Illustration: MODERN CONCORD
The Colonial tradition is reflected in many newer buildings, such as
the bank on the previous page.]
[Illustration: CONCORD ACADEMY IN MIDWINTER]
[Illustration: SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY
On this far ridge in Concord's burial ground are found the graves of
the literary great, Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, Thoreau, and
their respective families.]
[Illustration: THE BULLET-HOLE HOUSE, HOME OF MINUTEMAN ELISHA JONES
The oldest portion of this house, overlooking North Bridge, dates from
1644, making it probably the oldest house in Concord. Elisha Jones,
Concord minuteman, was guarding military supplies in his house when
the British began their retreat. He imprudently showed himself at the
door of the left wing, and was promptly fired upon. The bullet missed
him, and the hole it made is still preserved under a pane of glass.]
[Illustration: THE OLD MANSE (_view from the northwest_)
This large gambrel-roofed homestead was built in 1769 by the Reverend
William Emerson, Concord's fighting minister. Its grounds border the
Concord River, and the minister is said to have viewed the battle at
North Bridge from the window of his study. His grandson, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, spent much time in the old house as a schoolboy, and later
lived here for a year, writing "Nature" during that period. Nathaniel
Hawthorne rented the house in 1842, and brought his bride there, to
occupy it for some four years. It was Hawthorne who named it "The Old
Manse," and it was his "Mosses from an Old Manse" that made it known
to the world. The house has undergone astonishingly little change
since it was built 170 years ago.]
[Illustration: EARLY SPRING AT THE OLD MANSE]
[Illustration: THE BATTLEGROUND, CONCORD]
[Illustration: THE GRANITE OBELISK AND THE NORTH BRIDGE, CONCORD
The Battleground by North Bridge is marked by this monument, erected
in 1836. Nearby is a tablet marking the graves of two British soldiers
killed in the fight. The present bridge is a concrete copy of the
original wooden bridge, abandoned in 1794. Here was fired the "shot
that was heard round the world." Here is the setting of Longfellow's
immortal poem. Here was the turning point in America's struggle for
independence.]
[Illustration: THE MINUTEMAN, CONCORD
"The Minuteman," first important Statue by Daniel Chester French,
stands guard over the Battleground. The spirited young farmer is
leaving his plow to answer the alarm, musket in hand. The sculptor,
unable to afford a living model, is said to have used a statue of
Apollo Belvedere dressed as a minuteman for the purpose. The scene of
this bloody and momentous battle is now the picture of calm repose,
and a shrine for innumerable visitors.
The Story of the battle is eloquently related by a tablet on the
scene: