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MR, FRENCH's BUST OF EMERSON.



CONCORD
4/2 .
HISTORIC, LITERARY AND
PICTURESQUE
7"Aſ/A2 ZD E Z) / 7'A O AV — A' A' V/S E ZO
By [,] ſº
... nº
GEORGE B3" BARTLETT
*
=-“
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
Miss L. B. HUMPHREY AND ROBERT LEWIS
B O ST ON
D L O T H R O P C O M P A NY
WASHINGTON STREET OPPOSITE BROM FIELD
Copyright, 1885,
by
• George B. BARTLETT,
INTRODUCTION.
THE success which this book has met with abroad and at home
has encouraged its author to write it up to the present time, and to
give plain directions by which the tourist can easily find his way
to the various objects of interest which have been already described
at length. On arrival at the Fitchburg station, walk a few rods up
Thoreau street to Main street, and turn to the right; the third
house is the one in which Thoreau died, after living in it for some
years. This house is now the property of Mrs. Pratt, the Meg of
Little Women, and here Mrs. Alcott died, and Mr. Alcott and
Louisa lived during the most successful part of her career.
The Library is about one eighth of a mile below on the same side
of the street. Since the publication of the description, the number
of volumes has increased to about twenty-four thousand, and several
new objects of art have been added, especially a fine bust of Miss
Alcott by Walton Ricketson, which has the unqualified approbation
of her relatives and friends. Nearly opposite, on the other side of
the street, is the graveyard, the oldest stone in which is that of
Thomas Hartshorn, who died in 1697, which is in plain view from
the entrance, as is also a stone with a quaint inscription which
stands near the hedge at the right. Adjoining this is the house,
part of which is supposed to have been used for a block-house in
1675. The Square is plainly to be seen, with the Soldiers’ Monu-
ment in the center, nearly in front of which is a tablet showing
the site of the town-house which the British attempted to burn in
1775. At the right of the Monument is the building from which
the provincial stores were taken and destroyed, adjoining which is
the Thoreau House where the travelers will always find the best of
accommodation, and a cordial welcome from the courteous hostess,
who has made the house so attractive that many people from dis-
ii INTIRODUCTION.
tant cities have made it a permanent home. From this house the
sidewalk on the left of the street leads directly to the Manse and
Battle-field, which are half a mile distant. Nearly opposite the
Manse is the house which has the bullet-hole near the door in the
L. The bridge which crosses the river between the two monu-
ments has been built within a few years to take the place of the
more ornamental structure which was destroyed by the ice.
On leaving the Battle-field, keep to the left over the stone bridge
which commands a view of the farm of Minot Pratt, which is
situated on the left bank of the river at its first bend. Taking
Liberty street, the first turn of the road to the left, the first house
on the right is the one where Major Butt::ck lived, who led the
minute-men to the bridge, and still keeping to the left the crest of
the hill where the minute-men formed is marked by an inscription
On the wall by the roadside.
Turning to the left at the foot of the hill is the wooden bridge
from which the junction of the Sudbury and Assabet, marked by
a tablet on Egg Rock, is seen a short distance up the river.
Keeping on up Lowell street, at the second house on the left is
the bronze tablet which marks the site of the house of Rev. Peter
Bulkeley, where the purchase of the town from the Indians was
so amicably made, which is but a few rods from the Square and
Soldiers’ Monument. On the upper side of the Square stands the
building once used as a court-house, next to which is the present
town-house with the historic elm in front. The street at the left
of the town-house leads to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, passing along
the side of which you enter at the new gateway presented by Wil-
liam M. Prichard, Esq., in 1891, and walk a short distance to the
summer-house, in front of which across the hollow is the hill, the
crest of which is marked by Ridge Path, on which the graves of
Hawthorne, Thoreau, the Alcotts and Emersons are situated. Re-
turning to the Square, turn to the left past the Catholic church,
next to which is the Burying Hill, where a plain path leads to the
summit and the oldest gravestone in town, that of Joseph Merriam,
INTRODUCTION. iii
behind which at the foot of the hill, is the stone of John Jack,
whose grave is usually covered with lilies. Returning to the
path, keep along the top of the hill to the little powder house, near
which are the graves of Major Buttrick and his family, and the
tombs of the Rev. Messrs. Bliss and Emerson. At the foot of the
hill on the side toward the village behind the stone house is the
stone of Col. Barrett, and most of the other remarkable graves are
situated between this and the entrance gate, or nearly on the same
line. Some of the memorial verses which appear upon these grave-
stones are very interesting, both to the antiquarian and the poet, as
they are quoted from the authors of the time, when not original with
the members of the family. One of the best of these poems is from
the pen of Wesley, a brother of the preacher, who published a vol-
ume about the year 1600. The same verses were found in 1882 on
a placard hanging to the marble monument of the Princess Sophia,
daughter of James I., who was buried in Westminster Abbey, in
1667. The tablet which ornaments the outer wall of this grave-
yard bears this inscription:
ON THIS HILL
THE SETTLERS OF CONCORD
BUILT THEIR MEETING—HIOUSE
NEAR WHICH THEY WERE BURIED,
ON THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF THE RIDGE
WERE THEIR DWELLINGS DURING
THE FIRST win TER,
BELOW IT THEY LAID OUT
THEIR FIRST ROAD AND
ON THE SUMMIT STOOD THE
LIBERTY-POLE OF THE REVOLUTION.
Directly opposite the graveyard are the Wright tavern, and the
Unitarian Church, in front of which stands a new tablet to com-
memorate the meeting of the Continental Congress. The sidewalk
iy INTRODUCTION.
on the opposite side of the street leads directly to the School of
Philosophy building, about half a mile in an easterly direction, the
last meeting in which was the memorial to Mr. Alcott, one of its
founders and chief supporters. On pursuing this journey several
old houses are passed, one of which occupied by Captain Brown in
the Revolution, is plainly marked as the Antiquarian Society’s
headquarters, and the next is the former home of John Beaton, one
of the oldest in town.
The home of Emerson is the first house on the opposite side of
the road. The Orchard house, which the Alcotts occupied for so
many years, is in the same enclosure as the School of Philosophy,
and the Wayside where Hawthorne lived after his return from
Europe, is the next house on the left. The hill behind Wayside
seems to have been a favorite literary resort, for beside Haw-
thorne's Walk represented in the picture, many of the winding
wood paths were trod by the Alcott children in their romantic
rambles. They climbed the steep sides of the hill, personating
little Pilgrims laden with heavy packs, which they gladly cast off
as they entered the Celestial City, represented to their romantic
imaginations by a small pond which reflected the beautiful scenery
at the other side of the hill Difficulty. In the deep shadow the
Giant Despair lay in wait for his trembling victims, when the Little
Women were in their early youth. -
Some of the famous theatricals mentioned in the Journal, and
other books, were acted in the barn which stands near the eastern
end of the Wayside.
The original Concord grapevine still flourishes in the next garden,
under the care of its great originator, E. W. Bull, Esq. From this
parent vine the fruit has been so widely spread that it may well be
called the grape “shot round the world.”
Three quarters of a mile below is Merriam's Corner, which is
properly marked with a tablet, for it was the scene of the sharpest
fighting which took place in the town limits, when Gov. Brooks
with his company joined the Concord men who had crossed over
INTRODUCTION. V.
the great fields to attack the British upon their return to Boston;
for the road which has just been traversed was the very same up
which Major Pitcairn led his Hessians from Lexington Common to
the old North Bridge. Near this corner stands the old Merriam
house, which bears about the same external appearance as it did
upon the nineteenth of April, 1775, when its quiet was broken by the
sounds of war, and the same remark may be made as to many of
the houses along the road between here and the village, which have
been already fully described in the article on houses of historical
interest.
On returning to the village, the first road turning to the left
above Mr. Emerson’s house leads behind his famous garden, past
the Poor Farm, to Walden Pond; ascending the steep hill the first
road to the right leads directly to the Picnic ground, and the second
which turns to the right at the telegraph pole takes one to the tall
pines back of Thoreau's grove. These trees are in plain sight from
the main road, and under them is a well-worn path which turns to
the left directly to the site of Thoreau's hut, now marked by a pile
of stones.
The Pond, which he loved and immortalized, is in front of this
cairn, to which every visitor adds a stone before walking down to
the edge of the Pond, to enjoy the unbroken solitude, if fortunate
enough to escape a picnic. If a student of Thoreau, on his return
to the main road he can keep to the right for twenty rods along it,
to see the orchard which Thoreau planted with pine cones in straight
lines; and the ancient cellars of which he writes may still be
distinguished.
Thoreau street extends from Walden to the Fitchburg station,
the point from which this imaginary journey sets forth. Hub-
bard street crosses Thoreau street, and very near the junction
of these streets, upon the former, are the school-houses mentioned
in this book, and also the Ripley School, named for Dr. Ezra
Ripley; behind this building is the new playground and train-
ing field for the free use of the boys and the militia. About
Vi INTRODUCTION.
four acres in extent, the greater part of this enclosure is protected
by the deed of the givers from the encroachment of any statues,
gravel paths or anything which could in any way convert it into a
park, or interfere with the original use. Mr. Emerson was inter-
ested in the idea of a public playground, and from time to time de-
voted small sums to this purpose, which formed the nucleus of the
necessary endowment.
Among the improvements made since the first edition of this
book was printed is Nashawtuck avenue, which begins at Main
street opposite the end of Thoreau street, crosses the Nashawtuck
bridge, and ends at the top of the hill from which they take their
Ila, Ill 62.
So many events have happened upon this hill, according to its
historian, that the “History of a Concord Farm ‘’ which relates
them is of absorbing interest. At present the new reservoir of
the Concord water-works and Willard Common crown its summit,
from which a fine view is to be had of the two rivers, the village
and its surrounding hills, and of the fine estate which is half-way
up the southern slope.
. The proprietor of Nashawtuck does not propose to make of it the
site of a town boom or land speculation; on the contrary he hopes
to preserve and use most of it as a farm, perhaps selling the Hurd
residence, and removing from its vicinity to a more central position,
the barn and outbuildings.
At the same time he does not feel warranted in excluding the
whole of it, especially the hill portion, from such use for resident
purposes as its location and natural beauty may create a demand
for, and to best adapt it for such purposes, he wishes to direct or
inspire its laying out and improvement by the proper location, con-
struction and planting of ways; also by liberal allowances of space
and a general regard for landscape effects without losing its rural
aspects.
Another most important improvement to the town is a school for
boys—the Concord Home School — founded and conducted by
INTRODUCTION. Vii
Mr. James S. Garland, a Harvard man, who has brought to his
Work in Concord the spirit of progress and enterprise.
The school is situated on the old Wood estate : seventy-five acres
of beautiful upland on the west side of the Sudbury River extend-
ing westward between Elm street and the Fitchburg railroad.
The main building, erected in 1891, is a model of its kind, con-
taining every requisite for the comfort and enjoyment of the
students. Near by stands the gymnasium, filled with the best of
apparatus, and the great playground, many acres in extent. There
are tennis-courts also, and on the river bank a spacious boathouse,
the most popular, perhaps, of all the ample means provided for
athletic sports.
The School is in charge of accomplished masters who are not
Only good teachers, but are the constant companions of the boys,
joining with them in all their sports, and inspiring them with that
manly spirit which should enter largely into the development of
character.
The chief work of the school is to prepare boys for college, but
the course of study is made flexible, so that a youth may be fitted
for a business or scientific career. The special needs of the pupil
are carefully considered in every case.
There are at present accommodations for twenty-five boarding
pupils, but the pressure for places is so great that additional rooms
will soon have to be provided.
There is also a marked change in the boating interests of the Con-
cord River. Since the Carnival of Boats was printed it has been
copied in so many places with more or less success, that it has been
abandoned here, and the heavy boats which once decorated every
landing-place have given place to canoes. Being so frail they
require special houses for their accommodation, several of which
ornament the river at various points. The finest of them is
situated on the right bank of the Concord River, just below the
Red Bridge. Prichard Woods, near the river, has been furnished
with winding walks and rustic seats, in order to form an attractive
viii INTRODUCTION.
and cool retreat, without any loss of its native wildness and
simplicity.
The Concord Canoe Club has a large membership, and usually
gives two great field-days, besides numerous smaller occasions; the
former draw many participants and spectators who after a long
trip to Fairhaven Bay, or some other favorite locality, devote a
long summer day to races and amusements of a similar character.
Among the attractions of the river side is the studio of Walton
Ricketson, who has made many successful portrait busts of Thoreau,
the Alcotts, and many of the Concord notables. Many of his ideal
works also ornament his studio, and many curious objects of art
combine with bright draperies and cushions to render it picturesque,
especially when the great fire is lighted to cast weird shadows on
the ancient furniture; he has many valuable manuscripts of native
and foreign authors, and Thoreau’s flute, and the spyglass with
which he penetrated so many of Nature’s secrets.
Away down the river is Ball's Hill, one of Thoreau’s favorite
haunts. It is a matter of great congratulation that this hill has
been purchased by Mr. William Brewster of Cambridge, who has
taken measures to preserve its native wildness, in order to furnish
a safe asylum for the birds and animals. No one will be allowed
to use firearms, or to injure or destroy any of its animal or vege-
table productions, if attention is paid to the polite requests of the
OWI) 6T.
The many foreign and native artists who spend their vacations
along these quiet streams have made fine sketches of many beauti-
ful places, some of which are the work of Mr. Edward Simmons,
who has so successfully carried the fame of his native village to so
many countries.
Trinity Episcopal Church, a fine stone building, was consecrated
in 1886, and, under the rectorship of the Rev. Walter Russell
Breed, has rapidly increased in membership and influence, and has
received a beautiful window in memory of O. H. Underhill, first
warden of the parish, and other appropriate gifts.
THANKS are due to George Parsons Lathrop and Mrs. Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
for accounts of Mr. Hawthorne's home; to Mrs. Delano Goddard for her Voyage
on the Assabet; to Miss Munroe for her Melnoir of the Founder of the Library;
to Mrs. W. S. Robinson for her Memoir of “Warrington’’; to W. W. Wheildon,
Esq., for the articles on Walden Pond, the Concord Grape, and the Masonic Insti-
tutions; to Mr. A. Munroe for the history of the Library, the Water Supply and
the Curiosity Shop; to Mr. S. R. Bartlett for the sketch of Daniel Chester French
and his studio, and to F. M. Holland, Esq., for “The Clubs.”
Full credit also should be given to Rev. G. Reynolds, and to F. B. Sanborn, Esq.,
for quotations from their writings, as well as to Shattuck's History, the Diary of
Rev. Wm. Emerson, and the Pamphlets of Rev. Dr. Ripley and others. All the
verse in the volume with the exception of Mr. Sanborn's Ode in the first chapter,
was written by the author of this book.
Concord, Mass.


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I N D E X.
PAGE
ALCOTT FAMILY . g * © e º 2 g © & ge © 67
ARTILLERY, CONCORD . e º o g gº & º ſº ſº * > I28
I3ANK, CONCORD . ſº * g gº g * tº © te tº * > I 30
BATTLE GROUND tº º e e º ge & o g tº * © 27
BROWN, LIEUT. GOVERNOR . * © te © º g g ge * I 59
BURYING GROUNDS © tº * Ç * º g * e tº tº I3
CARNIVAL OF BOATS . tº * tº e e & º # * wº tº I64
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION . º se * © tº g e º tº I6o
CHURCHES * g tº © º º ë ſº º e tº e ſº I I
CLUBS . tº © & * gº tº ge ū & * & & • I32
CONCORD GRAPE . * * & tº e * & º {º Q I25
EARLY HISTORY . . . © ge tº tº Qº tº e - © º IO
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY . . . © ge * ge e tº tº º º IOI
FRENCH, HON. H. F. . º * e Ǻ e g * @ * > • I63
FRENCH’s STUDIO, e * sº ſº gº e tº tº e g i.e. II8
HAWTHORNE gº e tº gº $º e & © tº º ſº te 59
HEMLOCKS . tº ſº { } © • * * sº ſº tº tºp • I 57
HOAR, HoN. SAMUEL . * * e e de e ſe e g e 75
HOAR, JUDGE E. R. tº * i. sº tº e º gº e © ſº 76
HOME OF EMERSON * e Q © e © © tº e tº e 49
HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST ſº * @ q & © & © 36
HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST tº sº ſº º • . tº e 49
HUDSON, FREDERIC tº º e º g 49 ge • - & Ç 162
O
Andex.
INSTITUTION OF MASONRY
MANSE . ** e
&
MIDDLESEx FIRE INSURANCE Co..
MONUMENTS . Ç
Mon ROE, W. . tº
OLD CURIOSITY SHOP
ORCHARD HOUSE .
RIPLEY, DR. . tº
RIVERS AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS
ROBINSON, W. S. .
SAN BORN, F. B. .
©
SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY.
SLEEPY Hollow CEMETERY
SOCIAL CIRCLE tº
THOREAU te e
WALDEN POND º
WAYSIDE . gº *
WHEILDON, W. W.
©
*
I29
54
I23
I IO
98
I2O
76
57
I 50
9I
I35
THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK.
C H A P T E R I.
EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYING GROUNDs.
Passengers for Concord, Mass., can take the cars in
Boston by way of the Fitchburg or Boston and Lowell Rail
Roads, which are near each other on Causeway street. Com-
ing from New York by rail or steamboat via Fall River or New
Haven, from the West direct over the Fitchburg Rail-
road — Hoosac Tunnel Route, or from the East and North
at Ayer Junction. At the Concord depot carriages are always
in readiness to convey tourists to all objects of interest in and
about the town, to which this little book endeavors to call their
9
IO 7"HE COMCORD GU/DE /3OOA.
attention by giving a glance at the history, legends, and litera-
ture which have rendered the place somewhat noted.
The Town of Concord, probably so named from the peace-
ful manner of its purchase, was settled by a company of about
a dozen families, most of whom came directly from England for
that purpose, having been encouraged in this plan by a traveller
who visited the spot in the year 1633. These pilgrims endured
great hardships in their passage from tide water to this spot,
being compelled to Wade through deep swamps and penetrate
with great difficulty through tangled thickets. They suffered
greatly from the loss of their cattle which died in great numbers
from change of diet and climate. The Indian name of the set-
tlement was Musket-a-quid or the Grass-Grown River, and the
broad meadows lying for many miles along the river were great-
ly esteemed by their aboriginal owners as hunting grounds and
corn fields; but a peaceful purchase was made about the year
1637, the transaction having occurred, according to a legend,
under a great tree called Jethro’s Oak, which stood near the
present site of the Middlesex Hotel. The savage proprietors
seemed to have been well disposed and friendly to the new
comers who labored earnestly for their conversion and improve-
ment. The apostle Eliot often preached to them, and through
his influence, about the year 1656, a large company of praying
Indians existed, who cultivated the land and had an excellent
code of laws, a copy of which is still extant. During the next
twenty years the good feeling originally existing between the
English and Indians seems to have gradually given place to the
FARZY HISTORY, CHURCHAES AAWD BORY/A/G GROUNDS. II
most bitter animosity, and Concord soon became a military post
and a centre of warlike operations, from which parties were
constantly sent out to the relief of neighboring villages, and for
the punishment of the enemy.
During Philip's War several block houses were maintained,
one of which tradition locates on the present site of the house
of Dr. Barrett, one near Merriam's Corner, and one near
the residence of Mr. Lewis Flint.
Several Indians convicted of the crime of murder and arson
were executed in the town, and also one white man for the
murder of an Indian. The general prejudice against the sav-
ages extended also to the praying Indians, a small party of
whom were living here under the protection of Mr. John Hoar,
who had erected a building for them to use as a residence and
workshop ; and one Sunday a company of soldiers from Boston
entered the town and demanded them, and they were saved
with great difficulty by the courage and determination of their
guardian. It is stated that before proceeding to attack these
inoffensive Indians, the soldiers decorously attended public
worship, and waited until after service before stating the object
of their mission.
The Old Church stood near the site of the present Unita
rian house of worship, which was built on the old frame, so that
it contains the same timbers as the one in which the first Pro-
vincial Congress was held, on the fourteenth of October, 1774,
of which John Hancock was chosen president. In this assembly
were made those stirring speeches by himself, Adams, and other
patriots, which did so much to hasten the events of the Revolu-
I 2 Z'HE COAVCOA’/) G UZZOAZ / OOA .
tion. The church was organized at Cambridge, in 1636, and in
1637 the Rev. Peter Bulkeley and John Jones were chosen as
the teacher and the pastor. In this organization, like most
of those under two heads, some difficulty seems to have arisen,
and a part of the congregation seceded for a time, and some of
the people followed Mr. Jones on his subsequent removal from
FIRST CI-IU RC H.,
the town. Mr. Bulkeley came from noble ancestry, was renowned
as a finished scholar and gentleman, and expended his means
and strength for his town and church with a liberality only
equalled by his piety. He died universally lamented, March
9th, 1659, at which time his son, the Rev. Edward, was in-
stalled in his place. The Rev. Joseph Esterbrook, Rev. Mr.
Whiting, and Rev. Mr. Bliss successively succeeded him.
After them came the eloquent divine and fearless patriot, Rev.

AAALY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYING GROUNDS. 13
William Emerson, who preached for ten years, when he gave
his life to the service of his country. The Rev. Ezra Ripley
succeeded to the church and home of Mr. Emerson, whose
widow he married. Of both of the two last-named divines,
an account will be found in another place. The Rev. H. B.
Goodwin and the Rev. B. Frost were both colleagues of
Dr. Ripley, the latter being pastor of the church after him, in
which position he was succeeded by the present incumbent,
Rev. G. Reynolds, who has identified himself with the history
of this town, writing many valuable historical papers and
books. The present pastor is the Rev. B. R. Bulkley.
The Congregational Church, under the charge of the Rev.
Henry M. Grout, is situated on Walden street, and was
organized June 5, 1826.
The Catholic Church, which is in a flourishing condition,
occupies a fine site on the public square.
The Old Hill Burying Ground stands directly behind
the Catholic Church. The date of its opening is unknown, and
the location of no older one can be ascertained. The oldest
stone in this ground is probably the monument to Joseph
Merriam, who died the twentieth of April, 1677 ; and the most
celebrated epitaph is that of John Jack, an old slave who died
in town in 1773. This has been widely copied at home and
abroad as a curious specimen of antithesis, and it is usually
attributed to the pen of Daniel Bliss. The stone, which has
been renewed, stands at the northerly corner of the yard, and a
well-worn track leads to it from the main path. The inscrip-
tion is here copied in full:
I4 7A/A COAVCOAEA) GCV/ZOAZ AO OA .
God wills us free, man wills us slaves,
I will as God wills; God's will be done.
Here lies the body of
JOHN JACK
A native of Africa, who died
March 1773 aged about sixty years.
Though born in a land of slavery,
He was born free.
Though he lived in a land of liberty,
He lived a slave ;
Till by his honest though stolen labor:
He acquired the source of slavery,
Which gave him his freedom :
Though not long before
Death the grand tyrant,
Gave him his final emancipation,
And put him on a footing with kings.
Though a slave to vice,
He practised those virtues,
Without which kings are but slaves.
On the first white stone which was placed in this cemetery is
this inscription, curious as showing the date when white marble
superseded the common slate:
This stone is designed
by its durability
to perpetuate the memory,
and by its colour
to signify the moral character,
- of -
MISS ABIGAIL DUDLEY. #
#
• *
#:

A.A.A.A. V AZSZOA: Y, CA/UAECHAES AAWD B URIAA. GAZOOAVDS. x2
Who died Jan 4, 1812,
aged 73.
In the same yard is this beautiful epitaph :
** V IV ENS
DILECTISSIM.A.”
ORPHA. BRY ANT.
Born December 24, 1797,
Died October 1, 1798.
She was the joy of her father,
and the delight of her mother,
MORTU A LACHRY MABILLIMA.
In this yard is the grave of Major John Buttrick, who led the
fight at the old North Bridge. He lies at the head of a large
family, which includes his son who accompanied him as fifer,
both these facts being properly noted on their gravestones,
which may be seen near the crest of the hill by the side of the
small magazine, in which the powder is kept for the village stores.
Very near are the graves of the lamented pastors of the town,
including that of the Rev. William Emerson as shown in the
picture. It was probably near this spot that Col. Smith
and Maj. Pitcairn, who commanded the British on the day of
the Fight, stood to review the movements of their troops en-
gaged in various parts of the town, and to watch the Ameri-
cans as they assembled from various quarters. On the same
hill a hundred rods farther south, was the Liberty Pole erected
by the patriots, which was cut down by the British on the morn-
ing of the battle. By the side of the tomb of Rev. William
18 7///E COMCOA D GU//0A 500A.
Emerson is that of John Beatton,
an eccentric and frugal Scotchman
who accumulated a large fortune
and made a liberal bequest to the
ºr church which still goes by the
name of the Beation fund and is
annually devoted to pious uses.
The Burial Ground on Main
Street was, according to tradition,
the gift of two maiden ladies. In
1775the road probably went around
the back side of it, and across the
TOMI, OF REV. WIL- -
upper end, for which reason most
º Law ºnesos.
of the stones face the west, toward
what was then the principal street. The oldest stone is that
of Thomas Hartshorn, who died Nov. 17, 1697; and no other
one appears there until 1713.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was purchased by the town, of
the heirs of Reuben Brown, in 1855, and was laid out according
to plans furnished by Morris Copeland, Esq.
The architect has followed, wisely, the natural form of the
ground, and left undisturbed the amphitheatre which has existed
for years in the center, and which had borne the name of Sleepy
Hollow long before it was thought of as a place of burial. On
the nineteenth of April, 1856, a tree-bee was organized, and
over an hundred trees were set out in a single day by the citi.
zens, each one of whom thus brought his own memorial. The
ladies held two festivals in the same year to raise money for



AAA’ſ Y A/S ZOA' V, CHURCHES AAWD BURY/AWG GROUAVDS. I9
seats and decorations. The oration at the dedication was deliv-
ered by Emerson, and an ode by F. B. Sanborn was sung, which
is copied here from “Parnassus.”
Shine kindly forth, September sun,
From heavens calm and clear,
That no untimely cloud may run
Before thy golden sphere,
To vex our simple rites to-day
With one prophetic tear.
With steady voices let us raise
The fitting psalm and prayer;
Remembered grief of other days
Breathes softening in the air:
Who knows not Death — who mourns no loss —
IHe has with us no share.
To holy sorrow, solemn joy,
We consecrate the place
Where soon shall sleep the maid and boy,
The father and his race,
The mother with her tender babe,
The venerable face.
These waving woods, these valleys low,
Between these tufted knolls,
Year after year shall dearer grow
To many loving souls;
And flowers be sweeter here than blow
Elsewhere between the poles.
For deathless Love and blessed Grief
Shall guard these wooded aisles,
When either Autumn casts the leaf,
Or blushing Summer smiles,
Or Winter whitens o'er the land,
Or Spring the buds uncoils.
2O 7THE COMCOR/D GU/DAZ AOOA.
Many of the most marked graves are on The Ridge.
Ascending the hill by Ridge Path, at the west, Nathaniel
Hawthorne's grave is seen, surrounded by a low hedge of arbor
vitae, as if the gifted author sought in death the modest retire-
ment which he loved in life. His eloquent epitaph consists
only of his name on a plain white stone.
The grave of Thoreau is just behind, with a common red
stone ; and by his side lies his brother John, whose genius
might have outshone that of the poet, philosopher, and natural-
ist, had not he died in its first flush.
A little farther on, past the graves of Nathan Brooks and
John M. Cheney, citizens whose worth and virtue have caused
their names to be honored forever by their townsmen, may be
seen the Whiting monument, a copy of the Brewster monu-
ment at Plymouth, and that of Col. George L. Prescott, the
patriot martyr who fell in response to his country's earliest call
for help.
On the opposite side of Ridge Path is the grave of R.
W. Emerson, to which thousands of visitors come every
year. A great pine stands near the head of the grave, which
is now marked by a monument of beautiful pink quartz, in its
native state, as it came from the quarry. Near by are the
graves of his mother, and the son whose monument is the
poem of “Threnody.” -
A plain brown slab commemorates in a Latin verse Mrs.
Samuel Ripley, whose classical attainments have been chron-
icled in the Centennial book by the loving hand of another of
the most gifted women that our country ever knew.
In the center of the same lot is the monument to her son,
RIDGE PATH-SLEEpy Hollow creaeraer y,

FARZ Y A/STORY, CAURCHES AAWD BURYING GROUAVDS. 23
Lieut. Ezra Ripley, a portion of whose epitaph is here copied :
Of the best Pilgrim stock,
descended from officers in the Revolutionary army
and from a long line of the ministers of Concord,
he was worthy of his lineage.
An able and successful lawyer,
he gave himself with persistent zeal
to the cause of the friendless and the oppressed.
Of slender physical strength
and of a nature refined and delicate.
He was led by patriotism and the love of freedom
to leave home and friends for the toilsome labors of war,
and shrank from no fatigue and danger,
until worn out in her service,
He gave his life for his country.
Just opposite is the plain shaft, erected by himself twenty
years before his death, of Dr. Josiah Bartlett, who practised
medicine in this town with devotion and success for a period of
fifty-five years. He was the son of Dr. Josiah Bartlett, of
Charlestown, who was a surgeon’s mate, in 1775, at Concord
Fight, so that the practice of father and son extended over a
century. He was an earnest and fearless advocate of the cause
of temperance when it was most unpopular, and was always on
the side of the oppressed. He died in January, 1878, in active .
practice at the age of eighty-one.
On the side of the hill, on Glen Path, is the monument
designed by Hammatt Billings, and erected to the memory of
the Hon. Samuel Hoar, who by his descendants, as well as by
the probity and simple grandeur of his life, has done more to
24 7 HE COAVCO/e/O GOV//DA2 A3 OOA.
•,
elevate the standard of living than any other man in the town
or county. His epitaph, which is here copied, will speak far
better than any words of this book. At the upper portion, on
a tablet resembling a window, is this quotation from Pilgrim’s
Progress.
“The pilgrim they laid in a chamber
Whose window opened toward the sunrising;
The name of the chamber was Peace.
There he lay till break of day, and then
He arose and sang.”
Lower on the same face of the monument:
SAMUEL HOAR
of Concord.
Born in Lincoln, May, 1778,
Died in Concord, Nov. 2, 1856.
He was long one of the most eminent lawyers
and best beloved citizens of Mass.,
a safe counsellor, a kind neighbor,
a Christian gentleman.
He had a dignity that commanded the respect,
and a sweetness and modesty that won the affection
of all men.
He practised an economy that never wasted,
| and a liberality that never spared.
Of proved capacity for the highest offices,
He never avoided obscure duties.
He never sought stations of fame or emolument,
and never shrank
from positions of danger or obloquy.
FAA’ſ Y A/S 7 ORY, CHURCHES AAWD BUR YZWG GROUAVD. 25
His days were made happy e
by public esteem and private affection.
To the latest moment of his long life
he preserved his clear intellect unimpaired,
and fully conscious of its approach,
met death with the perfect assurance of
immortal life.
We copy, also, another inscription from the same family lot,
in memory of his daughter, whose death was mourned as the
greatest of calamities, as her life was held by all as the greatest
of blessings.
MISS ELIZABETH HOAR,
Died April 7, 1878, aged 63.
Her sympathy with what is high and fair
brought her into intimacy with many
eminent men and women of her time.
Nothing excellent or beautiful escaped
her quick apprehension ; and in her &
unfailing memory precious things
lay in exact order as in a royal treasury,
hospitably ready to instruct and
delight young and old. Her calm
courage and simple religious faith
triumphed over sickness and pain ; and
when Death transplanted her to her
place in the Garden of the Lord,
He found little perishable to prune away.
The first burial in Sleepy Hollow was that of Mrs. Maria
Holbrook, in the fall of 1855. The first burial in the New Hill
26 7 HE COAVCOAC/O GU/DA2 BOOA.
Burying Ground was that of Mrs. Anna Robbins in 1823,
which fact is noted on the stone. In the year 1869 the town
purchased the land of the Agricultural Society, and thus united
the New Hill Ground with Sleepy Hollow.
In the summer of 1873, Mr. George Tolman, impressed
with the fact that many of the older stones had disappeared,
and that others were fast becoming illegible, undertook the
task of copying all the inscriptions, so that they might be
preserved. Being himself a printer and a practical proof-
reader he has permitted nothing to escape his observation,
but has followed the inscriptions literally, even to the abbre-
viations, punctuation, errors in spelling, and all such minor
points. These copies have been arranged in a manuscript
volume, and thoroughly indexed. To the student of geneal-
ogy, these inscriptions have a peculiar value, as they often
afford evidence as to facts and dates omitted in the Town
Registers of births and deaths. To add to their value in this
respect, Mr. Tolman has added genealogical notes, carefully
tracing the line of descent and family connection, in many
cases, especially those of members of our own old families,
going back to the earliest ancestor of the name. The inter-
ments in the “New Burying Ground,” and in “Sleepy Hol-
low" have also been indexed by the same gentleman with
such completeness that there is probably no grave in any of
our burial places, with the exception of the unmarked ones
in the two old yards, to which his manuscript is not a suf-
ficient guide. He is at all times ready to show his work to
any one who may desire to consult it for information. \
C H A P T E R II.
TEIE BATTLE GROUNDs
The Battle tround was presented to the town by the Rev.
Dr. Ripley, who remarked in Town Meeting a half century ago
that the time would come when the spot would be a place of
great interest to many. How well the prediction has been ful-
filled, the daily stream of visitors bears abundant witness. It
is on Monument St., nearly half a mile from the center of the
town, and near the Old Manse, having been a part of the farm
belonging to it since the course of the road was changed which
formerly crossed the old North Bridge.
The legends of the Fight being somewhat contradictory in
27
28 TAZE COAVCOA D G UZZXAE BOOA.
minor parts, it has been thought best to follow in this brief
sketch the account of Lemuel Shattuck, and that of the Rev.
Dr. Ripley, adding in full the extract from the diary of the Rev.
Mr. William Emerson, which was discovered and first published
in 1835, by his grandson, Mr. R. W. Emerson. The following
is a concise statement abridged from Shattuck's History of Con-
cord, published in 1835. It should be borne in mind that it is
not within the scope of this book to allude to events which did
not take place in the town.
The morning had advanced to about seven o'clock, and the British army
were soon seen approaching the town on the Lexington road. The glitter-
ing arms of eight hundred soldiers, “the flower of the British army " were
full in view. At first it was thought best that our men should face the
enemy, as few as they were, and abide the consequences. Of this opinion,
among others, was the Rev. William Emerson, the clergyman of the town,
who had turned out amongst the first in the morning to animate and encour-
age his people by his counsel and patriotic example. “Let us stand our
ground,” said he “if we die, let us die here !” Eleazar Brooks of Lincoln
was then on the hill. “Let us go and meet them,” said one to him. “No,”
he answered, “it will not do for us to begin the war.” They did not then
know what had happened at Lexington. Their number was very Small in
comparison with the enemy, and it was concluded best to retire a short dis-
tance, and wait for reinforcements. They consequently marched to the
northern declivity of the burying ground hill, near the present site of the
court house, They did not, however, leave their station till the British light
infantry had arrived within a few rods' distance. About this time Colonel
James Barrett, who was commander of the militia, and who had been almost
incessantly engaged that morning in securing the stores, rode up. Individ-
uals were frequently arriving, bringing different reports. It was difficult to
obtain correct information. Under these circumstances, he ordered the men
there paraded, being about one hundred and fifty, to march over the North
ZTHE BA 77 LA GROUAVZ). - 29
Bridge, and there wait for reinforcements. In the meantime the British
troops entered the town. The six companies of light infantry were ordered
to enter on the hill, and disperse the minute men whom they had seen
paraded there. The grenadiers came up the main road, and halted on the
common. The first object of the British was to gain possession of the
North and South bridges, to prevent any militia from entering over them.
Accordingly, while Col. Smith remained in the center of the town, he de-
tached six companies of light infantry, under command of Capt. Lawrence
Parsons of his own regiment, to take possession of the North Bridge, and
proceed thence to places where stores were deposited. On their arrival
there, three companies under command of Capt. Laurie of the 43d reg-
iment, were left to protect the bridge ; one of those, commanded by Lieut.
Edward Thornton Gould, paraded at the bridge; the other, of the 4th and
Ioth regiments, fell back in the rear towards the hill. Capt. Parsons, with
three companies, proceeded to Col. Barrett's to destroy the stores there
deposited. At the same time Capt. Mundey Pole, of the Ioth regiment, was
ordered to take possession of the South Bridge, and destroy" such public
property as he could find in that direction. The grenadiers and marines,
under Smith and Pitcairn, remained in the center of the town, where all
means in their power were used to accomplish the destruction of military
stores. In the center of the town the grenadiers broke open about sixty
barrels of flour, nearly one half of which was afterwards saved, knocked off
the trunnions of three iron twenty-four pound cannon, and burnt sixteen
new carriage-wheels, and a few barrels of wooden trenchers and spoons.
The liberty-pole on the hill was cut down, and suffered the same fate.
About five hundred pounds of balls were thrown into the mill-pond and
into wells. While the British were thus engaged, our citizens and part of
our military men, having secured what articles of public property they could,
were assembling under arms. Beside the minute-men and militia of Con-
cord, the military companies from the adjoining towns began to assemble;
and the number had increased to about two hundred and fifty or three
hundred. John Robinson of Westford, a lieutenant-colonel in a regiment of
30 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. .
minute-men under Col. William Prescott, and other men of distinction had
already assembled. The hostile acts and formidable array of the enemy,
and the burning of the articles they had collected in the village, led them to
anticipate a general destruction. Joseph Hosmer, acting as adjutant, formed
the soldiers as they arrived singly or in squads, the minute companies on the
right, and the militia on the left, facing the town. He then, observing an
unusual smoke arising from the center of the town, went to the officers and
citizens in consultation on the high ground near by, and inquired earnestly,
“will you let them burn the town down 2" They then “ resolved to march
into the middle of the town to defend their homes, or die in the attempt;"
and at the same time they resolved not to fire unless first fired upon. “They
acted upon principle, and in the fear of God." Col. Barrett immediately
gave orders to march by wheeling from the right. Major Buttrick requested
Lieut. Col. Robinson to accompany him, and led them in double file to the
scene of action. When they came to the road leading from Capt. Brown's
to the bridge, a part of the Acton minute company under Capt. Davis passed
by in front, marched towards the bridge a short distance, and halted. Being
in files of two abreast, the Concord minute company under Capt. Brown,
being before at the head, marched up the north side till they came equally
in front. The precise position, however, of each company, cannot now be
fully ascertained.
The British, observing their motions, immediately formed on the east side
of the river, and soon began to take up the planks of the bridge. Against
this Maj. Buttrick remonstrated, and ordered a quicker step of his soldiers.
The British desisted. At that moment two or three guns were fired in quick
succession into the river, which the provincials considered as alarm guns,
and not aimed at them. They had arrived within ten or fifteen rods of the
bridge when a single gun was fired by a British soldier, the ball from which,
passing under Col. Robinson's arm, slightly wounded the side of Luther
Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company, and Jonas Brown, one of the Con-
cord minute-men. This gun was instantly followed by a volley, by which
Capt. Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer, both belonging to Acton, were killed.



7A/A2 BA 7'7"ZAZ GROUAV/O. 33
On seeing this, Maj. Buttrick instantly leaped from the ground, and partly
turning to his men, exclaimed: “Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God's sake, fire; "
discharging his own gun almost in the same instant. His order was in- *
stantly obeyed ; and a general discharge from the whole line of the pro-
vincial ranks took place. Firing on both sides continued a few minutes
Three British soldiers were killed, and Lieuts. Sunderland, Kelley, and
Gould, a sergeant and four privates were wounded. The British immedi-
ately retreated about half way to the meeting house, and were met by two
companies of grenadiers, who had been drawn thither by “the noise of
battle.” Two of the soldiers killed at the bridge were left on the ground,
where they were afterwards buried by Zachariah Brown, and Thomas Davis,
jun. From this time through the day, little or no military order was pre-
served among the provincials; every man chose his own time and mode of
attack. It was between ten and eleven o'clock when the firing at the bridge
took place, and a short time after Capt. Parsons and his party returned
unmolested from Col. Barrett's. -
By this time the provincials had considerably increased, and were con-
stantly arriving from the neighboring towns. The British had but partially
accomplished the objects of their expedition; but they now began to feel
that they were in danger, and resolved on an immediate retreat. They
retreated in the same order as they entered town, the infantry on the hill and
the grenadiers in the road, but with flanking parties more numerous and
farther from the main body. On arriving at Merriam's Corner they were
attacked by the provincials, who had proceeded across the Great Fields in
conjunction with a company from Reading, under command of Gov. Brooks.
Several of the British were killed, and several wounded. None of the pro-
vincials were injured. From this time the road was literally lined with
provincials, whose accurate aim generally produced the desired effect. Guns
were fired from every house, barn, wall, or covert. After they had waylaid
the enemy and fired upon them from one position, they fell back from the
road, ran forward, and came up again to perform a similar manoeuvre.
34 7A/AE COAVCOA’A) G U/DA2 A3 OOA .
The following is an extract from the diary of Rev. William
Emerson :
“1775, 19 April. This morning, between one and two o'clock, we were
alarmed by the ringing of the bell, and upon examination found that the
troops, to the number of eight hundred, had stolen their march from Boston,
in boats and barges, from the bottom of the Common over to a point in
Cambridge, near to Inman's Farm, and were at Lexington meeting-house
half an hour before sunrise, where they had fired upon a body of our men
and, as we afterward heard, had killed several. This intelligence was
brought us first by Dr. Samuel Prescott, who narrowly escaped the guard
that were sent before on horses, purposely to prevent all posts and messen-
gers from giving us timely information. He, by the help of a very fleet
horse, crossing several walls and fences, arrived at Concord at the time
above mentioned, when several posts were immediately despatched, that,
returning, confirmed the account of the regulars' arrival at Lexington, and
that they were on their way to Concord. Upon this, a number of our minute
men belonging to this town, and Acton and Lincoln, with several others
that were in readiness, marched out to meet them, while the alarm com-
pany were preparing to receive them in the town. Capt. Minot, who
commanded them, thought it proper to take possession of the hill above the
meeting-house as the most advantageous situation. No sooner had our
men gained it, than we were met by the companies that were sent out to
meet the troops, who informed us that they were just upon us, and that
we must retreat, as their number was more than treble ours. We then
retreated from the hill near the Liberty Pole, and took a new post back
of the town, upon an eminence, where we formed into two battalions, and
waited the arrival of the enemy. Scarcely had we formed, before we saw
the British troops, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, glittering in
arms, advancing towards us with the greatest celerity. Some were for
making a stand, notwithstanding the superiority of their number; but
others, more prudent, thought best to retreat, till our strength should be
equal to the enemy's, by recruits from neighboring towns that were con-
º
7A/A2 BA 777A2 GAZOOA7/D. 35
tinually coming in to our assistance. Accordingly we retreated over the
bridge. The troops came into the town, set fire to several carriages for
the artillery, destroyed sixty barrels of flour, rifled several houses, took pos-
session of the town-house, destroyed five hundred pounds of balls, set a
guard of a hundred men at the North Bridge, and sent up a party to the
house of Col. Barrett, where they were in expectation of finding a quantity
of warlike stores. But these were happily secured, just before their arrival,
by transportation into the woods and other by-places. In the mean time,
the guard set by the enemy to secure the posts at the North Bridge were
alarmed by the approach of our people, who had retreated, as mentioned
before, and were now advancing, with special orders not to fire upon the
troops unless fired upon. These orders were so punctually observed, that
we received the fire of the enemy in three several and separate discharges of
their pieces before it was returned by our commanding officer. The firing
then soon became general for several minutes, in which skirmish two were
killed on each side, and several of the enemy wounded. It may here be
observed, by the way, that we were the more cautious to prevent beginning a
rupture with the king's troops, as we were then uncertain what had happened
at Lexington, and knew [not] that they had begun the quarrel there by
firing upon our people, and killing eight men upon the spot. The three
companies of troops soon quitted their post at the bridge, and retreated in
the greatest disorder and confusion to the main body, who were soon upon
the march to meet them. For half an hour, the enemy, by their marches
and counter-marches, discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind;
sometimes advancing sometimes returning to their former posts, till at
length they quitted the town, and retreated by the way they came. In the
mean time a party of our men (one hundred and fifty) took the back way,
through the Great Fields, into the east quarter, and had placed themselves to
advantage, lying in ambush behind walls, fences, and buildings, ready to fire
upon the enemy on their retreat.”
C H A P T E R III.
HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST.
Under this head it is proposed to give a list of all houses any
part of which was standing at the time of the Fight. Of most
of them it has been difficult to find the exact date of their
erection, but it has been approximated as nearly as possible.
. Few have been included which are more than a mile from the
center of the town, and none of which there is a doubt of their
being in existence or in progress at the date above mentioned.
On the square the Wright tavern stands just as on the day
when Maj. Pitcairn entered it on the morning before the battle,
when he stirred the brandy with his bloody finger, making the re-
36 -
AſO USA.S OA’ AIAS 7 OA'ACA /, /AM 7A. A. A.S 7. 37
mark, that he would stir the rebels’ blood before night. This
building, with the exception of the L has probably suffered less
change than any other of the old houses. The church which stood
near it was built in 1712, and the present building contains
some of the same timbers as the old one. The old yellow block
THE WRIGHT TAVERN.
at the other side of the square was used for stores and residen-
ces, and probably dates back to 1750. Nearly opposite Wright's
tavern is the Tolman house, which was inhabited by Dr. Ezekiel
Brown, who was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war; and at
the other side of the square, at the beginning of Monument St.,
the row of buildings were in part occupied as store-houses, in

38 7A/AE COAVCORD GUIDAE BOOA.
which some of the Provincial supplies were kept, to obtain
which was one of the causes of the invasion of the town by
the British troops.
Proceeding down the Boston road the house of Jonas Lee
is about opposite the end of the yellow block. Its owner was a
staunch patriot, although the son of a noted tory who was
brought to discipline by his townsmen for that cause. The
next house on the same side was the home of Dr. Joseph Hunt;
and the next building but one was the shop of Reuben Brown,
where knapsacks, saddlery and other equipments were made.
Its owner was prominent on the day of the Fight having been dis-
patched on a reconnoitering tour toward Lexington in the morn-
ing. The house next to it was also standing, as well as the one
occupied by George Heywood, Esq., which is supposed to be at
least two hundred years old. It was just below this house that
the guard was posted, at the same time that one was placed at
the old North and another at the old South bridge. A little
below is the Beal house, and half a mile below it the Alcott
house, both of which date back to about 1740. The house of
Ephraim Bull, Esq., was probably nearly as old, and it is well
known all over the United States through the Concord Grape
which was originated here by its present owner. Half a mile
below is Merriam's corner. The old house stands as it stood
When the Reading and other troops under the command of Gov.
Brooks, came up and joined the men who had come across the
great fields from the North Bridge, and killed and wounded
several of the retreating British.
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AſOUSES OF HIS 7 OA’/CA/, /AV7'EA’A2S7. 4 I
On the Bedford road are two or three houses of great
age.
On the Turnpike and Lincoln roads the Tuttle and Fox
houses date back to 1740 or 65. |
Returning to the square and Crossing the old mill-dam,
the Vose house is remarkable as being the only three-story
house ever built in town. In a picture taken about 1775 it is
Very prominent, and was doubtless one of the chief houses of
the village. Above it on the right, on Main street stands the
house of Dr. Barrett, one room of which was a portion of the
old block house dating back perhaps to King Philip's War; near
this house, at a corner of the burial ground, stood the old jail
in which some of the British prisoners were confined. The
road turned at this point and went toward the Wheeler house,
which was built in the present form in 1700, and has always
remained in the possession of the same family. A few rods
above the South Bridge was the home of Capt. Joseph Hosmer
who was requested by Maj. Buttrick to act as adjutant, and
rendered very efficient service in marshalling and collecting the
Americans as they arrived from various points; it has remained
in the family of his descendants ever since its erection in 1761,
and was a place of concealment for stores which were saved by
the courage and ingenuity of Mrs. Hosmer; a detachment of
British soldiers was sent to capture their cannon balls which
were heaped in one of the rooms, and the kegs of powder which
had been hidden behind some feathers under the eaves, but the
shrewd lady contrived to send the troops away without discov-
42 TA/E COAVCOA’/D GO //) E AEROOAT.
ering them, although they destroyed several of her beds in the
search. e
Nearly behind this house is another old one built about 1763,
which was the liome of Ephriam Wood, Esq., who was a zealous
patriot and an officer of the town, and was engaged in secreting
some stores in another place, and escaped the search which was
made for him through the house. A short distance up the road
which passes in front of Adjutant, afterwards known as Maj.
Hosmer's house, is another old house which belonged to a
member of the same family, and half a mile east of it is the
house of Abel Hosmer, the builder of which was on his way to
Charlestown for a load of brick when he met the British coming
from Lexington.
Opposite the Depot of the extension of the Middlesex
branch of the Central R. R. stands the house of the celebrated Dr.
Cummings. In early life he was a soldier in the wars with the In-
dians. Being wounded, he was captured, treated with severity
at first, and afterwards with kindness. He received a commission
from the Crown as Justice of the Peace, and at the beginning of
the Revolution he became chairman of the committee of corre-
spondence, inspection and safety. After the war he acquired
property and left bequests to the church, town, Harvard Col-
lege, etc.
Going up Monument street toward the Battle Ground,
the first of the old houses is that owned by Mr. Lang which
was built by Humphrey Barrett, the great grandfather of Col.
James Barrett who had command of the American forces. He
came to Concord in 1640, and a portion of the house bears
A/O C.S.A.S OF AZZS ZO/º/CAA, ZZVZTAEA’AZST. 43
marks of great age. The next house but two on the same side
of the road, is one of the oldest in town, and was owned by
Elisha Jones at the time of the Fight, and bore marks of age at
that time, it remains much in the same form, and the present
owner John S. Keyes, Esq., has carefully preserved many relics
of the time, among which are copies of the old pictures of the
battle, and a view of the town as it then existed. In the L
part a bullet hole is plainly visible, which was made by a British
bullet, near which is a portion of the old North Bridge nailed
against a beam ; underneath this stands the stone across which
Capt. Isaac Davis fell. This stone formed a portion of a row
which were used as stepping stones when the water was high on
the causeway, and it was identified by certain stains which
appear on it. The wife of a grandson of Col. Barrett lived in
this house and used to relate her vivid recollections of the day,
as she watched the red coats march by the house as she stood
at a window on a pile of salt fish which formed part of the
stores concealed there. Her lusband's father built a house on
Ponkawtassett where Mr. Daniel Hunt also lived.
On Ponkawłassett Hill, near these houses the min-
ute men and militia went to watch the movements of the British,
and after receiving reinforcements marched down to the high
ground by Maj. Buttrick's house which still stands, and is now
occupied by Mr. J. Derby. This house was built by Jonathan
Buttrick in 1712, and the front part remains the same as in 1775,
and it was in the possession of the Buttrick family until 1832.
It is recorded on the grave stone of Jonathan Buttrick that
thirteen well-instructed children followed him to the grave, one
44 7TA/A2 COAVCOA D GO/O AE AEROOA .
of whom was Maj. John Buttrick the hero of the Fight. His
brothers Samuel, Joseph and Daniel all left their farms and
served under the Maj. at the bridge. Their houses are now
standing on the Carlisle road above Ponkaw tassett on the farms
which were given them by their father. The Ball Hill farm-
house was also built long before 1775, and a son of the family,
Benjamin Ball, was killed at Bunker Hill. The old Whittaker
house was also where it is now, just behind Ponkawtassett.
The Hunt house was the oldest on this hill, and it was the one
at which the Americans were supplied with food as they assem-
bled on the hill waiting for reinforcements. The house of
Capt. Nathan Barrett who commanded the fourth company at
the fight, and who joined in the pursuit of the British, and was
wounded in the afternoon of that day, was near Mr. Hunt's on
Ponkawtassett; and the house of his father, Col. James Barrett,
also stands near Annursnuck hill on the same spot as it occu-
pied in 1775. He was in command of the American forces
engaged, and discharged the onerous duties also of the arrange-
ment and protection of the public stores. Being one of the
most prominent men of the town, a party of British soldiers
searched his house as well as that of his brother which stood
near. They were provided with refreshments by the wife of
Col. Barrett who refused payment, saying: “We are com-
manded to feed our enemies.” She afterwards kept with reluc-
tance the money which they threw into her lap, saying, “ this
is the price of blood.” This heroic woman succeeded in con-
cealing a quantity of ammunition, but fifty dollars was taken by
the soldiers who also arrested her son whom she persuaded them
A/OO.S.A.S OF A./7′EA’AA’ V ZAZZAZsz.
to liberate with the remark “this is my son and not the master
of the house.”
The vicinity of Col. Barrett's house is a very important
point in the history of the town, for his prominence as Col. of
the Militia rendered him and his property objects of peculiar
importance and suspicion to the British who were well informed
through their spies of the state of things at Concord. For
this reason a detachment of troops was sent to this house early
in the forenoon in the hope of capturing Col. Barrett himself,
as well as some of the munitions of war which were known to
be concealed there; some of them were saved by being buried
in a newly-planted field and by being ingeniously hidden in
other ways. The British had made a pile of the gun carriages
and of the articles which they succeeded in finding, and were
about to burn them when their attention was turned from the
work of destruction by the sound of firing at the old North
Bridge.
On hearing the repeated volleys of musketry the company
which numbered about one hundred men took up their line of
march toward the center of the town which had been held by
the main body of the troops, under Smith and Pitcairn, as they
were in great danger of being cut off in their retreat. They
had to march a distance of nearly two miles and were well
aware, from small bodies of minute men who passed within
sight, that the citizens of the neighboring towns were rapidly
hastening to the relief of Concord.
On their return they were obliged to pass over the old North
Bridge where the Fight occurred, but were enabled to do this in
46 7A/A COAVCOA’/O G. (W//XA /3 OOA.
safety, as the victorious Americans did not attempt to follow
the British with whom they had been engaged, on their way
back to the center of the town, but they crossed over the great
fields as before stated in order to intercept the British forces at
Merriam’s Corner.
The college road which is near the Barrett house is a lasting
memorial of the time when Harvard College was removed to
Concord in the winter of 1775, by order of the Provincial Con-
gress, as the college buildings at Cambridge were needed for
the use of the soldiers of the American Army. The Rev. Dr.
Ripley and Dr. Hurd, and several other men afterward well
known in the annals of their state, were among those who
made a visit to Concord at this period. A letter of thanks
from the President of the college is still extant, in which he
expresses his gratitude and apologies in graceful terms. The
Professors were quartered in several houses in the village, the
President himself residing at Dr. Minot's near the Middlesex
hotel.
Many of the students boarded at the old mansion house,
built by Simon Willard, one of the founders of the town, at
the foot of Lee's hill. If this article were not necessarily con-
fined to the Historical houses at present standing, a picture
of the Willard house would be of great interest; but the
building unfortunately was destroyed by fire about twenty
years ago.
This house stood on the farm of a noted tory named Lee,
who made himself so unpopular that he was confined to the
limits of his farm, and legend states that the minute men when
A/O USA.S OF AZ 7TEA’AA’ Y /AV7'AA' E.S 7. - 47
returning from their drill often made a target of his buildings.
The house was owned formerly by the Woodis family with
whom the Barrett family were connected, and Joseph Barrett,
Esq., a grandson of Col. James Barrett, owned and occupied
it for many years. He was a prominent citizen of Concord,
and was appointed to many places of trust and honor, having
been at the time of his death Treasurer of the Commonwealth.
Opposite the Library stands the old inn, at which stages
running between Boston and the up-country towns used to
change horses. The swing sign marked “Shepard's Tavern,” is
now in the possession of Mr. R. N. Rice, who purchased the
building, and has modernized it into a pleasant residence.
Bigelow's tavern, another ancient inn, stood just below, and
its extensive grounds comprise a part of his fine estate. In
front of his stable stood the old jail in which British prisoners
were confined in 1775. Mr. Rice commenced business in the
old green store which occupied the site of the Catholic church.
He went to Michigan in 1846, in the service of the Michigan
Central Railroad, of which he was afterwards general manager
for thirteen years. In 1870, Mr. Rice built his present house,
and was prominent in various extensive town improvements,
including Hubbard and Thoreau streets. Other gentlemen
were associated with Mr. Rice, among whom were Mr. Samuel
Staples, who has for years been an authority on the subject
of real estate, and has lived in town for half a century.
William Hunt, in connection with several other families,
settled on the borders of the beautiful stream which has now
become historic. They had braved the dangers of the stormy
º
48 7A7A2 COAVCO2.”/D G U//0A. BOOA'.
Atlantic to seek a new home in America, and they fearlessly
faced the hardships of a new life in the rugged wilderness
where they sought to establish a home secure in the blessings
of civil and religious liberty. How well they builded is a part
of the world’s history.
The descendants of William Hunt purpose to commemorate
the share that their ancestor had in the settlement of the town
of Concord, by a reunion of the different branches of the Hunt
family, and their alliances, at Concord, Wednesday, August 12,
1885. .
It is proposed to hold the Reunion at the center of the town,
and to visit the old homestead farm. The programme will
include an Oration, Poem, Addresses, Reading of Papers con-
taining interesting facts of the family, Music, a Dinner, and a
Social Gathering in the Town Hall.
On the 12th of September, 1885, the town of Concord will
celebrate its two hundred and fiftieth Anniversary with appro-
priate exercises. A committee has been appointed to desig-
nate by tablets the chief places of note in connection with the
early history of the town, most of which are described in this
book.
C H A P T E R IV.
HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST.
The Home of Ralph Waldo Emerson is a plain, square,
wooden house, standing in a grove of pine trees, which conceal
the front and side from the gaze of passers. Tall chestnut
trees ornament the old-fashioned yard, through which a road
leads to the plain, yellow barn in the rear. A garden fills half
an acre at the back, and has for years been famous for its roses
and also has a rare collection of hollyhocks, the flowers that
Wordsworth loved, and most of the old-time annuals and
shrubs. From the road a gate, which is always open, leads
over marble flag-stones to the broad, low step before the hospit-
able door.
49
50 THE covcorp GU/AA Book:
A long hall divides the centre of the house, with two large
square rooms on each side ; a plain, solid table stands at the
right of this entry, over which is an old picture of Ganymede.
The first door on the right leads to the study, a plain, square
room, lined on one side with simple wooden shelves filled with
choice books; a large malnogany table stands in the middle,
covered with books, and by the morocco writing pad lies the
pen which has had so great an influence for twenty-five years
on the thoughts of two continents. A large fire-place, with
a low grate occupies the lower end, over which hangs
a fine copy of Michael Angelo's Fates, the faces of the strong-
minded women frowning upon all who would disturb with idle
tongues this haunt of solemn thought. “On the mantle shelf are
busts and statuettes of men prominent in the great reforms of
the age, and a quaint, rough idol brought from the Nile. A
few choice engravings hang upon the walls, and the pine trees
shade the windows.
Two doors, one on each side of the great fire place, lead into
the large parlor which fills the southern quarter of the house.
This room is hung with curtains of crimson and carpeted with
a warm color, and when a bright fire is blazing on the broad
hearth reflected in the large mirror opposite, the effect is cheer-
ful in the extreme. A beautiful portrait of one of the daugh-
ters of the house is hung in this pleasant and homelike room,
whose home circle seems to reach around the world ; for almost
every person of note who has visited this country, has enjoyed
its genial hospitality, and listened with attention to the words
of wisdom from the kindly master of the house — the most
A/OU.S.A.S. Of L/7”/A-1/2 y.º. Z.V. Z.A.A.A.S. ſ. 51
modest and most gifted writer, and deepest thinker of the age.
Years ago the chatty, little Frederika Bremer paid a long visit
here, a brisk old lady, as restless as her tongue
and pen. Here Margaret Fuller and the other
bright figures of The Dial met for conversation.
Thoreau was a daily visitor, and his “Wood-
Notes” might have been unuttered but for the
kind encouragement he found here. The Al-
cotts, father and daughter,
were near neighbors, and it was
HOME OF EMERSON.
in this room that Mr. Alcott's earliest “Conversations” were
held, now so well known. Here, too, old John Brown was of








52 7A/A COA/COA’/O G. (WZZO/º APO.O.A.
ten to be met, a plain, poorly-dressed old farmer, seeming out
of place, and absorbed in his own plans until some allusion,
or chance remark, would fire his soul and light up his rugged
features.
But a dozen volumes would not give space enough to mention
in full the many guests from foreign lands, who have been
entertained at this house, which is also a favorite place for the
villagers to visit. The school-children of Concord are enter-
tained liere every year with merry games and dances, and they
look forward with great interest to the eventful occasion.
The house was partially destroyed by fire in the spring of
1873, and was rebuilt as nearly as possible like the former.
During the building a portion of the family found shelter in the
Old Manse, the home of Mr. Emerson's grandfather, while Mr.
Emerson himself visited Europe. Upon his return an im-
promptu reception took place; the citizens gathered at the
depot in crowds, the school children were drawn up in two
smiling rows, through which he passed, greeted by enthusiastic
cheers and songs of welcome. All followed his carriage to the
house and sung “Home, Sweet Home,” to the music of the
band. A few days afterward he invited all his fellow-citizens
to call and see him in his new home, and nearly all the inhabi-
tants availed themselves of the opportunity. -
The house stands on an old country road, up which the
British marched on the memorable 19th of April, 1775. It is
not necessary to speak of the writings of Mr. Emerson, as they
are too well-known to need mention here. Mr. Emerson died
on the 27th of April, 1882, and was buried on the following
Aff00SES OF LA 7TERAA’ V AAV7'EA’AºS 7. 53
Sunday. At the public funeral in the old church, Judge Hoar de-
livered an address and read one of Watts's hymns; Dr. Furness
read selections from the Scriptures; Rev. James Freeman Clarke
gave an address, and after a prayer by Rev. Howard M. Brown,
followed a sonnet by Mr. Alcott. -
The Old Manse which has been at various times the home
of Emerson, stands at the left of the Battle Ground and is
approached by an avenue of noble trees, which were originally
black ash, a tree very rare in this part of New England. Many
of these ash trees have died from age, and their places have
been supplied by elms and maples. Two high posts of granite
mark the entrance to the avenue, which extends for about two
hundred feet to the door of the house. Opposite, across the
narrow country road, a hill overlooks the village, and gives a
fine view of the winding river, and distant mountains. A
solitary poplar crowns the summit of the hill, and affords a
landmark to the river-voyager, as it can be seen for miles up
and down the stream. A romantic legend is connected with
this tree, about a party of young girls who were at school in
the Old Manse, each of whom caused a tree to be set out, and
called by her name. Year by year, the girls and trees grew up
together in grace and beauty. At length, one by one, the old
ladies died, and the trees died too, until one very old lady and
this old weather-beaten poplar, alone remained. The lady for
whom the surviving poplar was named, has gone to her rest, and
the tree seems likely to follow before long. -
The large field at the left of the Old Manse, which divides.
it from the Battle Ground, was, centuries ago, the site of an
54 77///E COMCO/C/D GU//DA: A COA.
Indian village, and often rough arrows and spear-heads have
been turned up by the plough. The savages probably chose
this gentle slope by the river for the sake of the fish with which
it then abounded, for the earlier settlers report a plentiful
supply of shad and salmon, where now poor little breams and
THE OLD MANSE.
horn-pouts alone tempt the idle fisherman. Behind the house
there extends to the river an ancient orchard of apple trees.
which is in itself a monument of energy and faith, for it
was set by Dr. Ripley, who came to the house in 1778, as
stated below. The house, built for Rev. William Emerson

A.O.O.S.A.S OF /Z 7'EA'AA' V ZAV7'EA’A2S7. 55
&
in the year 1765, and occupied by him the next year after
his marriage to a daughter of the Rev. Daniel Bliss, with the
exception of a few years when it was occupied by Hawthorne,
has always been the home of ministers and the descendants of
the builder. Nearly all the old New England ministers have
been entertained under its roof, and many questions affecting
the beliefs of the age have been here discussed and settled.
The room in which this article is written, was the study of the
Rev. Ezra Ripley, who as stated elsewhere married the widow
of the builder of the home, and here thousands of sermons
have doubtless been written. It is a small, square room with
high wainscot and Oaken beams overhead, with a huge fire-place
where four-foot sticks used to burn on great, high, brass
and irons. -
It was in this room, too, a that the ghost used to appear,
according to Hawthorne, but it probably only existed in his
brilliant imagination. Often, on a winter night, the latch of
the old door has lifted without human help, and a gust of cold
wind has swept into the room. -
Opposite the study, is a larger room, which is modernized by
rare photographs and recent adornments, and is used as a parlor
by its present owners, the grandchildren of the original pro-
prietors. From this apartment a door opens into the ancient
dining-room, in which the old-time ministers held their solemn
feasts, and it is said that they were well able to appreciate the
good cheer which covered the long table that nearly filled the
narrow hall. In one corner of this room stands a tall clock,
looking across at its life-long companion, the ancient desk of
56 złłE COMCOA-P GUIDE BOOA.
Dr. Ripley; and a set of curious, old, high-backed chairs recall
the days of our upright ancestors.
Opposite this room is a big kitchen with its enormous fire-
place, which twenty-five years ago was used wholly by the
present occupants for all purposes of cooking. The hooks
which held the long, iron crane on which the pots and kettles
hung still remain, although a modern cooking stove occupies
the chief part of the broad hearth.
The Old Manse was the principal house of the town for many
years, and probably the only one which had two stories, as
almost all of the houses of its period were built with a lean-to.
It was also the only one which was built with two chimneys,
thus giving a large garret, which is rich in the curious lumber
of two generations, and stored with literature enjoyed only by
the spider and the moth. In one corner, on the southern side,
is a curious little room which has been always known as the
“Saints' Chamber,” its walls bearing inscriptions in the hand-
writing of the holy men who have rested there.
The room over the dining-room is perhaps the most interest-
ing, for it was here that Emerson wrote “Nature " and also
many of his best poems. Hawthorne describes this room,
which he also used as his study, in his “Mosses from an Old
Manse,” which was also written here. It has three windows
with small cracked panes of glass bearing inscriptions traced
with a diamond, probably by some of the Hawthorne family.
From the northern window the wife of the Rev. William
Emerson watched the progress of the 19th of April fight ; and
one hundred years later, on the same day, her grandaughter,
Ayo U.S.A.s of L//E/CAA’ º / V/AA'AºS 7. 57
who now occupies the room, pointed out to her guests the
honored men who marched in long procession
over the old North Bridge to
monument and celebrate the
the memorable day. The Old
mentioned, was
dedicate the new
anniversary of
Manse, as before
for years the
home of Dr. Ezra sº * Ripley, of whom a short
sketch fol Nº-Gº".
Dr. Rip
lows.
ley was born May 1st,
1751, at Woodstock, Conn.
\ He was the fifth of nine-
teen children. His father
was born in Hingham,
Mass., on the farm first
purchased by Wm. Ripley
from England, at the first
settlement of the town. Thir-
ty years ago the seventh and
eighth generations still lived
on this farm. By his own
exertions, and the patronage
of Dr. Forbes, of Gloucester, he fitted himself for college,
and entered Harvard University in July, 1772. Owing to his
high moral and religious character, he was called by his class-
mates “Holy Ripley.” He became the pastor of the church
in Concord, Nov. 7, 1778. The times were disordered and
the currency depreciated. His salary of five hundred and fifty
pounds, when paid, was found to be worth only forty pounds.







58 THE covcoro GoIDE AooA.
For many years he did a man's work in the field, more than
three days out of the week on an average, to support his family.
Scarcely any minister ever took so deep an interest in the tem-
poral prosperity of his people as Dr. Ripley. The honor of the
town was almost as dear to him as that of his own family.
Education, temperance, and morals were the Subjects of his
watchful care. He formed, more than seventy years ago, per-
haps the first Temperance Society that ever was formed. He
went round among his people and got them to agree to banish
intoxicating drinks from funerals. But the following extracts
from a notice of him by Mr. R. W. Emerson, will be more
appreciated: - -
“He was a natural gentleman—no dandy, courtly, hospitable,
manly and public spirited, his nature social, his house open to
all men. His brow was open and serene to his visitors — for he
loved men and he had no studies, no occupations which com-
pany could interrupt. His friends were his study, and to see
them, loosened his talents and his tongue.
“He was open-handed, just, and generous. Ingratitude and
meanness in his beneficiaries did not wear out his compassion.
He bore the insult, and the next day his basket for the beggar,
and his horse and chaise for the cripple were at their door. A
man of anecdote, his talk in the parlor was chiefly narrative.
We remember the remark of a gentleman who listened with
much delight to his conversation, “that a man who could tell a
story so well, was company for kings.” An eminent skill he
had in saying difficult and remarkable things. Was a man a
sot or a spendthrift, or suspected of some hidden crime, or had
AOCSAES OF Z/TAEAAA' V /ATA.A.A.S. ſ. 59
he quarreled with his wife, or collared his father, or was there
any cloud or suspicious circumstances in his behavior, the good
pastor knew his way straight to that point. In all such passages
he justified himself to the conscience, and commonly to the
love, of the person concerned. He was the more competent to
these searching discourses from his knowledge of family history.
He knew every body's grandfather, and seemed to talk with
each person rather as the representative of his house and name
than as an individual. This, and still more his sympathy, made
him incomparable in his parochial visits, in his exhortations and
prayers with sick and suffering persons.”
The Home of Nathaniel
Hawthorne. Mr. Hawthorne
returned to Concord from Len-
nox in 1852, and bought of Mr.
Alcott the small house which
with later additions became
his home. It then had about
twenty acres of farm and wood
land attached. It stands close
†
3.§ſº:
upon the wayfaring of the Lex-
§
ington road, about a mile south-
ward from the centre of the vil-
27 lage, and Hawthorne gave to the
^ place a name of his own choice,
“The Wayside.”
Only a few yards from the
MR. HAWTHORNE'S INKSTAND.
windows of the front, but separated from the grounds by a

Öo 7TA/A2 COAVCOA*/O G. CW//) A / OOAT.
hedge, is the highway, along which the British troops advanced,
April 19, 1775, and again retreated after their repulse by the
Minute Men. A few feet behind the house a ridge of land
slopes upward to a height of sixty or seventy feet, running be-
side the road from the village to a point beyond the house ;
and from the crown of this ridge, puffs of smoke and flame on
the memorable battle-day showed where the patriotic farmers
were posted to pick off the grenadiers below and turn their
retreat into rout. About one half of the house as it now is
existed at that time, and the low ceilings with heavy beams
coming through, together with the gambrel roof of the older
part, attest its antiquity. -
Although the name of “The Wayside '' applies to the physi-
cal situation, Hawthorne probably also connected with it a fanci-
ful symbolism. In the prefatory letter to a friend accompanying
“The Snow Image,” he wrote: “Was there ever such a weary
delay in obtaining the slightest recognition from the public as
in my case? I sat down by the wayside of life, like a man
under enchantment, and a shrubbery sprung up around me and
the bushes grew to be saplings, and the saplings became trees,
until no exit appeared possible through the entangling depths
of my obscurity.” I think it pleased him to conceive of him-
self, even after he became famous, as sitting by the wayside
and observing the show of human life while it flowed by him.
What was only a fancy at the time he wrote thus, in regard to
the springing up of a maze of trees, has become fact in the
dense, tall growth of firs, pitch-pines, larches, elms, oaks and
white-birch, which now envelopes the hill. Many of these
ºl
-
|º
|
º
ſ
º

AſO (WSAZS OA' LZ 7A. At AA’ V /AWZTA A'A.S.T. 63
were set out by his direction, and give the scene the impress of
his taste. Close by the porch, too, is a flourishing hawthorn
tree, which serves as a silent record of his name.
The whole place seems to be imbued with his character —
open to all the world, yet unobtrusive and retiring, and pro-
vided with mysterious, sheltered retreats. The rambling house
has a plain domestic air; and one end is covered with rose-
vines and woodbine ; but the dark pines in front of the lawn,
and the prevalence of evergreen trees on the hill, introduce a
shadowy presence like that of serious thoughts or a musing
mind. Hearing the wind stir in their branches, one recalls
Longfellow's dirge for Hawthorne, in which the pine tree's
murmur is spoken of as
“The voice so like his own.”
A thicket of locust trees in one place spreads a drift of snowy
blossoms among the darker boughs in June ; and the leafy hill-
side distills sweet perfumes and a dewy coolness at the close of
hot summer days.
From the house and ridge you look over fertile meadows to
other low wooded hills. “To me,” wrote Hawthorne, “there
is a peculiar, quiet charm in these broad meadows and gentle
eminences. They are better than mountains. . . . . A few
summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among green
meadows and placid slopes . . . . such would be my sober
choice.”
Here he wrote his “Tanglewood Tales” for children, before
going to Europe. On returning he produced here his English
64 7//E COA. COA’/) G (W//D/E AE’OOA.
sketches, which formed the volume called “Our Old Home ; ”
and he was engaged upon his last, unfinished romance when,
going for a short journey with the hope to recover strength, he
died away from home. This incomplete work, “Septimius
Felton,” has since been published. Its scene is laid at The Way-
side itself; and as the period chosen was that of the Revolu-
tion, such a setting was eminently fit. But there was another
2
reason for it. The subject of “Septimus’’ was a man's search
for the means of earthly immortality, and by a curious coinci-
dence one of the former occupants of The Wayside had been
interested in this same subject. “I know nothing of the his-
tory of the house,” said Hawthorne in a letter to a friend, “ex-
cept Thoreau's telling me that it was inhabited a generation
or two ago by a man who believed he should never die. I
believe, however, he is dead; at least I hope so; else he may
probably appear and dispute my title to his residence.” He
never did appear in the flesh, but Hawthorne seems to have
secured him immortality here below (though of a different
kind), by putting him into a book. -
If this deathless person haunts the place at all, it must be in
the form of a gray owl fond of appearing near the house at twi-
light, or else of the whip-poor-wills and squirrels which also
frequent the neighborhood. -
When he came back from England and Italy Hawthorne
made some changes and additions, among other things putting
up a small square structure above the main building. This he
called “the tower,” in half playful reminiscence of the tower
he had so much enjoyed in the villa of Monte Outo, near
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Hawºrtion Nºs ratii is the woulos.

HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST: 67
Florence. The top room of this tower he used as his study.
Its character was very simple. A few pictures hung upon the
walls, and on the mantel were two or three ornaments. His
writing table was of the plainest style, having at one side a
desk with a sloping lid, and at the other some drawers. On it
stood the inkstand — still preserved — which he used in
writing “The Marble Faun" and his later works. It is
an Italian bronze, with a cover representing the well-
known Boy Strangling a Swan. In his last years Haw-
thorne sought relief from writing in a cramped position
by using a standing desk which he had had made near
one of the windows. From any of these windows one
may look out upon the tree-tops, and some of the branches
on one side almost brush the panes. Placed above the
rest of the house and approached by a steep flight of cov-
ered stairs from the second story the room is thoroughly
secluded and at the same time commands the pleasantest
influences of its rural surrounding.
But besides this Hawthorne had another study, out-of-
doors, his favorite resort — the crest of the ridge already
mentioned, behind the house and looking down on its roof,
the lawn, the road and the meadows. The tangle of trees
and underbrush extends back over the high ground un-
broken for about half a mile, and on the edge of this
Hawthorne used to pace up and down, among the sweet-
fern and wild blackberries, meditating on whatever he
purposed to write.
From the lawn below the hill I have looked up and
68 7 HE COMCOA'/) GUIDAE BOOK,
seen Mr. Hawthorne's dark, quiet figure passing slowly
across the dim light of mingled sky and branches, his
tread measured, and his head bent — and he seemed to be
at one with those surroundings, of eloquent and sombre
pines, and the uncloying scent of the sweet-fern. Mr.
Hawthorne's long out-door meditations in composing were
explained by a remark he once made, that if he found
he had been composing from a mood, he felt almost guilty
of having perpetrated a lie. -
The time for this was afternoon, and the mornings
were usually given to writing. There on his Mount of
Vision, as Mrs. Hawthorne called it, he dreamed perhaps
a.S many unwritten books as those he published. His con-
stant pacing along the brow of the hill wore an irregular
path there, which is still visible.
Since Hawthorne's death in 1864 nothing has been done
to preserve the path his footsteps made ; yet nature, as
if by a secret sympathy with his genius, has thus far
refused to obliterate it, and it remains distinct amid the
bordering wild-growth. -
During the last year of his life he occupied very often
the smal; lower room upon the left of the house, where
his books were collected. Here, in a voice rich and smooth,
and changing in sympathetic cadence with the flow of wit
and pathos, he read aloud the novels of Sir Walter Scott
to his family.
The property passed into the hands of his son-in-law,
George Parsons Lathrop, in 1879, who sold it in May,
THE STUDY IN THE TOWER.

A/O USA2S OF LA 7TERAA’ V ZAV7'EA’A2S7. 71
1883, to Daniel Lothrop, Esq., the well-known publisher
whose energy, judgment and literary taste have made his
large and flourishing publishing house a power in the
world of letters.
Mr. Lothrop uses The Wayside as a summer residence, the
family spending their winters in Boston.
He has left the grounds unaltered from the original designs
of Alcott and Hawthorne, only putting the estate in thorough
order. The interior shows every relic of Hawthorne care-
fully preserved, while his old home is made beautiful with
all the surroundings of a cultured taste.
Mrs. Lothrop has made her nom de plume of Margaret
Sidney a household word in thousands of homes and hearts,
by her sparkling contributions to the juvenile and other
magazines, as well as by her delightful children's books of
which “The Five Little Peppers; and How They Grew,” and
“What The Seven Did" are very popular.
July 27, 1884, their daughter Margaret was born,
probably the first child born for a century under this ancient
roof.
'Neath the philosophic arches
Of the solemn pines and larches,
Where of old the moody genius dreamed and wrote,
Winsome baby talk beguiles
All the dim and shaded aisles,
To echo with a higher, truer note.
72 7A7A2 COAVCOA2Z) G U//)/2 /3 OOAT.
Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody, a sister of Mrs. Hawthorne, has
devoted herself through a long and busy life to philanthropic
and educational labors. It was chiefly through her instrumen-
tality that the kindergarten was introduced into this country.
She has written much upon this and kindred subjects, being one
of the few close interpreters of Froebel's system of child-devel-
opment.
The Poet Channing, who has lived in town for forty years,
was a friend of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau ; of the last
he has written a biography, as well as many other books in
prose and verse, the best of which, “Near Home,” is a poetical
guide book of Concord. -
Thoreau was born in Concord on the 12th of July, 1817,
and graduated at Harvard College in 1837. Having a distaste
for all professions he worked at the manufacture of lead pencils
until he had made one which was pronounced perfect by the
chemists and dealers, and fully equal to the best of foreign
manufacture, and then said he would make no more.
In writing of THOREAU’s HOME let us try to go back to the
ancient Walden where Emerson walked through miles of his
own woods, and where the hermit poet and philosopher Thoreau i
lived alone for over two years. Then Walden was a deep, well-
like pond without visible inlet or outlet, half a mile in length
and one and a half in circumference, wholly surrounded by hills
which rise from forty to one hundred feet in height, densely
covered with pine and oak trees.
The water of Walden is cool in all weather and so transpar-
ent that objects can be distinctly seen at a depth of twenty-five
AſO USA.S OF LA 7TERAA’ Y ZAVZTERA.S7. 73
feet. The pond rises and falls, but it is impossible to tell what
laws govern it, as it is often higher in a drought than in a rainy
season. On the northern side is a high sand-bar which was
bare in 1825, but is now covered by about three feet of water,
behind which a pleasant cove extends for about twenty rods to
a gentle eminence on which stood Thoreau's house, built in
1845, of timbers which grew on the spot, covered with boards
which he brought from the shanty of an Irishman who had
helped to build the railroad. With the exception of a little
help in raising the frame, the house was the work of its owner
and cost about thirty dollars. It was a completely weather-
proof room, ten feet wide by fifteen long with a garret, closet,
door and window, with two trap doors in the floor, and a brick
chimney at one end.
Moving into this little house in 1845, Thoreau lived for eight
months, from July to the following May, at an expense of
eight dollars and seventy-six cents or about one dollar nine
cents per month. He cultivated a crop of beans to supply the
small sum needed for his daily wants, thus being able to devote
the greater part of his time to writing and study. He was a
sincere philosopher and wished to protest by his simple life and
habits against the folly of devoting much time to the demands
of society. He used to make long journeys on foot, thinking
it was cheaper and quicker than to devote the time to earning
money for his railroad tickets, as he could easily walk thirty
miles a day for weeks at a time. In this way he travelled over
much of New England. He has left interesting accounts of
these excursions, especially of his journeys through the Maine
74 ZTA/AE COMCOA’/D GOZA)/2 Å OOA .
woods and lakes, and to Mt. Katahdin and the other great
mountains which they contain. Often he wandered alone
through these grand old primeval forests; at other times he
took an Indian guide or joined some roving band of savages
who welcomed him as a lover of nature, and taught him their
simple woodcraft, sometimes gliding for days in a birch canoe
like an autumn leaf on the gentle lakes, or down the foaming
rapids, and sometimes climbing rough mountain sides or scaling
dangerous precipices. He knew just what could best sustain
life, and travelled with as little baggage as possible. He could
content himself without food or water longer than even the
Indians, and was able to bear great extremes of heat and cold,
and made a variety of experiments upon his powers of
endurance. He is said to have slept one night in a barrel
buried in a snow-drift to ascertain the warmth of that kind
of comforter.
His walks about Cape Cod are full of interest, and are pub-
lished in a book, as are also his voyages on the Concord
and Merrimac rivers, which he carefully explored in an open
boat. He also wrote a book on Walden itself which contains
a chapter on wood sounds, which everybody who loves to be
out of doors ought to know by heart. Although rather shy
of strangers, Thoreau was always glad to welcome children to
his house, to walk with them through the woods, and teach them
to love nature as he did. He was noted late in life as a lecturer,
and was obliged to spend some of his evenings in city life, but
he was always glad to go back to the woods and was never
lonely when alone in their solitude. Living thus out of doors
A/OOWSAES OA” A. ZZTEA’AA’ V ZAVZTEA’AºS 7. - 75
he became a close observer, could tell the notes of all insects,
birds and animals, and the meaning which they wished to
express. He knew where all the scarce and curious flowers
grew, and discovered plants in Concord woods which no one
had ever seen there. He first found the climbing fern, and is
said to have discovered the red snow of the Arctic regions. He
was an earnest admirer of old John Brown, and made an elo-
quent address in his praise directly after his arrest at Harper's
Ferry ; although his townsmen doubted the advisibility of it at
the time as the current of public sentiment had not then begun
to turn strongly in favor of the old hero.
Thoreau was born in an old house ON THE VIRGINIA ROAD
which still stands, and he died on the 6th of May 1862, in the
house now owned by Mrs. Pratt, who lives there at present with
her father Mr. Alcott, and her sister Miss Louisa M. Alcott.
It is the intention of his friends to mark permanently the site
of Thoreau's home at Walden Pond with a monumental boulder
which will be put in position with appropriate exercises and
addresses by his friends. A
The house of the Hon. Samuel Hoar stands near the
library on Main street. It is one of the most noted in Concord,
if literary and political interests are considered. Of the life
and character of its first proprietor, no description can exceed
the grand and simple statement of his epitaph, recorded in the
account of Sleepy Hollow. The same eulogy may be accorded
his daughter who accompanied him on his famous journey to
Charleston, when he was forcibly removed from the State by a
76 7A/AE COAVCOR/D GU/DA2 BOOA.
mob for attempting to test the legality of the imprisonment of
free colored sailors. He was himself a member of and sent two
sons to Congress, where one of them still continues his
fearless and devoted labors in that capacity. The house oppo-
site also sent the Hon. William Whiting to the same body, so
that four United States Congressmen were furnished from a
half acre of Concord ground.
The Hon. E. R. Hoar was born in this house, his mother
being the daughter of Roger Sherman. He graduated at Har-
vard College in 1835, was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
from 1849 to 1855; Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court from
1859 to 1869; Atty. Gen. of the U. S. from 1869 to 1870;
Member of Joint High Commission which made the Treaty of
Washington with Great Britain, in 1871; Fellow of Harvard
College from 1858 to 1868 ; President of Board of Overseers of
Harvard College 1879 and 80; Presidential Elector 1872; Mem-
ber of the 44th Congress 1873 to 1875.
Among his printed works may be mentioned Report of Con-
cord committee to build Soldiers’ Monument 1867; Address at
laying corner stone of Memorial Hall at Harvard College Oct.
6, 1870; Opinions in Massachusetts Reports from 13 Gray to 101
Mass.; Opinions as Attorney General of United States. He has
been identified for years with the history of the town, whose
people depend on him as they did on his father. His son Sam-
uel Hoar, is a partner in his father's law office, making three
generations of Concord lawyers who have held the highest rank
in county and state. - -
The Orchard House, noted as having been for many years
HowSEs of Z/7ZRARY ZvTERAEsz. 77
the home of the Alcott family, stands on the old Boston road
about half a mile below the house of Emerson, and next to
The Wayside, the house once owned and occupied by Haw-
thorne.
Amos Bronson Alcott was born at Walcott, Ct., Nov. 29th,
1799. He went to school until he was thirteen years old, and
at the age of twelve began to keep a diary, a practice which he
has continued the greater part of the time since. Still earlier
he had read Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress, the book of all
others which had the greatest influence on his mind. He learned
to write by practising with chalk on his mother's kitchen floor
and became in his boyhood a skillful penman, so that his first
essay in teaching was as master of a writing school in Carolina.
At the age of fourteen, he worked for a while at clock
making at Plymouth, Ct., and in the same year went on an excur-
sion into northern Connecticut, and western Massachusetts, sell-
ing a few articles as he went, to meet the expenses of his
journey. - -
On a similar journey in Virginia, a few years afterwards he
was kindly received at the great houses of the planters, where
he received generous hospitality and permission to explore their
libraries, where he found many books he had never seen. Biog-
raphy was his favorite reading; then poems and tales; and
books of metaphysics and devotion.
His first school was in a district three miles from his home,
where he taught for three months for ten dollars a month,
and his board ; afterwards he taught a famous school at
Cheshire, Ct.
78 7A/AE COAWCOA*/O G. U//DA. AE OOA .
In January, 1828, he wrote a brief account of his method of
teaching, which attracted much attention. He continued this
system in a similar school in Bristol in the winter of 1827–8,
and then removed to Boston to take charge of an infant school
in Salem street, in June, 1828. In the following April, he
opened a private school near St. Paul's church on Tremont
street, in which he remained until November 5th, 1830, when
he gave it up to open a school in Germantown, near Philadel-
phia, where with his associate, Mr. W. Russell, he remained a
little more than two years. On the 22d of April, 1833, he
opened a school in Philadelphia, which continued until July,
1834, soon after which, September 22, 1834, Mr. Alcott returned
to Boston and there began his famous Temple school, concern-
ing which so much has been written and published.
He first gave his pupils single desks, now so common, instead
of the long benches and double or three-seated desks, still in
use in some sections. He gave his youthful pupils slates and
pencils, and blackboards. He established a school library, and
taught them to enjoy the benefits of careful reading; he broke
away from the old rule of severe and indiscriminate punish-
ments, and substituted therefor appeals to the affections and the
moral sentiment of children, so that he was able almost wholly
to dispense with corporal punishment. He introduced, also,
light gymnastic exercises, evening amusements at the school-
room, the keeping of diaries by young children, and, in general,
an affectionate and reverent mode of drawing out the child's
mind towards knowledge, rather than the pouring in of instruc-
tion by mechanical or compulsory processes.
A. (J U.S.A.S OF //7ZZA'AA' Y //V' TAZA’A.S 7. 79 -
Among the eminent women who took an interest in his school
may be named (besides Miss Martineau), Miss Margaret Fuller,
Miss Elizabeth Peabody, her sister, the late Mrs. Hawthorne,
and others. Both Miss Fuller and Miss Peabody were assistant
teachers in the Temple school at Boston, and Miss Peabody
compiled the accounts of it which were published under the
title of “Record of a School,” and “Conversations with Chil-
dren on the Gospels.”
Mr. Alcott was one of the originators and members of the
somewhat famous Transcendental Club, which met under various
names, from 1836 to 1850. It was first called “The Sym-
posium,” and met originally on the 19th of September, 1836,
at the house of George Ripley, then a minister in Boston. In
the October following, it met at Mr. Alcott's house (16 Front
street), and there were present Mr. Emerson, George Ripley,
Frederic H. Hedge, O. A. Brownson, James Freeman Clarke,
and C. A. Bartol. The subject of conversation that day was
“American Genius; causes which hinder its growth.” Two
years’ later, in 1838, we find it meeting at Dr. Bartol's in
Chestnut street, Boston, where of late years the “Radical
Club '' often gathered; there were then present Mr. Em-
erson, Mr. Alcott, Dr. Follen, Dr. C. Francis, Theodore Par-
ker, Caleb Stetson, William Russell, James Freeman Clarke,
and John S. Dwight, the famous musical critic. The topic
discussed was “Pantheism.” In September, 1839, there is
record of a meeting at the house of Dr. Francis, in Water-
town, where, besides those already mentioned, Margaret Fuller,
William Henry Channing, Robert Bartlett, and Samuel J. May,
8o ZTAZ2 COAVCOA’/D GOZZOAZ A OOA .
were present. In December, 1839, at George Ripley's, Dr.
Channing, George Bancroft, the sculptor Clevenger, the artist-
poet C. P. Cranch, and Samuel G. Ward, were among the com-
pany. These names will give some notion of the nature of the
Club, and the attraction it had for thinking and aspiring persons.
In October, 1840, we find Mr. Alcott in consultation with
George Ripley and Margaret Fuller, at Mr. Emerson's house,
in Concord, concerning the proposed community, which was
afterwards established at Brook Farm. In 1848, the Trans-
cendental Club became the “Town and Country Club,” on a
wider basis, and in a year or two came to an end, having done
its work. -
During this period of Transcendental agitation, from 1835 to
1850, Mr. Alcott gradually passed through the various degrees
of his progress as a reformer. In 1835, he gave up the use
of animal food, and the next year invited Dr. Sylvester
Graham to lecture in his school. Still earlier he had joined
the Anti-Slavery society, when founded by William Lloyd Garri-
son, and he was present at many of the celebrated gatherings
of abolitionists—for instance at the Lovejoy meeting in Faneuil
Hall, in 1837, when Wendell Phillips made his first appearance
as an anti-slavery Orator. -
In company with Charles Lane, he examined estates in order
to choose one for the proposed community, and finally Lane
bought the “Wyman Farm,” in Harvard, consisting of ninety
acres, with an old farm-house upon it, where Mr. Alcott and
his family, with Mr. Lane and a few others, took up their resi-
dence in their new home “Fruitlands; ” which experiment was
§§
*§§
l I ( ) M.E.
\ I ("OTT's
M. R.

Ayo USBS OF Z/7ZAAR Y ZvZEA ES7: 83
not a financial success. He finally abandoned the farm, in
poverty and disappointment, about the middle of January,
1844. The lesson thus taught was a severe one, but Mr. Alcott
looks back upon it as one of the turning points in his life.
From that day forward, he has had less desire to change the
condition of men upon earth than to modify and enlighten
their inward life. He soon after returned to Concord, and in
1845 bought a small farm there with an old house upon it,
which he rebuilt and christened “Hillside.” A few years later
when it passed into the hands of Nathaniel Hawthorne, he
changed the name to “Wayside.” It is the estate next east of
the Orchard House in Concord. At “Hillside "Mr. Alcott
gardened and gave conversations, and in the year 1847,
while living there, he built in Mr. Emerson's garden, not
far off, the unique summer house which ornamented the grounds
until within ten years past, when it decayed and fell into ruin.
In 1848 he removed from Concord to Boston, and did not return
until 1857. Since then he has lived constantly in Concord.
In 1858 he became the Superintendent of the Public Schools
of Concord, and wrote very admirable reports of them.
He for a few years published many essays, poems, and conver-
sations in the Boston Commonwealth and The Radical, between
1863 and 1868, and in the last-named year brought out a modest
volume of essays entitled “Tablets.” This was followed, in
1872, by another volume styled “Concord Days,” and still other
volumes have since appeared. Mr. Alcott has been pressed to
write his autobiography, for which his journals and other
collections would give him ample material, and it is to be hoped
84 THE COMCORD GU/DA2 BOOA.
he will apply himself to this task. Should the work include
his correspondence with contemporaries, it would be of ample
bulk and of great value.
At all times he was enamored of rural pursuits, and he prac-
ticed gardening with zeal and success. His Orchard House
estate, of a few acres only, was laid out and for years cultivated
by himself. It was a favorite theory of Mr. Alcott's through all
this period of agitation and outward activity, that he could prop-
agate his ideas best by conversations. Accordingly, from 1839
to the present time, a quarter of a century, he has held conver-
sations on his chosen subjects, and in many and widely separated
parts of the country. In later times he has visited and spoken in
the schools wherever he happened to be lecturing or conversing,
particularly at the West, where he has been warmly welcomed
in his annual tours. His home has been at all times a center
of hospitality, and a resort for persons with ideas and aspira-
tions. Not unfrequently his formal conversations have been
held there; at other times in the parlors of his friends, at
public halls or college rooms, or in the chambers of some club.
Mr. Alcott has held opinions and engaged in enterprises, during
his lifetime, which would not have commanded the entire
approbation of his townsmen, had they been called to pass
judgment upon them; but wi.h the general result of his long
and varied life, neither they nor he can have reason to be dis-
satisfied. He has not accumulated riches, nor attained political
power, nor made labor superfluous and comfort cheaper by
ingenious mechanical inventions. But he has maintained, at all
times and amid many discouragements, the Christian doctrine
A/O USA.S OF LA 7TEA’AA’ V ZAV7/2A’AºS 7. 85
that the life is more than meat, and that the perishing things of
this world are of small moment compared with things spiritual
and eternal. He has devoted himself, in youth with ardor, in
mature and advancing years with serene benevolence, to the
task of improving the hearts and lives of men, by drawing
their attention to the sweetness of philosophy and the charm
of a religion at once contemplative and practical. There is no
higher work than this, and none that leaves so plainly its
impress on the character and aspect of him who spends a life-
time in it. -
Mrs. Alcott was a daughter of Col. Joseph May, of Boston,
and was born in that city, October 8, 1800. The Rev. Samuel
J. May, of Syracuse, whose memoir has been quoted, was her
elder brother, born 1793. It was at his parsonage house in
Brooklyn that she first met Mr. Alcott, in 1827, when he was
teaching school in Cheshire, and it was largely on her account
and through the efforts of her family and friends that he went
to Boston, in 1828, and took charge of the Salem street infant
school. They were married May 23, 1830, and resided in
Boston until their removal to Germantown in the following
winter. Their oldest daughter Anna Bronson, now Mrs. Pratt,
(the mother of Miss Alcott's “Little Men ") was born at
Germantown, March 16, 1831, and Miss Alcott herself (Louisa
May) was born at Germantown, Nov. 29, 1832, A third
daughter, Elizabeth Sewall, was born in Boston, June 24, 1835,
and died in Concord, March 14, 1858. Miss May Alcott, the
youngest of the four daughters, a well-known artist, was
born in Concord, July 26, 1840, and died in Paris in December
86 7 HE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK.
1879, having earned great fame as an artist, especially in her
copies of Turner's pictures, in which one of the greatest critics
of England pronounced her unsurpassed. She lived for a time
in London and Paris, where she won hosts of friends, and several
art prizes in the exhibitions. She married Mons. Nieriker, and
died after a short illness deeply lamented, leaving a daughter
Louisa.
The eldest of the four sisters, Anna Bronson Alcott, named
for her grandmother, was married May 23, 1860, the anniversary
of her mother's wedding day, to Mr. John B. Pratt, of Concord,
a son of Minot Pratt, one of the Brook Farm community in
former years, and afterwards an esteemed citizen of Concord.
Their children are the famous “Little Men’” — Frederick
Alcott Pratt, born March 28, 1863, and John Sewall Pratt,
born June 24, 1866. Mrs. Pratt was left a widow by the
sudden death of her husband Nov. 27, 1870, and has since
resided much of the time, with her two sons, at her father's
house in Concord.
Miss Louisa May Alcott, the popular writer of humorous
and pathetic tales, owes her training, and thus her success in
writing, to her father and mother more than to all the world
beside. Her instruction for many years came almost wholly
from them, and though her genius has taken a direction
quite other than that of Mr. Alcott (guided strongly by her
mother's social humor and practical benevolence), it still has
many traits of resemblance; while the material on which it
works is largely drawn from the idyllic actual life of the
Alcott family. It can scarcely be remembered when Miss
AſO USA.S. OA' ZZZTAEA2A R V ZAV7'Aº Aº AºS 7. 87
Alcott did not display the story-telling talent, either with her
voice or with her pen. Her first book was published twenty-five
years ago, and was written several years before that.
For a long period afterwards she contributed copiously to
newspapers and periodicals of no permanent renown, though
some of the pieces then written have since appeared in her
collection of tales. Her first great success as a writer was
in 1863, when, after a brief experience as an army nurse,
followed by a long and almost fatal illness, she contributed
to the Boston Commonwealth those remarkable “Hospital
Sketches.” These were made up from her letters written home
during her army life, and bore the stamp of reality so strongly
upon them, that they caught at once the popular heart. They
were re-printed in many newspapers, and in a small volume, and
made her name known and beloved all over the North. From
that time forward she has been a popular writer for the periodi-
cals, but her great success as an author of books did not begin
until she found a publisher of the right quality in Mr. Thomas
Niles, of the Boston firm of Roberts Brothers, who have now
published all her works for ten years. Within that time the
“Little Women’’ and their successors have been published, and
the sale of all her books has exceeded a quarter of a million
copies. Her earliest novel, “Moods,” published in 1864, by A.
IV. Loring, of Boston, did not at first command much attention,
but many thousand copies have since been sold. Her second nov-
el “Work,” was published by Roberts, in the summer of 1873,
and at once had a great sale, both in America and in Europe.
Many of her books have been translated into French and Ger-
88 Z'HAE COAVCOA’A) GUIDA BOOA.
man, and there are now few living authors whose works are
so universally read.
Dr. W. T. Harris, the well-known writer on philosophic
and educational topics, purchased the Orchard House of
Mr. Alcott in 1884. He was attracted to this town by
his interest in the Concord School of Philosophy, of which
he was one of the original founders. Dr. Harris still de-
votes himself to the interests of education, on which theme
he delivers lectures at the conventions held in different parts
of the country. He was superintendent of the St. Louis
Public Schools for twelve years, and his annual reports were
greatly esteemed as education documents and received hon-
orable mention at the World Exposition at Paris and
secured for him the honorary title of “Officer of the
2
Academy " from the French Minister of Education. Dr.
Harris founded, in 1867, and still edits, The Journal of Specu-
lative Philosophy, the first periodical devoted to its special
theme in the English language. Besides these works he
has also published many articles in the North American
Review, Atlantic Monthly, and the educational journals of
the country. Dr. Harris was also associate editor of
Johnson's Cyclopædia, writing for it forty of the more
important articles on philosophic subjects. In 1878 he
compiled and edited the Appleton’s School Readers which
have had an immense sale in all parts of the United
States. In the grove back of the Orchard House Dr.
Harris has erected a tower around the tallest pine on
the crest of the hill with safe stairs ascending to the top
AſOOWSA.S. OA' Z/7ZZA'AA' V ZAVZTAEA?A2S7. 89 -
from which fourteen of the mountains of Massachusetts
and New Hampshire can be seen. -
The house of F. B. Sanborn is now building at the
upper part of Main street at the bend of the river near
the stone bridge. Mr. Sanborn came to Concord in March,
1855, the year of his graduation at Harvard College. He lived
in the house opposite Thoreau, (then the residence of Ellery
Channing,) and took his dinners at the same house with Thoreau,
and became a frequent companion of his daily walks and rows
on the river.
He started the Concord School which lasted eight years,
at which were several pupils now noted in literature. He be-
came interested in John Brown, whom he first brought to
Concord in 1857, and who made his celebrated Kansas speech in
March of that year, in which his simple eloquence inspired the
citizens to open their hearts and purses for the relief of Kansas.
He passed a portion of his last birthday, May 9th, 1859, at Mr.
Sanborn's house, leaving at noon for his noted campaign in Vir-
ginia, having spoken at the Town Hall on the previous evening.
Funeral services of great impressiveness were held on the death
of John Brown, Dec. 2d, 1859, for which the hymn was written
by Mr. Sanborn, and addresses were made by Emerson, Thoreau,
and others. During the progress of these exercises Rev. E. H.
Sears wrote his celebrated and prophetic ode to the memory
of the old hero.
On account of his complicity and supposed knowledge of
the plans of John Brown, Mr. Sanborn was summoned to appear
to testify before a committee of the U. S. Senate, of which
90 ZAZZ COAVCOA’A) GCV//XAE AE OOA.
Mason of Virginia, was the chairman. On his refusal to Comply
with this demand, the United States Marshal with four men came
to his house, and after calling him out on a false pretence, hand-
cuffed him and would have carried him away, had not his sister
by her vigorous attack upon the men and their horses prevented
them until her outcries had summoned a crowd of his infuriated
fellow-citizens to his aid. Judge Hoar issued a writ of habeas
corpus, upon which he was discharged the next day by Judge
Shaw of the Supreme Court. On his return home the same
day, April 4th, he was received by his townsmen with a salute
of cannon and other testimonials of rejoicing, and a public meet-
ing was held at which Col. Higginson and others made congrat-
ulatory remarks. Mr. Sanborn became an editor of the Com-
'monwealth in 1863, and left it in 1868 to become an editor of the
Springfield Republican, with which paper he is still connected.
In 1863 he was appointed by Gov. Andrew, Secretary of the
Board of State Charities, in which Board he continued for
twelve years, and with Dr. Howe, Dr. Wheelwright and others,
reorganized the whole charitable system of the State, introducing
many changes which have since been widely copied.
For many years he has been a contributor to Scribner's Monthly,
for which he wrote the illustrated article on Emerson ; and
an occasional writer in the Atlantic Monthly, in which his most
noticeable papers were those on John Brown, upon whose biog-
raphy he is now engaged. To this work he proposes to devote
his best energies in order to make it worthy of its subject. His
home has often given shelter to fugitive slaves, and once was the
place of concealment of two of John Brown's soldiers, when a
A/O U.S/ES OF A / TEA'AA' V /AV7'AºA'A'S 7. 9I
large reward was offered for their apprehension. He was one
of the founders and Secretary of the Social Science Associ-
ation, and, with Mr. Alcott, originated the Concord School of
Philosophy.
Of the many distinguished writers, who have from time to
time made Concord their home, William S. Robinson (“War-
rington”) is one of the very few who were born in that.
rare old town. His ancestors were of English and Welsh
descent, and on both the father's and mother's side, had lived
there for two generations.
Lieut. Col. John Robinson, who “led the soldiers in double
file,” on the famous 19th of April, 1775, was a brother of Mr.
Robinson's grandfather. His maternal grandfather, Lieut.
Emerson Cogswell, (a descendant of one of the ancestors of
Mr. R. W. Emerson) was one of the minute men of Concord,
and a member of the Committee of Public Safety of that town
during the revolution. This committee afterwards became the
“Social Circle,” and Mr. Cogswell was one of its founders.
Mr. Robinson was born Dec. 7, 1818, in what is now called
the “old block,” (near the Unitarian church) once his grand-
father's homestead. He was educated in the public schools
of the town, and at seventeen years of age began to learn
the printer's trade. When twenty-one, he became editor
and proprietor of the Yeoman’s Gazette, afterwards called the
Concord Republican. In 1842, the Republican was merged in
the Lowell Courier and Journal, and Mr. Robinson moved to
that city, and became one of its editors. Subsequently he was
the editor of the Boston Daily Whig, and the Boston Republi-
92 7A/A COACOR/X GUAA)/2 BOOA.
can, leading free-soil newspapers of 1848–9. For nearly four
years he edited and published a free-soil and anti-slavery news-
paper which he had started in Lowell, called the Lowell
American. He wrote letters and articles for the Boston Com-
monwealth, the Atlas and Bee : the New York Tribune, the
Evening Post, and many of the other leading newspapers in
the country.
He was one of the founders of, and leaders in, the free-soil,
and republican party. For twenty years, during the fiercest of
the anti-slavery struggle, and the war of the rebellion, he
wrote for the Springfield Republican. It was through his
letters to this newspaper, that he became known as the re-
nowned war correspondent, and made famous his mom de plume
of “Warrington.” In all his writings, he advocated the
freedom of the slave, personal and political purity, and the
equal rights of woman. One of his most distinguished con-
temporaries in the field of journalism said of him : “He was
the sharpest, steadiest, truest journalist, in all the mighty battle
for freedom.” He was Secretary of the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1853, and eleven years Clerk of the Massachusetts
House of Representatives.
His published works are, Warrington's Manual of Parliamen-
tary Law; The Salary Grab; and a volume of selections from
his writings, (Warrington Pen Portraits, with a Memoir by Mrs.
Robinson) published after his death.
He died March 11th, 1876, and lies buried in Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery.
HowSES OF LITERARY ZvZEREsz. s 93
William W. Wheildon was born in Boston, and as he often
says, “drove his mother's cow to pasture on Boston Common.”
He was educated in the public schools, and when he was a boy,
during the sickness of one of the carriers, used to distribute
around the west end of the town, the “New England Palla-
dium.” In 1822, he went to Haverhill, as an apprentice to the
printing business with Nathaniel Greene; returned to Boston
with him and assisted in the issue of the first number of the
American Statesman. In 1827, Mr. Wheildon established the
“Bunker Hill Aurora,” at Charlestown, and continued its
proprietor and editor, until September, 1870, more than forty
years: a complete file of the Aurora for all these years is now
in the public library at Charlestown, and contains the material
for a full and complete history of the town during that period.
In 1846, Mr. Wheildon took up his summer residence in Concord,
retaining his home in Charlestown, as a winter residence, until
1856, since which time he has remained in Concord. In 1863,
while conducting his paper and managing his printing office, in
Charlestown Square, he published his “Memoir of Solomon
Willard,” written as chairman of a Committee of the Bunker
Hill Monument Association. Not being able to spare the time
fully to write out the work, a large part of it was set up by
him in type, without the use of manuscript. The proof sheets
and other necessary reading, and some of the writing, was done
while in the cars in the daily trips between Charlestown and
Concord. In the composition of the whole work, and its prep-
aration for the press, Mr. Wheildon never allowed one of his
workmen to touch it, but did the whole work himself, in por.
94 7/7/2 COACOA’/O GUZZ)Z AOOA.
tions of an hour or two of time whenever he could spare it.
The forms were sent to Boston, and the press work done by
steam power. Prior to this time, Mr. Wheildon had published
his “Letters from Nahant,” and other pamphlets, on annexation
and other subjects.
At Charlestown, Mr. Wheildon was a student at law, for two
or three years, with Hon. Wm. Austin, and though never admit-
ted to the bar, had a number of important matters entrusted to
his care. He represented the Middlesex Railroad Co. before the
Aldermen of Charlestown, in a case affecting the rights of the
railroad, in regard to an enforced removal of their tracks, and
the running of their cars; again on the petition of the Monu-
ment Association for the opening of an avenue from the City
Square to Monument Square; and again in the interest of the
Boston and Chelsea railroad and the Lynn and Boston railroad,
and on other occasions. He also represented the city of Charles-
town before the Commissioners in the matter of making Chelsea
Bridge a free avenue; also before the Commissioners on the
Warren Bridge and its surrender to the Commonwealth. In
the very important case concerning the building of the Maver-
ick Bridge, as authorized by the Legislature of Massachusetts,
when the matter came before a Board of United States Com-
missioners, at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Mr. Wheildon
represented the city of Charlestown, the Wharf Owners, the
Fitchburg, Maine and Eastern railroads, and made the closing
argument in the case. He also represented the city and private
parties repeatedly before committees of the State Legislature,
and on one occasion before a committee of the Maine Legislature,
A/O C.S.A.S OF // ZZA’AA’Y /AW 7/8 A'AºS 7. 95
at Augusta. Arguments covering the subject, in several of
these cases, have been published in pamphlet form. Mr.
Wheildon was instrumental in procuring the law for the pro-
tection of the Lobster fishery, and read a paper on the natural
history of the lobster before the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, which is published in their proceed-
ings. At the centennial period of 1875, Mr. Wheildon was urged
by a Boston publisher to write a history of the Battle of Bunker
Hill — a service which he very reluctantly undertook to do,
and when completed, having followed previous writers on the
subject, he declined to have published; but subsequently re-
wrote the work, and it was published by Lee & Shepard “as
a New History of the Battle of Bunker Hill: its purpose,
conduct and result.” This was followed, the next year, by
his history of the “Siege and Evacuation of Boston and
Charlestown.”
In 1877, Mr. Wheildon published from his private printing
office, in Concord, his “Sentry on Beacon Hill; the Beacon and
Monument, of 1635 and 1790," entirely the work of his own
hands, with the aid of the steam press, and is regarded as
a very complete and valuable addition to the history of the city
and the times. It is very handsomely illustrated with heliotype
plates and maps; was prepared in behalf of the Bunker
Hill Monument Association, and was published under their
auspices. It urges upon the people of Boston the propriety of
rebuilding the Beacon Hill Monument. -
Mr. Wheildon's next publication was in 1878, “History of
Paul Revere's Signal Lanterns, April 18, 1775, in the Steeple
96 Z/7Z COA. COA’/D GCA) /º APOOAT.
of the North Church,” etc., to which is added an interesting
“New Chapter in the History of the Concord Fight.” The
decision of the question as to the location of the signal lanterns
is considered as finally determined by this publication, and not
only was the tablet erected on the strength of its conclusions,
but the inscription, (necessarily brief from its elevation,) was
furnished by the author. The city government, (the committee
not having made any full report of the hearing before it,) finally
became the purchaser of two hundred copies of the work. The
volume is illustrated with a handsome heliotype of this cele-
brated church.
Besides his historical publications, Mr. Wheildon is the
author of a small duodecimo volume of 230 pages, entitled
very happily, “ Contributions to Thought,” being a series of lect-
ures, essays, etc., some of which have been repeatedly delivered
before the lyceums of the county in past years. This hand-
some volume, as well as all of Mr. Wheildon's historical works,
has been very highly spoken of and commended by the public
press. His papers read before the Scientific Association, on the
Atmospheric Theory of an Open Polar Sea, the Arctic Regions,
Excursion Across the State of Iowa, the American Lobster, etc.
are published in the volumes of the Association.
Mr. Wheildon, though having the ambition of politicians in
a very small degree, has held a number of public offices in
Charlestown; and was a member of the City Council, and of the
School Committee for many years. In public associations and
corporations of a more private nature, outside the borders of
politicians, Mr. Wheildon has held many prominent positions.
A/OO.S.A.S. OA' Z/7ZZA’AA’ Y /AVTE_2 EST. 97
He was at one time, one of the Trustees of the Mass. Char.
Mechanic Association, a Director of the Bunker Hill Monument
Association, an officer of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,
and a director in four or five business corporations. He is at
present the President of the Boston and Chelsea Railroad Co.;
Trustee of the Five Cent Savings Bank of Charlestown, and
director of the Charlestown Gas Co.; Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science — a national asso-
ciation — holding its charter from the State of Massachusetts;
member of the Historic Genealogical Society, Massachusetts
Horticultural Society, etc. From 1848 to 1851, Mr. Wheildon
was a member of the Social Club of Concord.
Mr. Wheildon has matter in manuscript, relating to the
Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, and other subjects, and is
still a regular contributor to the public press of Boston; and is
with a single exception, it is believed, the oldest journalist of
Boston, having been assistant editor of the Boston Statesman
in 1825 and ’26.
Mr. Wheildon has also contributed the articles on The Con-
cord Grape, The Masonic Societies, and on Walden Pond in the
present volume.
The Rev. Grindall Reynolds was settled as pastor of the
Unitarian society on the 8th of July, 1858. His house stands
on Main street, and is partially shaded by a magnificent elm.
His garden abounds in flowers and fruit, and the Sudbury river
flows at its foot. On the banks of the river grows a beautiful
clump of willows, under which several boats are moored. As
before stated Mr. Reynolds is a close student of history, and
98 7A/A2 COAVCORD GUIDAE BOOA .
has made many valuable contributions to magazines and books
on that and kindred subjects. For full information on the
history of Concord, and the important part taken by her
citizens in the Shay's rebellion of which it is not in the province
of this little book to treat, (as it is a guide-book, not a history)
readers are referred to Mr. Reynolds' able paper on Concord, in
Drake's Book, and to his pamphlets on Shay's Rebellion and
Concord Fight which are considered the most able and exhaus-
tive papers on these subjects ever published. He has at
various times published in the Atlantic and other magazines,
articles of historical interest, a partial list of which is given.
A discourse on leaving the old meeting-house at Jamaica
Plain.
A discourse on the death of Gen. Zachary Taylor, July,
21st, 1850.
A lecture before the American Institute of Instruction ; Moral
Office of the Teacher; Parish Organization; John Calvin; Ration-
ale of Prayer; Mexico; Fortnight with the Sanitary Commission;
English Naval Power and English Colonies; French Struggle
for Naval and Colonial Power; Saints who have had Bodies;
Late Insurrection in Jamaica; Borneo and Rajah Brooke :
Abyssinia and King Theodore ; Concord Fight; Siege of Bos-
ton; From Ticonderoga to Saratoga ; Our Bedouins and what
shall we do with them 2 The New Religion.
William Munroe was born in Concord, Mass., June
24th, 1806.
His father, William Munroe, was a descendant of the Mun-
roes of Lexington, of Revolutionary fame, and was himself
AſO USA.S OF Z/7ZA'AA' V /AVTEA’A.S 7. 99
worthy of note as the first, and for many years the only manu-
facturer of lead pencils in the United States.
His mother was of the Greenough family of Boston, and
daughter of Capt. John Stone, architect and builder of the first
bridge connecting Charlestown with Boston.
William was the eldest of nine children. He was, in his
youth, conscientious, earnest, generous, and reliable ; and these,
added to strict integrity, unfailing industry, and marked unself-
ishness, were his ruling characteristics through all his business
career, and to the close of life. As was recorded by one of his
friends: “During his long life he was noted for his many acts
of disinterested kindness, his career as a business man was
most honorable ; he was straight-forward in all his dealings;
while those who enjoyed his friendship, found in him purity
of purpose, which gave a charm to his quiet life.” -
He had a delicate constitution, and although prepared to
enter college when quite young, a student's life was not consid-
ered advisable for him, and at the age of fifteen, he entered a
store in Boston, where he soon gained the confidence of his
employers, and very early was entrusted with the care of pur-
chasing goods in New York, and in Europe, and subsequently
became a partner in the firm. He was afterwards engaged in
business with parties in England, and this country, and finally
became a member of the firm of Little, Alden & Co. Boston.
He was one of the prime movers in establishing the “Pacific
Mills " at Lawrence, Mass., to the interests of which he gave
the last few years of his business life.
In 1861 his health failed, and he was obliged to retire from
IOO 7A/E COMCOAEA) GU/DA. BOOK.
active business. After an extended tour through Europe, he
returned to Boston, where he resided until 1876.
He devoted much of his time during the last years of his
life, to making plans for the benefit of his native town, and
especially for the erection and endowment of a Free Public
Library, which he lived to see colmpleted as it now stands; and
plans for the future addition of an Art Museum, etc., gave him
occupation and delight during the many weeks and months of
severe bodily suffering which he was called to bear, and which
terminated his life. He died at the home of his sisters, in
Concord, April 27th, 1877, at the age of seventy-one.
C H A P T E R V .
*
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
In its Free Public Library Concord feels a just pride.
To the visitor it is one of the first and most attractive points of
interest.
The Library building, though quite picturesque in appear-
ance, is of no positive order of architecture, but rather a com-
bination of the old and the modern styles. From every point
of view, it strikes the eye most pleasantly, and is a decided
ornament to the town. The front view is particularly attrac-
tive, suggesting a group of buildings rising successively one
above the other. It is situated in a central and beautiful
portion of the village, on the slightly elevated part of an
acre of land, triangular in shape, at the junction of Main and
IOI
I O2 7A/E COA COAC/O G. U//DA2 A3 OOA.
Sudbury streets. A full description of the building would
require more space than can well be spared. The engraving
presents a good idea of its outward appearance from one point
of view.
The plans of the building, its construction, and the interior
fixtures were completed under the direction, and at the expense
of Mr. Wm. Munroe, as a gift to his native town. The build-
ing and land adjoining were conveyed by him in trust to the
Concord Free Public Library, subject to certain conditions and
restrictions, as follows: “To forever keep and maintain there-
upon a building for a public library, for the use of the inhabi-
tants of Concord; that no building shall ever be erected upon
the granted premises, except for the use of the public library,
as aforesaid ; and the ground not so used, to remain open for
light and air, and as an ornamental enclosure for the benefit of
the inhabitants of Concord, but without a right in said inhabi-
tants to go upon, or use the same, except for reasonable access
to said library, under such regulations as may be made by said
Corporation,” etc.
The building was dedicated for the use of the library on the
1st of October, 1873, with ceremonies appropriate to the
occasion.
A circulating library has existed in Concord probably for a
longer period of time than in any other town in the United
States.
Most of the early settlers in Concord, were men of liberal
education and refinement, though, as with the Puritans gener-
ally, the religious sentiment predominated far above the intel-
A'RAZAZ AUB L/C Z/BA'AA' V. IO3
9
lectual. “The religious bias of our founders,” says Mr.
Emerson, “llad its usual effect to secure an education to read
the Bible and hymn-book, and thence the step was easy for
active minds to an acquaintance with history and with poetry.”
In 1672, the town, by a committee, instructed the select men
to see “that care be taken of the Books of Martyrs and other
books that belong to the town, that they be kept from abusive
usage, and not be lent to persons more than one month at a
time.” How long previous to this record, that little nucleus of
a library existed here, can only be conjectured, but as Bulkeley,
Flint, and others, brought with them from England quite
respectable sums of money, and personal property of various
kinds, no doubt those “Books of Martyrs,” and other books
were among the effects brought into Concord by those religious
enthusiasts in 1635, and freely circulated, to keep alive the
sentiment which prompted them to seek this new home in the
wilderness, and to sustain all its trials.
During the next hundred years or more there were, no doubt,
other books added to this collection from time to time, but to
what extent is not known.
In 1786, a literary company was formed in the village, with a
collection “consisting of well-chosen books in the various
branches of literature " which were purchased by subscription.
In 1795, the Charitable Library Society was organized, and ot
the books of this Society, there is a copy of the catalogue now
in the Concord Alcove, printed in 1805, which has two hundred
and fifty volumes recorded. The members of this library
united with others in the organization of another, which was
IO4 7THE COA. COA’A) GCVVDA. AEO.O.A. º
incorporated in 1821. This was called the Concord Social
Library. In 1885, it had 1168 volumes on its shelves. No
records exist to enable us to give all the statistics we would
like in reference to the Social Library. It was owned by
shareholders, and supported by contributions; the shareholders
paying a certain sum yearly, and others a larger sum, for the
privilege of taking out books, the money so contributed going
towards buying new books and paying expenses. In 1851, the
Social Library was merged into the Town Library. Two other
collections, the Parish Library and the Agricultural Library,
were afterwards added to the Town Library which continued
in existence till the autumn of 1873. Its books were then
transferred to the present Concord Free Public Library.
The first annual report of the Town Library Committee
ending March 1st, 1853, represents the number of volumes re-
ceived from the Social Library to be 1,318, to which were added
during the previous year 199 volumes, 111 by purchase, and 88
by donation. The number of books taken out during that year
was 4,288, the largest number in one day being 80, and the
Smallest five. A special appeal was made in this report, to the
friends of the library, for additional contributions, which how-
ever, was not responded to very liberally, for during the next
year, only 18 books were presented, 131 others were purchased,
making the whole number 1,663. When the Social Library con-
veyed its property to the town, it bound the latter by contract
to raise annually the largest sum allowed by law. The amount
so raised in 1853 was $141.75. The number of books taken
out the following year is not reported, but the use of the library,
AºA'AºA. A UB Z/C L/B RAA’ \'. IOS
the committee say, was “constant and increasing.” In 1856
the committee reported with some exultation, that “ 295 vol-
umes a month have been taken out, on an average throughout
the year.” The report of 1858 says “the interest of the peo-
ple in the library continues without abatement.”
The amount appropriated by the town, varied but slightly
from year to year up to 1860, when the law seems to have been
changed authorizing towns to appropriate fifty cents each of the
ratable tolls, instead of twenty-five cents as had previously been
the law. The whole number of volumes in the library in 1860
was 2,762. With the larger appropriations from 1860, the
library increased in a greater ratio from year to year up to the
time immediately preceding its transfer to the present Free
Public Library, Oct. 1st, 1873, when the number of the volumes
was 6,887. -
Previous to the opening of the new library building, an ap-
peal was made to citizens of the town, to natives who resided
elsewhere, and to all lovers of old Concord, for donations of
books, etc., the great object being to bring the number of books
up to what is termed a first-class library, viz.: 10,000 volumes.
Such was the interest and enthusiasm excited by this appeal,
that money, books, pamphlets, coins, medals, busts and pictures
come in from all directions. There were one hundred and
anineteen donors. The totals of the gifts were as follows:
Money $3,570; books, 2,489; pamphlets, 1,360; three oil paint-
ings; forty-eight heliotype impressions; seven busts of promi-
ment men; twenty medals; five hundred and sixty-nine coins;
and seven autograph manuscripts. One lady sent a thousand
IoG 7A/A2 COA. COA’/D GOZZO/2 A'OOA .
dollars; Geo. Wm. Curtis sent a full set of his works. Jas. T.
Fields presented six autographs, viz; original manuscripts of
“Dorothy Q,” by O. W. Holmes; “The Cathedral,” by J. R.
Lowell; “Culture" by R. W. Emerson; “Walking” by H. D.
Thoreau : “The Brazen Serpent,” by Nath’l Hawthorne, and an
address by J. L. Motley. Of the books presented, there were
many rare and valuable ones; one old Bible printed in 1598
and other ancient and curious works covered with the wrinkles
of age, containing autographs of the Bulkeleys, the Emersons.
and the Ripleys of old.
Under these favorable circumstances, the new library com-
menced its career of usefulness, and its success has more than
realized the most sanguine expectations, “making,” as Mr. Em-
erson said it would, “readers of those who were not readers,
scholars of those who only read newspapers and novels till
then,” and greatly adding to the many attractions which make
Concord a desirable place of residence.
In the report of the Social Library in 1836, the committee
congratulated the public on its increased love of reading. It
says: “Judging by the number of books taken out, your com-
mittee are happy to state that the library has been useful during
the past year beyond all precedent.” The number of books
given out that year was 2,438, a less number than is now fre-
quently given out in a single month.
On commencing its work Oct. 1st, 1873, the Concord Free
Public Library had upon its shelves nearly 10,000 volumes, ex-
cluding duplicates. Since that date up to March 1st, 1880, over
5,000 volumes have been added to the library, about half of
AºA2/2/3. AC//5/./C /, /B/CAA’ V. Io?
which have been donations, and the others by purchase, making
the present number of Yolumes in the library a little over 15,-
000. Besides books, there are over 5,000 pamphlets.
The annual circulation since the opening of the new library
has averaged over 23,000. The largest number of volumes
THE FREE PU 13 LIC LIH R A R Y.
given out in any one year is 26,000 and in any one month is
2,868, and the largest number in any one day 278.
A portion of the library room is devoted to reference books,
and conveniences for consulting them. About 5,000 volumes
are used here annually in addition to the circulation of the
lending library.
This seems a most extraordinary showing for a population of
less than 3,000. Nearly ten books for every man, woman and

fo3 7A/Z COAVCO/8/) GCV//) A BOOK.
child ; and including the books used in the reference depart-
ment, more than ten to each person. It is doubtful if any other
library in any town or city in the world can make so favorable
a showing. -
The reading room, which is separate from the library room,
is liberally furnished with magazines aud other periodicals, by
subscriptions and donations. By the last report March 1st,
1880, there were on the tables twenty-nine quarterly and
monthly magazines, twenty-four weekly and two daily papers.
The number of readers in this room varies from twenty to fifty
per day, which should also be added to the previous statement
of the reading capacity of Concord people.
From the commencement, the new library has been extremely
fortunate in securing and retaining the services of a very effici-
ent librarian, Miss Whitney. Much credit is due to her for the
interior arrangements and for the successful management of
the library. The catalogue of books compiled by Miss Whit-
ney is a most admirable one. All the books are alphabetically
arranged and classified under the names of authors, titles, and
subjects, with many cross-references. The books are all classi-
fied, each subject, and each division of a subject being by itself.
One alcove in the library is devoted exclusively to the books,
pamphlets, etc., relating particularly to Concord.
The reference department is a very important one. It in-
cludes many valuable books in all departments of learning. Its
advantages are seen every day, not only in connection with
general readers, but with scholars from the higher schools;
words, technical terms, names, dates, and places in history,
A.R.E.E. POWBZ/C LZBA'AA' V. Io9.
geography and science, and illustrations and references in fiction,
are made clear by the works in this section.
Since the opening of the new library to the present date, a
period of six years and five months, during which time over
one hundred and fifty-two thousand volumes have been given
out, not a volume has been lost or seriously injured, without
being replaced by the borrower. º
The library is now supported by appropriations from the
town, and by income from a permanent fund donated and be-
queathed to the library by different individuals.
The library is open every day except Sundays and holidays,
from 9 to 12 A.M. and from 2 to 6 P.M., and on Saturday
evenings from 7 to 9 o'clock.
Visitors will be interested in examining the fine oil painting
of Emerson by David Scott of Edinburgh, painted in 1848;
an oil painting of Columbus copied by Raphael Mengs from the
portrait by Titian ; a copy of Stuart's Washington by Wm.
Marshall; an engraving of Emerson by Schoff made from
Rouse's crayon ; a crayon of Thoreau by Rouse ; a bust of
Emerson by Gould ; bust of Plato ; Miss Landor's bust of
Hawthorne; Dexter's bust of Agassiz ; Gould's bust of Mr.
Munroe ; French's bust of Simon Brown; a bust of Horace
Mann ; a picture of the old jail drawn by a British officer im-
prisoned there ; the sword carried by Capt. Isaac Davis at the
Concord Fight; spontoon carried at the Concord Fight : scis-
sors with which the cartridges were cut, and the anvil on which
guns were repaired previous to the Concord Fight. -
C H A P T E R V I.
THE MONUMENTS.
The Monuments. The spot on which the British fought
has long been marked by a plain, granite monument, which
bears upon a tablet the following inscription written by Dr.
Edward Jarvis.
Here
on the 19th of April, 1775,
was made the first forcible resistance to
British Aggression.
On the opposite bank stood the American militia,
Here stood the invading army.
and on this spot the first of the enemy fell
in the War of the Revolution,
which gave Independence to these United States.
I IO
7///E MOVUWAEAVZ.S. III.
In gratitude to God, and in the love of Freedom,
This monument was erected,
A. D. 1836.
For the side where the Americans fought, Mr. D. C. French,
a young sculptor of the town, has designed a bronze statue of
THE NORTH BRIDGE AND MONUMENT.
the Minute Man of the day, with wonderful truth and vigor of
action; and it is visited daily by people who come from far and
near, and the bridge, which has been built by the citizens of the
town to copy the old North Bridge, is constantly being crossed
by every description of vehicle, conveying passengers to study
the details of the monument, as the costume of the expectant
soldier, the old-fashioned plough upon which he leans, and the
old flint-lock musket, which he grasps, are careful copies of the

II 2 7HAE COMCOAEA) GCV/Z)Z BOOK.
originals from which the young artist made the closest studies.
Upon the granite base are cut the first lines of one of Emerson's
hymns. It has been well said, “ Few towns can furnish a poet,
a sculptor, and an occasion.”
As they pass over the bridge on their return, even the most
careless visitor pauses for a moment at the grave of the British
soldiers, who, for a hundred years, have lain on the spot where
they were hastily buried on the afternoon of the Fight, by two
of the Concord men who made a grave for them just where
they had fallen. No one knew their names, and they slept un-
wept, save by the murmuring pines, with the very same rough
stones from the wall which have been their only monuments for
one hundred years until at the last centennial celebration the
town caused this inscription to be cut on the stone which forms.
a part of the wall, “Grave of British Soldiers.” The avenue
of pine trees was set out by the citizens in one morning, as each
one brought and placed in the row a little sapling; and
some of the towns-people are now able to tell which tree was
planted by their ancestor. The two large trees which stood
near the river were in existence at the time of the battle.
The monument on the Common in memory of the soldiers.
who fell in the late civil war was erected April 19th, 1867. It
bears on a bronze tablet the names of all the departed heroes.
“who found in Concord a birthplace, home or grave.” The
motto “Faithful unto death,” is cut on the south side, and the
dates of the beginning and the end of the war are on the north
side, Near it is an elm tree under which, according to tradition,
£ \! \ N.
II NU.’ſ I
ſeº,
THE

7A/E MOAVUMEAV7S. I I5
the Rev. William Emerson delivered his famous speech on the
morning of the fight. A hundred years later, when the descen-
dants of the same men who fought that day returned from the
bloody battle-fields of the South, bearing in honor the same an-
cient names and assisted at the dedication of the monument to
their comrades who were “faithful unto death,” the present Mr.
Emerson delivered an address, standing in the shade of the
same noble old elm, making true the lines in the ode sung on
that day:
“Beneath the shadow of the elm where ninety years ago
Old Concord's rustic heroes met to face a foreign foe,
We come to consecrate this stone to heroes of to-day,
Who perished in a holy cause as gallantly as they.
The patriot preacher's bugle call that April morning knew,
Still lingers in the silver tones of him who speaks to you,
As on their former muster fields called by its notes again,
Those ancient heroes seem to greet brave Prescott and his men.
. And as each soldier saint appears to answer to his name,
Not one has dimmed the lustre of its old unconquered fame;
They, too, have left their peaceful fields for scenes of bloody strife
And death has changed to hallowed ground the fields they tilled in life.
The bronze and stone we proudly rear must surely pass away,
But deathless lives of dying braves can never know decay;
For freed from stain of slavery, our re-united land,
The soldier's proudest monument will ever firmly stand."
*
116 Z//E COAVCO/º/D GU/DE BOOA.
An eloquent address was made upon this occasion by the
Hon. E. R. Hoar, who also made a speech of welcome to the
soldiers on their return, which is remembered with pride and
pleasure by all who heard it.
THE MONUMENT ON THE COMMON.
The 19th of April will ever be a memorable day in Concord,
not only as the anniversary of the first battle of the Revolution,
but because of its singular bearing upon the history of our whole
country ; for we learn from Palfrey that in June, 1602, Gos-
nold's ship, the Concord, left America on her return, Eighty-

7A/E MOAVOMEAV7.S. 117
six years after, on the 19th of April, Sir Edmund Andros was
imprisoned; eighty-six years after, on the 19th of April, the
battle of Concord was fought ; eighty-six years after, on the
19th of April, the first attack was made in Baltimore upon the
Northern forces on their way to Washington, and on the same
day the first company left Concord for Washington, composed
largely of descendants, bearing the names of the same men who
fought in 1775.
The Town Hall is bellind the old elm, where the orators
before alluded to have spoken ; and next on the right is the
building formerly used as a Court House, behind which an old
gate stood, within the memory of some natives of the town,
which was the entrance to the field held in common by the forty
original holders.
C H A P T E R W II.
THE STUDIO – THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP,
The studio of Mr. Daniel Chester French stands in the
orchard of the farm of his father, Hon. H. F. French, not far from
the station of the Fitchburg Railroad. It was built in the year
1879 in the modified Queen Anne style, after a plan of his own.
It consists of two buildings united, the reception and the work-
ing room; the outside is finished to a hel,’t of ten feet in
olive-green mastic, over which round shingles v Venetian red
extend to the brown roof which rises to a height ºf nineteen
feet from the entrance, which is twelve feet.
The reception room is ornamented with antique furniture, and
decorated with tapestry and curtains and pieces of Kensington
I 18
A/A2. AºA'AºAVC// 'S STOVD/O. I IQ
work. Endymion, Echo, and other statues, and bas-reliefs of
owls and other figures, are in this room, and the space by the
door is filled with a deep window-seat of a quaint and rich
MR. FRENCII’s STUDIO.
design, with a tasteful combination of colors; and the space
above it is filled by a bas-relief and Japanese and other orna-
ments. The work room contains The Minute Man in the original
plaster, his great group of Law, Prosperity and Power, busts of
Emerson and Judge French, and many models and works in vari-
ous stages of completion. Mr. French's earliest important

I2O 7A/AE COAVCOA’/D GO/DE BOOA.
work, “The Minute Man,” which as before mentioned,
stands on the scene of the Fight at the old North Bridge,
was completed in 1874, when he was twenty-four years old.
Before its dedication he went to Florence, Italy, to pursue his
studies, and while there, among other works of lesser note he
modelled his “Endymion.” After his return to this country he
worked awhile in Washington, then in Boston, and in the
spring of 1879 permanently established himself in his dearly
loved town and built the studio.
His bust of Emerson, showing in the best light the ripe ma-
turity of the scholar, teacher and poet, is well worth the year's
work if nothing else had been done.
Mr. French's colossal designs of “Peace and Vigilance ’’ and
“Law, Prosperity and Power,” have been much admired, while
his portrait busts are very successful.
His swift advance in his ten years' devotion to his art, from
the time when his first clay was given him by the lamented
May Alcott, to to-day, when his matured work commands praise
from the severest critics, is a warrant that the studio and the
sculptor will long be one of the best attractions of Concord.
The “Old Curiosity Shop.” It would have delighted the
heart of Dickens or Scott to be able to examine the remarkable
collection of rare and curious articles which Mr. C. E. Davis has
for years been gathering, and which can be seen in his rooms at
the Court House. It is in reality, nothing less than a “Curios-
ity Shop,” and embraces a greater variety of family relics
than the great novelist ever dreamed of.
7A/E O/L/O COAC/OS/2"Y SA/OA'. - I 2 I
There is scarcely a family in Concord whose ancestors have
not contributed to this collection. There are dozens of sets, and
parts of sets of old family china, from one hundred to two hun-
dred and fifty years old—furniture once belonging to Peter
Bulkeley, and brought by him from England in 1635 – many
articles once belonging to Thoreau, among others, the cane bed-
stead on which he slept in his hut in Walden Woods, and on
which he died ; his desk and chair used at Walden, and the pen
with which he wrote his last words — a very beautiful old
clock, said to be at least three hundred years old, also an old
chair, both of which belonged to Dr. John Prescott, who died
in 1729—a chair once belonging to John Beatton, who was
town treasurer of Concord, and who died about 1776 — an old
looking-glass belonging to the Minot family in 1705 — another
looking-glass said to be several hundred years old — an old bed-
stead, with curious curtains, brought from England in 1670 — a
napkin used by Mary of Guise, mother of Mary, Queen of
Scots, also a piece of a curtain embroidered by the Queen — a
workbox, used by Queen Elizabeth ; the former ownership of
these articles of royalty, is well authenticated — a pitcher once
belonging to Robert Burns, presented by his sister to Margaret
Murry, and by her to Mr. Davis — an old book printed in 1628
with the autograph of “Peter Bulkley, Concord Towne, 1640.”
a sword of a British soldier, left in Concord in 1775 — a
sword worn by Capt. Nathan Barrett at the Concord Fight — a
British gun found on the road to Boston, April 19th, 1775 — an
Indian basket found on Lee's Hill, when the town was first set-
tled — a part of the communion service used in the Concord
I22 7A/E COAVCORD GUIDAE BOOK.
church, in times of the Bulkeleys — a coffee urn which belonged
to Gov. Winthrop — a spear carried at the head of a Concord
company two hundred years ago — Indian relics innumerable,
and thousands of other curiosities which we have no room to
enumerate.
No person should visit Concord without examining Mr.
Davis' wonderful collection.
C H A P T E R V III.
VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
The Middlesex Mutual Fire Insurance Co. was organized
March 29, 1826. Its first President was the Hon. Abiel Hey-
wood, distinguished as a physician as well as for honorable
service in town and state, as in later life he turned his attention
from professional to public duties and was Associate Judge of
the Court of Sessions, and as Justice of the Peace and Quorum,
heard most of the cases in and about the town which were
within his jurisdiction ; he was also town clerk for a period of
thirty-eight years. He graduated in 1781, was married at the
age of sixty-two, and died October 29th, 1839, aged 80 years.
His monument of Scotch granite is one of the ornaments of
Sleepy Hollow, and his memory is cherished by his townsmen.
His son, Geo. Heywood, holds the positions of his father as Presi-
dent of the Insurance Company, and town clerk, the books having
I23
I 24 7A/E COMCOAEA) GO/DA BOOA.
been kept by them for over sixty-five years. He has also been
for seven years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives
and Senate, and is now a member of the Governor's Council.
Its first Secretary and Treasurer was the Hon. Nathan Brooks,
whose upright character and wisdom made him the counsellor
and guide of thousands, and his genial wit and kindness of
heart will make him long remembered and loved. He was a
successful lawyer in which profession he was succeeded by his
son, the Hon. George M. Brooks, who has been in the Massa-
chusetts House of Representatives and Senate, and United
States House of Representatives, and is now Judge of Probate.
The present Secretary is Richard Barrett Esq., and the organi-
zation under the existing management is one of the most pow-
erful and trustworthy in the State.
The Charitable Society has been successful in relieving
distress and almost exterminating pauperism from the town
since 1814, to the present day, when it is more vigorous and
efficient than ever, being managed wholly by ladies.
The Fire Society was organized May 5th, 1794. Each
member was obliged to keep in order a long ladder, and two or
more fire buckets in a convenient place, and many of the latter
are to be seen langing in the entrys of the old houses. The
first fire engine was procured in 1794. -
The Middlesex Agricultural Society held its first show
in Concord on the 11th of October, 1820, and formerly owned
a tract of land in the center of what is now the area of Sleepy
Hollow. Upon the sale of this land to the town they pur-
chased the extensive grounds, and built the hall and other con-
PAA’/OO.S OA’GAA. ZZA ZZOAVS. I25
veniences near the depot of the Fitchburg Railroad where large
gatherings are held in the fall of each year. It has for a Presi-
dent the noted manufacturer, financier, and scientist, John
Cummings, Esq., and for a Vice-President John B. Moore, well-
known as gardener, florist and lecturer, as well as by the fruit and
vegetables which bear his name.
The Concord Grape now so well known all over the coun-
try, may properly be mentioned in this connection. This grape
was produced by the scientific process of hybridizing, by Mr.
Ephraim Bull, of Concord. It is believed to be a cross between
the Isabella and the native wild grape, from which it was ob-
tained. The grapes prior to this in Massachusetts were the
Isabella, Catawba, Diana, and one or two others, all of which
were more or less uncertain in ripening their fruit, as they are
at the present time. The Concord was introduced to the public
in 1855, and immediately became very popular, not only in New
England, for which it was specially fitted by its early ripening,
but all over the country. Nursery-men everywhere multiplied the
plants as fast as they were able, and in a few years there were
thousands of vines all over the country, as there are now mil-
lions of them, in the numerous vineyards of the South and West.
In 1852, Mr. James S. Lippincott of New Jersey, in the Agri-
cultural Report of that year, remarks that many hardy north-
ern grapes “find in lower latitudes and warmer zones a more
congenial climate, and attain there a degree of perfection never
reached farther north. Thus the Concord is so highly esteemed
in some parts of the West, in lower latitudes, as almost to sur-
126 THE COAVCO/ø/) G UZZOA. AE’OOA.
pass the Delaware.” In some respects it does surpass the Dela-
Ware, which rarely ripens in the New England States.
In 1868, in Iowa, 50,000 gallons of wine were made in Des
Moines county alone, and it was said “the Concord is the
favorite grape, though many others are grown.”
In Missouri, in 1868, it was said “thousands of pounds of
grapes are now produced where one pound was grown twenty
years ago.” “The Concord maintains its reputation in all parts
of the State.” “The Concord with ample room, frequently
produced one hundred pounds to the vine.” Mr. Husmann
“thinks it will produce the wine for the masses; a life and
health inspiring, gentle stimulant, destined to become the every
day drink of the sturdy laborer, and supplant the fiery whiskey
that has been too long the national beverage.” -
In Wisconsin, in 1868, the Concord was the favorite variety;
and in Michigan, it was said, the Concord and Delaware were
the most extensively planted. In Ohio, the same year, 143,767
gallons of wine were produced, largely from the Concord grape.
It ripens early everywhere, and is admitted to be a good table
grape, and some years ago, all through the West and Northwest,
was regularly sold to passengers at all the railroad stations east
of the Rocky Mountains. In the great region beyond the Mis-
sissippi, as well as throughout New York, the Lake Region,
Pennsylvania and Virginia, there are thousands of acres of
vineyards and millions of vines. The nursery-men in the West-
ern States sell hundred of thousand of vines, one, two and three
years old, and in some years were not able to supply the de-
mand. It is entirely safe to say that no single fruit of any kind,
VAR/OUS ORGAAVIZA ZYO/VS. 127
ever produced, has ever been received with such favor, given
such universal satisfaction, or been so widely spread, in our
own, and to a considerable extent in foreign countries. It is
still sold by nursery men in all parts of the country to a very
large extent, notwithstanding the introduction of many new
varieties.
Within a few years past a very large number of vines and
cuttings have been called for in France and Germany, and it is
said to be the only vine known which resists the phyloxera,
which has so fearfully destroyed the vineyards of Europe.
Mr. Bull at this time, is cultivating very extensively two new
varieties of grapes, derived from the same parentage, which are
said to be superior in many respects to the Concord, one of
them ranks as a white grape. These have been named respect-
ively, the Esther (white) and the Rockwood, and it is presumed
will be offered to the public in 1881.
In 1862, Maj. Adlum, who had the honor of introducing the
Catawba grape, in 1823, thought that simple act a matter of so
much importance, that he said in a letter to Mr. Longworth, “In
bringing the Catawba grape into public notice, I have rendered
my country a greater service than I could have done had I paid
off the national debt.”*
If this be so, and we think the statement correct, it may well
be asked what is due to Mr. Bull, who has created and intro-
duced so valuable a grape and profited so little by his skill and
labor in this cause? The hills and gardens of Concord speak
his praise, and the whole country owes him a debt which it
*See Agricultural Report, 1862, p. 508.
I28 7A/E CONCORD GUIDAE BOOK.
would be well if a portion of it, say one cent upon each vine
growing in the country, could be paid ; it is eminently deserved
and would be much less than is justly his due.
The Concord Artillery was incorporated on Feb. 28th,
1804, and first paraded on the following 4th of July. The in-
scription on their cannon is as follows:
The Legislature of Massachusetts consecrate the names of Maj. John But-
rick and Capt. Isaac Davis whose valor and example excited their fellow
citizens to a successful resistance of a superior number of British troops at
Concord Bridge the 19th of April 1775 which was the beginning of the
contest in arms that ended in American Independence.”
This company formed a portion of the regiment under the
command of the gallant Col. Prescott which went from the
town to the seat of the Rebellion on the 19th of April 1861,
and many of its members enlisted for the war and followed him
from Bull Run and the bloody field of Fredricksburg to the
victory of Gettysburg, and through the many engagements be-
tween the wilderness and Petersburg, where on the 18th of June
he received a mortal wound and died the next day. These
verses were copied in his funeral oration:
“Deck out your hills old Concord in all your summer pride,
To welcome back your soldier who for Liberty has died.
Trail in the dust your weeping elms along the silent street,
And with pride and sorrow mingled, prepare your dead to meet,
For he loved the gentle river, with its calm and peaceful shore,
He loved the quiet village life, but he loved his country more;
For he heard her earliest call for help, and answering to the cry,
Showed how a soldier ought to fight, and a Christian ought to die."
VA/ē/OUS OA’GAAV/ZA ZZOA'.S. I29
The Institution of Masonry has always held a respectable
footing in Concord, and, in its history, numbers among its mem-
bers many of the most prominent citizens of the town. The
Corinthian Lodge was organized in 1797, under a charter from
the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, of the 16th of June, signed
by the M. W. Grand Master Paul Revere, of Revolutionary
memory, and by Isaiah Thomas, of equal historic eminence, Grand
Secretary. In the organization of the lodge, Rev. Dr. Morse, of
Charlestown, delivered the address, and at the dedication of the
first hall, November 13th, 1820, a Masonic address was pro-
nounced by R. W. Benj. Gleason, grand lecturer of Massachu-
setts. W. Isaac Hurd was first master, and Rev. Dr. Ripley was
one of the early initiates in 1798. Among the masters of the
lodge may be mentioned the names of Francis Jarvis, Benj.
Ball, John Brown, John Keyes, William Whiting, Ephraim H.
Bellows, Louis A. Surette, Geo. P. How, and many others. Among
its prominent members were Abel Barrett, Abraham Skinner,
Thos. O. Selfridge, Grovesnor Tarbell of Lincoln, David Barnard,
Gershom Fay, Nathan Heald, Rufus Hosmer, Samuel Ripley,
Calvin C. Damon, Thomas Todd, Hartwell Bigelow, Samuel P.
P. Fay, (afterwards Grand Master), and many others, including
citizens of Acton, Lincoln, Carlisle, Stow, Bedford, Chelmsford,
Dracut, Weston, Sudbury, and other towns. For many years
the meetings were held in the hall of the building used for a
school house, and afterwards as an engine house, opposite the
Court House. In 1871, a new hall was erected on the Main
street in the village, near the public square, which was dedicated
on the 26th of February, 1872, when a masonic address was de-
130 ZTHE COA'COA’/O GUZZ)/2 BOOA.
livered by R. W.William Wilder Wheildon. The occasion was
honored by the presence of the officers of the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts, M. W. John J. Heard, Grand Master. The
lodge is now in a prosperous condition. -
Walden Royal Arch Chapter, which was organized in 1874,
holds its monthly convocations in the new masonic hall.
The Concord Bank was incorporated March 3d, 1832.
Daniel Shattuck was the first President, and John M. Cheney
Jashier. Mr. Shattuck continued in office until October 1860,
when he was succeeded by George Heywood. The Bank re-or-
ganized under the National Banking Act, February 23d, 1865, as
the Concord National Bank of Concord, retaining Mr. Heywood
and Mr. Cheney. Mr. Cheney died Feb. 13th, 1869, and was suc-
ceeded by Henry J. Walcott the present incumbent. Mr.
Heywood has held the office of President since the re-organiza-
tion, and John M. Cheney was Cashier of this bank from its in-
corporation until his death, thus holding the office for more than
thirty years. Mr. Cheney graduated in 1821 in the class with
R. W. Emerson, Gov. Kent, Judge Upham, Josiah Quincy and
other noted men. Before his appointment as Cashier Mr.
Cheney practiced law at Lexington and Concord.
Water Supply. Sandy Pond, from whence the water is
obtained which supplies Concord so abundantly, lies in the
neighboring town of Lincoln, two and a half miles from the
centre of Concord village. It is a beautiful sheet of water,
covering an area of one hundred and fifty acres at its mean
height, and varies only about two feet from its highest to its
lowest elevation. The pond is capable of furnishing half a
VA/º/OUS OA’GAAV/ZA 7/OAVS. 13
million gallons daily — enough for ten thousand inhabitants,
allowing fifty gallons each per day. The character of the water
is remarkable for its extreme purity, containing as it does an
unusually small quantity of mineral and organic matter in solu-
tion, there being only one and three fourths grains of solid
matter in a gallon of the water. Prof. Goessmann says, so far
as he is able to determine, its analysis places the water of Sandy
Pond, as regards purity, first among all waters used in this or
any other country. The average impurities in the waters from
upwards of forty different sources in the United States and
Europe, is 5.07 grains per U. S. gallon, the range being from
1.77 for Concord to 16.38 for London. The mean elevation of
Sandy Pond above Main street is fully one hundred feet, and
when using hose, a stream can be thrown from a hydrant to the
top of any building in town. Of all the blessings which Con-
cord enjoys, this is certainly one of the purest and best.
The Concord Lyceum was formed January 7, 1829, and
the Debating Society which had been in existence six years was
united to it. Its organization consisted at first, of President,
two Vice Presidents (all clergymen), two Secretaries, a Treas-
urer and three Curators, but for many years it has been chiefly
managed by two Curators.
Every lecturer of note in New England and New York states,
has been heard before this organization, the most celebrated
orators having made frequent addresses here, including Beecher,
Curtis, Gough, Whipple, Phillips etc. On the occasion of its
centennial anniversary, Judge Hoar delivered a most eloquent
tribute to Emerson and others who had done much to sustain
I 32 7/7/2 COAVCO/0/X GO///D/2 ÅOOA.
and carry it on. In February of the year 1879, Mr. Emerson
delivered his one hundredth lecture before the Lyceum. The
hall was crowded with his towns-people, and strangers who
were attracted from Boston and other places, to listen to him,
all were delighted to hear him speak with great power, —
the lecture being by everyone considered as one of his best.
Among the peculiar institutions of Concord are the Clubs.
The Social Circle, the most venerable of these, was founded
about 1782, and probably grew out of the famous Committee of
Safety. It includes twenty-five of our most influential men,
who sup together twenty-five times annually on successive
Tuesday evenings. After the death of any member his memoir
is read to the others and then preserved in manuscript. There
has been only one instance of failure to do this, and the member
in question left town some time before his death.
The Farmer's Club, next in age, started about 1852, and
contains some of the ablest agriculturists in Eastern Massa-
chusetts. Essays are read and discussions held at the meetings,
which conclude with a supper when held in private dwellings.
At present the sessions take place in the Court House every
Friday evening. The collection of essays and reports of dis-
cussions is large and valuable.
The Dramatic Club, which is the oldest to which both ladies
and gentlemen belong, was founded in 1875, has given several
excellent comedies and an operatta in the Town Hall, and now
occasionally reads plays at private houses to keep itself in train-
ing for future triumphs. -
The Saturday Club. Among the most interesting of our
VAA’/OUS ORGAAVIZA TYO/WS. I33
literary and social meetings are those held by the Saturday
Club, which was founded by Mme. Nieriker, then Miss May
Alcott, on January 22d, 1876, and has continued ever since to
assemble on alternate Saturdays, usually in the evening, at the
houses of the ladies and gentlemen composing it. There is a
large membership, and many guests have been invited to the
summer picnics, as well as to the so-called open clubs, before
which such visitors as Dr. Hedge, Dr. Peabody, Professor C. C.
Everett, Professor Davidson, Mr. C. D. B. Mills, and Rev. Wm.
J. Potter have read their essays. Memorial meetings were held
in January and February 1860, in honor of two of its mem-
bers recently deceased, one of these being its founder.
This lady designed this club originally for artistic study, and
as her plan failed to be carried out, she established a regular
Art Club which did much faithful work during the remaining
months of 1876.
The Shakespeare Club began its readings on January 29th,
1878, some months after the dissolution of an older club of sim-
ilar character. The ladies and gentlemen in the present club
meet every Monday evening during about nine months of the
year. In the summer vacation there have been some pleas-
ant picnics, for which original poems and other papers have
been contributed by the members and their guests.
The Amateurs. Another Shakespeare Club, which calls itself
the Amateurs and meets every Saturday evening, was organized
March 13th, 1878, by some young ladies who called in young
gentlemen as associates early in the autumn of 1879.
Soon after this, the Musical Association, which had held
I 34 7A/Z COA. COA’/D GO //D/E /5 OOA .
meetings and given concerts in previous years, was re-organized;
a Young Men's Supper Club, which meets on Tuesday evenings
was formed; the Frolic Club of young ladies, who play games
on the evenings of alternate Tuesdays, was started.
The B. C. & W. Club has its room in Heywood's block on
the Mill-dam. This Club was established in 1858, and was
“formed to promote social intercourse, and provide means of
pleasant recreation among its members.” Any gentleman is
eligible for membership. The club is limited to forty members.
The club-room is open, on week days only, from 9 A. M.
to 11 P. M.
The Concord Club organized Nov. 29, 1880, with Geo. A.
King, Esq., as President, is the most recent addition to the many
flourishing clubs in the village. It occupies a commodious,
convenient club-house, comfortably furnished, and fitted out
with bowling alley, billiard and game tables. It is a peculiar
feature of this club, that members may, without restriction, in-
vite ladies to enjoy its attractions, and to profit by the oppor-
tunities it affords for rational and healthful recreation.
To complete the list of societies it should be mentioned that
some admirers of Robert Browning began early in 1880 to read
his dramas together, as had been done two years previous, and
also that Concord, like other towns, has its Whist Clubs, Odd
Fellows and Good Templars, its Sewing Circles, and Young
Ladies' Bees, and its Afternoon Bible Classes.
The Concord Freeman a weekly paper originally published
by Herman Atwill on Dec. 11th, 1834, was re-established by
Pratt Bros. of Marlboro, on the 19th of April, 1875.
C H A P T E R I X .
THE SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY.
The School of Philosophy. This is the newest institution
of Concord, and is now in short session from year to year. It
was opened in 1879, at the Orchard House of Mr. Alcott, where
the sessions were held in Mr. Alcott's library, and in the room
adjoining, which had been the studio of May Alcott, before she
went abroad in 1877, on that pilgrimage of art from which she
was never to return. In the coming summer, and in future
years, the sessions will be held in a new hall, standing on the
hillside west of the Orchard House, under the pine trees that
crown the slope. It is a plain little structure, called “The
Chapel,” arranged for the convenience of the school, but with-
out luxury or ornament. Over its porch is trained Mr. Alcott's
135
136 - 7A/E COAVCOR/D GUIDAE BOOA.
largest grape vine, and on either side of it shady paths lead by
arbors to the hill-top
The history of the Concord School of Philosophy, though
brief, is interesting, and dates back farther than the year of its
opening. So long ago as 1842, when Mr. Alcott, (then living
at the Hosmer Cottage, where his daughter May was born)
visited England, he began to collect books for the library of a
school of the First Philosophy, to be established in some part of
New England. For this purpose Mr. James Pierrepont Greaves,
the English friend and disciple of Pestalozzi, who died in
March, 1842, bequeathed a collection of curious volumes, which
Mr. Alcott and an English friend, Charles Lane, brought over
from London and deposited in Concord. For many years they
have stood on the shelves in the Orchard House, and they are
how destined to form a part of the library of the Concord
School. In pursuance of his long cherished plan, Mr. Alcott in
1878 arranged with his neighbor, Mr. F. B. Sanborn, to make a
beginning, and early in the year 1879 a Faculty of Philosophy
was organized informally at Concord, with members residing,
some in that town, some in the vicinity of Boston, and others
at the West. In course of the spring, the Dean of this Faculty,
Mr. A. Bronson Alcott, and the Secretary, Mr. Sanborn,
issued a circular calling the School together for a session of five
weeks in July and August.
Mr. Alcott, as Dean of the Faculty, opened the School on
the morning of July 15, 1879, with an address of welcome, and
closed it on the evening of August 16, with a valedictory
address. Between these two dates, the persons named be-
PHILOSOPHY
THE SCHOOL UF

SCA/OO/ OF AH//LOSOAA/Y. I39
low gave Lectures or Conversations on the following topics
— occupying for each exercise a period of above two hours on
the average : —
Alectures by Mr. Alcott. I. Welcome, and plan of future conversations.
2. The Powers of the Person in the descending scale. 3. The same in the
ascending scale. 4. Incarnation. 5. The Powers of Personality in detail.
6. The Origin of Evil. 7. The Lapse into Evil. 8. The Return from the
Lapse (the Atonement). 9. Life Eternal. Io. Valedictory.
Aectures by Prof. W. T. Harris. I. How Philosophical Knowing dif-
fers from all other forms of Knowing; the Five Intentions of the mind. 2.
The discovery of the First Principle and its relation to the Universe. 3. Fate
and Freedom. 4. The conscious and unconscious First Principle in relation
to human life. 5. The Personality of God. 6. The Immortality of the
Soul. 7. Physiological Psychology. 8. The method of study of Specula-
tive Philosophy. 9. Art, Religion and Philosophy in relation to each other
and to man. Io, The Dialectic.
Lectures by Mrs. E. D. Cheney. I. The general subject of Art 2.
Greek Art. 3. Early Italian Art. 4. Italian Art. 5. Michael Angelo. 6.
Spanish Art. 7. German Art. 8. Albert Durer. 9. French Art. Io.
Contemporaneous Art.
Alectures by Z2*. H. A. Jones. I. General content of the Platonic Philos-
ophy. 2. The Apology of Socrates. 3. The Platonic idea of Church and
State. 4. The Immortality of the Soul. 5. Reminiscence as related to the
Pre-existence of the Soul. 6. Pre-existence. 7. The Human Body. 8.
The Republic. 9. The Material Body. Io, Education.
Zectures &y J/r. D. A. Wasson. 1. Social Genesis and Texture. 2. The
Nation. 3. Individualism as a Political Principle, 4. Public Obligation. 5.
Sovereignty. 6. Absolutism crowned and uncrowned. 7. Representation.
8. Rights. 9. The Making of Freedom. Io. The Political Spirit of '76.
Lectures by Prof. Benjamin Peirce. 1. Ideality in Science. 2. Cos-
mogony.
140 7HE coycoRD GUIDE Book:
By J/r. T. IV. Higginson. I. The Birth of American Literature. 2.
Literature in a Republic.
By A/r. Thomas Davidson. I. The History of Athens as revealed in 1ts
topography and monuments. 2. The same, continued.
By J/r. Emerson. I. Memory.
By Mr. Sanborn. I. Social Science. 2. Philanthropy and Public
Charities.
By /čev. Dr. C. A. Bartol. I. Education.
By 1/7. H. G. O. B/a/.e. I. Selections from Thoreau's Manuscripts.
These subjects will give a general motion of the scope of the
School in its first year. The eourses of lectures (with excep-
tion of Mrs. Cheney's, which were historical and biographical,)
were distinctly philosophical, while the single lectures and pairs
were either literary or general in their character. The conver-
sations accompanying or following the lectures took a wide
range, and were carried on by the students, the Faculty, and by
invited guests, among whom may be specially named Miss
Elizabeth P. Peabody and Mrs. R. W. Emerson, of Concord,
Rev. Dr. Kidney, of Faribault, Minn., and Mr. R. G. Hazard,
of Rhode Island. By the courtesy of certain families in Con-
cord, evening Conversations and Receptions, eight in all, were.
given at the houses of Mr. Emerson, Mr. Edward Hoar, Miss
Ripley, Mr. Fay Barrett, Mr. Edwin S. Barrett, Mr. R. N. Rice,
Mr. Alcott, and Judge Hoar; thus testifying the hospitality of
the town, and bringing the School into social relations with its
people. The whole number of persons, (students, invited
guests and visitors,) who attended one or more sessions of the
School, was nearly four hundred, of whom about one-fourth
were residents of Concord. Others came from New Hampshire,
.SCA/OO/L OF PHAZOSO/2//Y. I4 P
Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina,
Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Colorado, California, Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. The
average attendance of students was about 40; of the students
and Faculty about 45; but at Mr. Emerson's lecture 160 were
present, and at several of the other sessions more than 70.
The receipts from fees and single tickets paid all the expenses
of the School, without leaving a surplus; thus showing that the
scale of tuition and expense adopted was a reasonable one.
This will therefore be continued in the coming years.
So much for the details of this Academy. Its spirit can
best be learned from a morning or evening spent at the con-
versations — for its method of instruction, like that of its
founder, Mr. Alcott, is chiefly by conversation. In the session
of 1881 it was decided wisely to make the school distinct-
ively one of Philosophy, using Literature only as its vehicle
or adjunct, and dispensing with Science, as commonly under-
stood. A few lectures, perhaps, will be given to show the
relation which natural science bears to philosophy, but the
whole field of empirical and phenomenal investigation will be
left for those who have a taste for it. Mr. Channing, the
nephew and biographer of Dr. Channing, who returned from
2ngland in 1880 for a visit to his native land, had introduced
a new feature, the religious philosophy of the Orient, which
had lately been set forth in one of its more popular forms by
Mr. Channing's kinsman, Mr. Edwin Arnold, author of “The
Light of Asia.” It is not generally known that this poem,
142 THA COAVCO/C/D GO/DA2 BOOK.
which has proved so popular in America, was introduced here
through the Concord School. In the summer of 1879, Mr.
Channing sent an early copy of it to Mr. Alcott, accompanied
by a letter in which he said: -
“When your cheering programme for the ‘Summer School of
Philosophy and Literature reached me, my wish was to bid
you God-speed in your most attractive enterprise of reviving
the “Academy' on the banks of Concord river, under the
shadows of your elms. And now it is my happiness to have it
in my power to prove my sympathy with the brave effort of
you and your compeers, by forwarding a book which will be in
harmony with the spirit and aim of your circle of ‘seekers
after truth. It is a poem called ‘The Light of Asia, in which
the effort is made to bring before our modern age in the west-
ern world that sublime embodiment of the finest genius of the
Orient, in its prince, whom we call Buddha, in living form, and
to trace the outline of his speculative and ethical system in
vivid pictorial representations. If it could be my delightful
privilege to join your group of fellow-students this summer, in
dear old Concord, my request would be to read this poem aloud,
book by book, with accompanying illustrations and comments,
drawn from the rich mines of Buddhistic literature; and then
to form a critical estimate of this ideal of Buddha, and his
doctrine of life, measured by the standard of our purest philos-
ophy, and by the Gospel, character, life, doctrine, precepts and
influence of ‘The Beloved Son.” This poem only serves to
deepen, enlarge and elevate my Christian faith. May that be
2
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The volume was taken by Mr. Alcott to his publisher in
Boston, and was soon reprinted in this country. It was, no
doubt, the text for some of Mr. Channing's lectures that sum-
mer; and this light from the East glowed also in the Western
Orientalism of Thoreau, whose manuscripts will again be drawn
upon by Mr. Blake, for those refreshing fragments of his pecu-
liar philosophy, which was especially religious in its character,
though not in accordance with any of the sects.
The Concord Summer School now opens its annual term in
the month of July, and continues two or three weeks. The
lectures are arranged in courses of five or three in pairs, and
by single lectures ; and in each week there will be eleven.
They are given morning and evening, except Saturday even-
ings, on the six secular days (in the morning at 9.30 o'clock,
and in the evening at 7.30), at the Hillside Chapel, near
the Orchard House.
All students should be registered on or before July 10, at the
office of the Secretary, in Concord. No preliminary examina-
tions are required, and no limitation of age, sex, or residence
in Concord will be prescribed ; but it is recommended that
persons under eighteen years should not present themselves as
students, and that those who can do so should reside in the town
during the term. The Concord Public Library of eighteen thou-
sand volumes, will be open every day for the use of residents.
Students coming and going daily during the term, may reach
Concord from Boston by the Fitchburg Railroad, or the Mid-
dlesex Central; from Lowell, Andover, etc., by the Lowell and
Framingham Railroad; from Southern Middlesex and Worces.
146 7THE COAVCO/C/D G (WZZXA BOOA.
ter Counties by the same road. The Orchard House stands on
the Lexington road, east of Concord village, adjoining the Way-
side estate, formerly the residence of Mr. Hawthorne.
The management of the Concord School, from the beginning,
has been in the hands of a Faculty, the officers of which have
been Mr. A. Bronson Alcott, Dean ; Mr. S. H. Emery, Jr.,
Director; and Mr. F. B. Sanborn, Secretary. These three, with
Dr. William T. Harris, Dr. H. K. Jones, Miss Peabody, Mrs.
Cheney, Mr. Snider, Dr. Kedney, Dr. Holland, or so many of
these and the other lecturers as happen to be in Concord, con-
stitute the Faculty for the time being ; but the permanent and
active members are Messrs. Alcott, Harris, Emery, and San-
born. In the second year of the School the Hillside Chapel
was built, with the aid of a small fund given by Mrs. Elizabeth
Thompson, of New York, and all the sessions are now held
there as already stated.
The variety of subjects considered during the time that the
School has existed show that its scope is not a narrow one ; and
the wide diversity of opinion among those who have spoken
from its platform may serve as a guarantee that no limitation
of sect or philosophical shibboleth has been enforced. The
aim of the Faculty has been to bring together a few of those
persons who, in America, have pursued, or desire to pursue,
the paths of speculative philosophy; to encourage these stu-
dents and professors to communicate with each other what they
have learned and meditated; and to illustrate, by a constant
reference to poetry and the higher literature, those ideas which
philosophy presents. The design was modest, and in no ambi-
.SCAWOOZ OA' A'Aſ/A, OSO/2A/V. I47
tious sense a public one ; nor have the Faculty been persuaded,
by the attention their experiment has aroused, to diverge from
the natural and simple path first chosen. The first purpose of
the School is conversation on serious topics — the lectures serv-
ing mainly as a text for discussion, while dispute and polemical
debate are avoided. In this they have sought to follow the
example of Emerson whose method in philosophy has proved
so attractive to many who may never reach the same intellec-
tual results. What is sought in the discussions at Concord is
not an absolute unity, of opinion, but a general agreement in
the manner of viewing plailosophic truth and applying it to the
problems of life.
This School was the last enterprise of a general character in
which Mr. Emerson engaged, and derived a portion of its inter-
est from his connection with it. This connection was not very
close, however, since its opening was delayed until those later
years of his life when he withdrew from an active part even in
conversation ; but he was fully cognizant of its aims, and in
the most friendly relation to its founders, the chief of whom
was Mr. Alcott. Although Mr. Alcott himself is withdrawn
from daily activity at the sessions of the School, he has main-
tained his interest in it ever since his retirement, through in-
firmity, in 1882. The work of the sessions is likely to deal
more with persons than at first, the career of Kant, of Emer-
son and of Goethe having been studied in 1881, 1884 and 1885.
The place of Plato, of Aristotle, of Hegel and other philoso-
phers in the world’s history, is likely to form the subject of
future years; while Dante will be discussed in 1886.
C H A P T E R IX.
LAIKE WALDEN.
Lake Walden. This pleasant and popular resort which lies
immediately on the line of the Fitchburg Railroad, is one of
the marked features of Concord, socially and geographically
speaking, and besides this, has something of history attached to
it. It was not prominent in the revolutionary war, but was, no
doubt, a favorite resort of the Musketaquid and Nashoba Indians,
and very likely, was frequently visited by the Hon. Peter
Bulkeley, the Rev. John Eliot of Roxbury, Simon Willard and
others — for these were all friends of the “praying Indians,”
who made a sort of Bible for them, one of the ordinances of
which was, that “no Indian shall take an Englishman's canoe.”
Of this famous pond, a writer has said, “successive nations per-
148
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chance, have drank it, admired and fathomed it, and still its
Water is green and pellucid as ever;” and Thoreau thinks, when
Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, “Walden Pond might
have been covered with myriads of ducks which had not heard
of the fall, when such pure lakes sufficed them.” From time
immemorial, Walden Pond has been a beautiful and retired
spot, and though the town has been a large contributor of terri-
tory to the adjoining towns of Lincoln, Bedford, Carlisle, etc.,
it has never shown a disposition to part with Walden Pond.
But besides its own claim to quiet, to scenery and popularity,
Whether ancient or modern, Henry D. Thoreau has added to its
history or mythology, and perhaps we may say, its literature.
He says, “The scenery of Walden Pond, is on an humble scale,
and though very beautiful does not approach to grandeur.” It
is not mountainous, nor is it monotonous, but pleasant, beauti-
ful, lovely and always full of interest. “It is a clear and deep
green well, half a mile long and a mile and three quarters in
circumference: a perennial spring in the midst of a pine and
oak woods, without any visible inlet or outlet except by the
clouds and evaporation.” The surrounding shores are compar-
atively without beaches, and the land rises within a quarter of a
mile, to the height of forty to a hundred feet above the level of
the water ; and the level of the water is forty or fifty feet above
the level of Concord River. -
There is no end of talking about Walden Pond, if one is dis-
posed to keep up the conversation ; though there are some
Indian legends not worth repeating. It is a picturesque sheet
‘I 52 7TH/AE COAVCOA’/O GO//DA2 A3 UOAT
of water, and as the water-shed is insignificant, is undoubtedly
supplied from springs at a distance, and is not affected by any
drought of long continuance ; yet, according to Thoreau's
observations, it is subject to a rise and fall of five or six feet —
a statement which frequent visitors to the Pond at different
seasons of the year, are not able to realize.
One of the first public uses of Walden Pond and its sur-
rounding groves, was for a public celebration of the freeing of
the slaves in the British West India Islands, by the British
Government. On this occasion flags were thrown across the
railroad track in the vicinity, and the ground specially deco-
rated with the flag of a free people. All the leading anti-slavery
men of the time were present, including Hon. Samuel Hoar
and Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Concord, Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips, and numerous other gentlemen of note. Since
this time, Lake Walden, as it is now called, has become one of
the most popular summer resorts in the neighborhood of Boston,
for the social meetings of associations, Sunday-schools, church
festivals, Fourth of July picnics, temperance meetings, spirit-
ualistic encampments, and latterly for the excursions of the
poor children of Boston, in which the people of Concord have
of recent years taken so much interest. The grounds are
furnished with seats, swings, dining-hall, dancing-hall, speaking-
room with seats, boats for excursions over the lake, bath houses,
etc., and is now to be provided with base ball grounds. The
walks are delightful and are occasionally extended to Concord
village, only about one mile distant.
Z ETA, AEA/E/CSOAV SCA/OOZ AſOCWSAZ. I 53
The Emerson School stands on the lot in the rear of the
present high schoolhouse, ending on Hubbard street.
The extreme length of the building is 106 feet, the depth
of the centre section 58 feet, and the depth of the two wings
44 feet. The centre section projects before the wings seven
feet on the east and west facades. The structure is a three-
story one, and the stone ashler underpinning is six feet high.
The brickwork of the first story is 10 feet high, and the wooden
second story 12 feet in height. The central roof, which is at
right angles to the wings is surmounted by a handsome spire,
which contains a belfry and ventilators. The entrance consists
of a 14-foot archway and recess with granite steps. This arch
has, for trimming, terra Cotta casts and moulded bricks. A
roomy hall runs entirely through the centre of the building
crosswise. On each side, in both the first and second stories,
are convenient wardrobe rooms. The length of this hall is
57 feet, and the width 10 feet. There are eight schoolrooms,
four on each floor. In size 20 feet and 6 inches by 40 feet
and 6 inches, having a seating capacity of 56 pupils each.
It was first occupied in December, 1880, and cost, besides
the appropriation of $13,350, $500 contributed by Reuben N.
Rice and $500 by Edwin S. Barrett for the purpose of having
the first story of the structure built of brick instead of wood,
as was originally intended. The first-named donor also paid
for the weather vane. This account is condensed from that of
G. E. Harrington, Esq.
The building committee of the Emerson school house were
Samuel Hoar, John B. Tileston, and Henry J. Hosmer.
C H A P T E R IX.
MAIN STREET, THE RIVER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.
Concord River begins at Egg Rock where it is formed by
the junction of the Sudbury and Assabet; the former rising
in Hopkinton and Westborough, and the latter in Grafton. It
varies in depth from two to fifteen feet, and from one hundred
to three hundred feet in width. In olden time its waters.
abounded in shad and salmon, which were so plentiful that it is
stated in the records of the colony that “no apprentice can be
compelled to eat salmon more than five days in the week,” but
now only miserable little perch, pout, and breams reward the
constant anglers who frequent the banks. Skilful fishermen can
secure pickerel of from half a pound to four pounds in weight,
and the black bass with which the bay was stocked, occasionally
I 54
:

7"HE A*/WAA’ AAV/O /7'S SC/RA’OO/AV/)/AVG.S. 157
surprise them. The Assabet or North Branch, having a fall of
about thirty feet, manages to partially carry on Mr. Damon's
cotton factory at Westvale, and to assist a little at the pail fac-
tory, but the Concord River proper is fortunately too sluggish
for work, and for that reason affords the perfection of boating
which is its chief charm, and thus gives amusement to hun-
dreds in the town and state. The Sudbury or South Branch
runs nearly in a line with Main street, and forms a canal which
in the pleasant season is even more used than the street. Every
family has its boats, over seventy being kept between the old
and new stone bridges, a distance of about two miles, and on a
pleasant evening one is more likely to meet friends on the
river than on the roads. Children of ten years sometimes man-
age a boat alone, and old men with white beards seem still to
enjoy a quiet row. Friends from nearly every state in the
Union find their way up the Assabet in the course of a summer,
and views of the quiet scenery are carried with them to their
busy homes. The town has no attraction to compare with it, as
nearly every day some trip is made by a picnic party to some of
its lovely spots. Space forbids much description of the roman-
tic places with which the river abounds, so the reader is referred
to the series of articles in the Wide Awake magazine, called
“Concord Picnic Days,” in which they will be fully illustrated
with pen and pencil. Brief mention will be made of them in
sketching the chief routes of the river trips which are short
enough to be enjoyed by the summer day sojourner, starting
from Egg Rock, which is the meeting place of the boats from
up and down river. The mouth of the Assabet, as has been
158 T//E COAVCOA’/O G. UZZOA 'A' OOA .
stated is at Egg Rock, and ascending it on the left bank are the
old hemlocks of which Hawthorne speaks in the “Mosses from
an Old Manse,” and of which every poet, philosopher and story
teller of Concord has delighted to sing the praise. Before the
Lowell R. R. destroyed many of these trees, one could row in
eight minutes from the bridge near the village, into the grand
solitude of the forest, and since tender hands have planted wil-
lows to mourn over the fallen giants, and hide the railroad bank,
it is beautiful even in desolation. Half a mile farther and the
river seems again shut in like a lake, and the vines tangled
among the trees and graceful black willows seem as wild as
when the Indians knew them. This romantic spot is the sup-
posed scene of the following lines, copied from Poems of Places.
FLOATING HEARTS.
One of Indian summer's most perfect days
Is dreamily dying in golden haze,
Fair Assabet blushes in rosy bliss,
Reflecting the Sun's warm good-night kiss.
Through a fleet of leaf-barques, gold and brown,
From the radiant maples shaken down,
I3y the ancient hemlocks, grim and gray
Our boat drifts slowly on its way;
Down past Egg Rock and the meadows wide,
'Neath the old red bridge we slowly glide,
Till we see the Minute-man, strong and grand,
And the moss-grown Manse in the orchard land.
“The boat is as full as a boat should be,
Just nobody in it but you and me.”
7THE RA VEA’ AAV/D /TS SOA’A’O UAV D/AVG.S. 159
As brown as the leaves are her beautiful eyes,
And as graceful her hand on the water lies
As she catches the leaves which languid float
On the lazy current along the boat.
Now she asks its name as she tears one apart —
“Fair lady that is a “floating heart.’”
Sad wrecks of years have drifted down
In the dreamless ocean to sink and drown
Since the beautiful eyes saw that lovely night
And haloed the river with visions bright,
But the floating heart that was caught that day
Has never been able to get away.
In order to show that the river worship is not confined to
natives of the town, this graphic sketch by Mrs. Delano Godd-
sard is copied here : -
“Concord itself is like no other town ; it seems utterly un-
disturbed by the turmoil and agitation of life, utterly free from
worldly ambition or petty rivalries of any sort. The hospitality
of its people is boundless; and so is their refined kindness, and
the beautiful village seems the one spot where there is abiding
“ peace on earth and good will to men.' Besides its historic
associations, its monuments, its library, and best of all, its peo-
ple, Concord has its slow, lovely river, of which Thoreau wrote:
‘Concord river is remarkable for the gentleness of its current.
I have read that the descent of an eighth of an inch in a mile
is sufficient to produce a flow. Our river has, probably, very
near the smallest allowance. The story is current, at any rate
though I believe that strict history will not bear it out, that the
I6o 7 A/A COAVCOA’/) GCV//DA. IBOOA'.
only bridge ever carried away on the main branch, within the
limits of the town was driven up stream by the Wind. The
sluggish artery of the Concord meadows steals thus unobserved
through the town, without a murmur or a pulse-beat, its general
course from southwest to northeast, and its length about fifty
miles; a huge volume of water, ceaselessly rolling through the
plains and valleys of the substantial earth, with the moccasined
tread of an Indian warrior, making haste from the high places
of the earth to its ancient reservoir.”
The main street of the town is parallel with the river, and the
comfortable row of old houses which face the street have gardens
at the back sloping down to the water. The numerous land-
ings, each with its little fleet of boats, dories, canoes, wherries
or other small outriggers, make the river very picturesque and
add greatly to the charm of boating in it. The morning we
were there we idled for hours on the stream, guided by one who
knows every inch of its windings; we rowed across the sunny
reaches, floated mid lucid shallows, just eluding water-lily
leaves,' pushed under the trees and drank of the spring of liv-
ing water, which gushes out there in some sylvan hiding-place;
and let the boat rest in the very spot that Hawthorne describes
in his “Mosses from an Old Manse,” where “there is a lofty
bank on the slope of which grow some hemlocks, declining
across the stream with outstretched arms as if resolute to take
the plunge.” Only a few are left now ; some as our friend said,
bent every year closer and closer to the water, and the quiet
stream lapped the earth at their roots, till one by one they
silently dropped into the river, and floated away. Others did
T//E /ø/ Pºº AAV/O / 7.5 SUA*A*00A/0/AVG-5. 16t
not have that peaceful death, but were cut clean away to make
room for the new railroad which has replaced them by a staring
bank of yellow sand, mak-
ing a long, aggressive scar
on the beautiful
shore. Heal-
ing hands of
-- artist
have set
willows
thick in the
sand, and
- * soon the unsightly
- bank will be green
and soft, though the
- hemlocks can never
-->
grow again. It might
have been our day on the
river that Hawthorne wrote about.
For us, too, “the winding course of
*THE HEMLocks.”









162 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK.
the stream continually shut out the scene behind us and revealed
as calm and lovely a one before. We glided from depth to depth,
and breathed new seclusion at every turn. The shy kingfisher flew
from the withered branch close at hand to another at a distance,
uttering a shrill cry of anger or alarm. Ducks that had been
floating there since the preceding eve were startled at our ap-
proach, and skimmed along the grassy river, breaking its dark
surface with a bright streak. The turtle, sunning itself upon a
rock or at the root of a tree, slid suddenly into the water with
a plunge.” But we saw one congregation of seven turtles on a
fallen tree out in the river, and they went on sunning them-
selves and never minded us at all, but disappeared in a flash, or
rather in seven flashes, when a boat load of boys paddled up to
them with a whoop of delight.
Like Hawthorne, we too found in July the prophecy of
autumn. A few tall maples were the color of the purple beech,
a rare color for maples to take on, and fallen crimson leaves
flecked the water here and there, and the golden rods were
marshalled in stately ranks just ready to unfold their superb
yellow plumes; and with all the peace and beauty came, too,
the ‘half-acknowledged melancholy, the feeling that Time
has now given us all his flowers, and that the next work of his
never idle fingers must be to steal them one by one away.”
Concord is rich in wild flowers and meadow grasses; and
when one sums up its charms of philosophy and literature, art
and nature, in addition to some of the most delightful people in
the world, the story seems a little fabulous ; but it is all true,
7THAZ RA VAZA' AAVZ) / 7S SOA’A’OUAV/0/AVG.S. 163
and yet is not half the truth, for that would require better and
warmer words than mine to tell.”
Passing Gibraltar we come to pleasant meadows on the right
bank, and glimpses of a quiet country road. Here again the
railroad spans it with a bridge, opposite which are the Barrett
houses previously described. The navigation is here somewhat
obstructed by the rocks and great trunks of fallen trees, and
the river winds around until the road is reached which usu-
ally concludes the trip toward the West. At this point is
the field where in 1859 Gen. Banks held his famous muster of
ten thousand militia. This large sandy tract known as the
Cook farm was afterwards purchased by the State for the site of
a prison to take the place of the one at Charlestown. Fine
buildings have been erected, and in June 1878 the convicts were
established in their new quarters under the able wardenship of
Gen. S. E. Chamberlain, who has a high record for bravery in
the Mexican and Civil wars. From this establishment and the
junction of the Fitchburg, Framingham and Lowell Middlesex
Central, and Nashua and Acton Railroads, and the extensive
pail works of Mr. Warner, the village of Warnerville or Con-
cord Junction, has rapidly grown to such dimensions as to be al-
most a town of itself, and shows signs of great enterprise and
progress in the future.
Sailing down the Concord river near the Red bridge, we pass
River Cottage, the home of G. Keyes, Esq., formerly the farm of
Hon. Simon Brown, Lt. Gov. of the State, and Librarian of the U.
S. House of Representatives at Washington for years. Mr. Brown
was editor of the New England Farmer, and by his tongue and
164 7"HE COA/CORD G U/DA: /; OOA .
pen has given an impetus to the higher branches of Agriculture.
He was honored in life and mourned in death, as only those of
Christian worth and manly dignity of character deserve. The
next place on the bank is “Battle-Lawn,” the home of Edwin S.
Barrett, Esq., which is a model of architectural beauty in its out-
side and interior finish. One of the high antique fire places
built in part of wood from the Old North Bridge bears a line
of Emerson's famous verse “Here once the embattled farmers
stood,” as the old road down which the soldiers marched to
battle crossed this very spot. Here the large tent was pitched
in which Mr. G. W. Curtis delivered his eloquent oration on the
Centennial Anniversary of Concord Fight, April 19th, 1875. A
vast concourse of citizens of note, including Gen. Grant and
his cabinet were present. The procession which contained over
thirty thousand people, was marshalled by Gen. Francis C. Barlow
who spent his boyhood in the town before the beginning of his
military record, which was one of the most brilliant in the
history of the war. Mr. Curtis lived in Concord for two years,
and she is proud to claim him also as a native. He was born
in Providence, R.I., Feb. 24th, 1824, and came to Concord in
1844, and remained over two years, working a part of each day
on a farm, and devoting the rest of his time to study. After
a long journey in the Levant he published in 1851–52 his
exquisite pictures of Oriental Life entitled “Nile Notes of a
2 3 2
Howadji; ” “The Howadji in Syria : " and “Lotus Eating,”
which describes many of the picturesque points of America.
The “Potiphar Papers,” which first appeared in Putnam's
Magazine, contained satirical and witty hits at the follies of
7T///º AC/ | TAZ /ø AAV/D /TS’ SOA’/8 OOAZ)/AW. G.S. 165
fashionable society. They have been dramatized by Irving
Brown, Esq., and compose the cream of his comedy which
has achieved success on the amateur stage.
“Prue and I,” “Trumps,” and other books, have since been
published, and with his editorial work in Harper's Weekly and
in the “Easy Chair" of Harper's Magazine have well earned
for him the distinction of being “one of the clearest and
tersest writers of the day.” As a lecturer, he has seldom been
equalled for brilliancy, grace and polish, while his fame as a
political and patriotic orator is unsurpassed. For this reason
he has been often selected to deliver the oration at the dedica-
tion of the principal Soldiers’ Monuments in many parts of
the country.
He was chairman of the first civil service commission, and
has been one of the most interested and influential workers
in that reform. He was also chairman of the committee in
the New York constitutional convention. He is one of the
board of regents of the University of New York of which he
was chairman of the educational committee. Mr. Curtis de-
clined the missions to England and Germany, both of which
were offered to him by the Hayes cabinet.
Mr. George Keyes was chairman of the committee which so
successfully carried out the details of the great centennial cel-
ebration, a full account of which has been published.
The next field is the battle ground owned by the Buttrick
family, with the monuments and the Manse fully described in
another place. After leaving the boundaries of the Buttrick
farm we pass under a handsome low stone bridge designed by
166 THE COATCORAD GUIDE BOO K.
Hiram W. Blaisdell, Esq., and enter on the race course, quarter of
a mile long, in which every 4th of July the village races are held.
Half a mile below are the meadows of Minot Pratt, so full of
sweet surprises with which his love for all growing things
prompted him to adorn his beloved river. The yellow Iris, the
Marcillia, Quadrifolia, the Trappa Natans, and other botanical
curiosities greet the astonished botanist as he goes on through
the horse shoe curves to Dakin's Hill and its noble oak, the
living beacon of the river, to pine crowned Ball's Hill called by
Thoreau the “ St. Ann's of Concord Voyageurs.”
Going up the Sudbury river, on the right is Lee's hill, on the
river side of which C. Henry Hurd, Esq., and his enterprising
brother, (who has done so much to improve the town) are laying
out fine house lots, which, when a new bridge is built, will
doubtless form the West End of Concord. It is the plan of
these gentlemen to place their lots within the reach of all who
will agree to build on them houses worthy of the location, and
there is certainly a need of new houses in Concord, for many
look forward to its quiet life with its simple tastes as a Mecca
for their declining years.
On Main street, opposite the Library, is the old house and
excellent garden of the late Moses Prichard, Esq., for years a
sheriff of the county, and an honored and respected citizen.
His son, William M. Prichard, Esq., is a prominent lawyer
in New York.
Next on the left bank of the river is the estate of Hon. Sam-
uel Hoar, the birthplace of Hon. George Frisbie Hoar, who
was born in Concord August 29th, 1826; graduated at Har-
ZTA/E A*/VZZA' AAVZ) /ZS SUAEA’O UAVZ)/AVG.S. 167
vard in 1846; made LL.D. of Wm. and Mary (Va.) and of
Amherst in 1879. Studied law with Judge Hoar and Judge
Thomas. Settled in Worcester in 1849, where he has since
resided, and had perhaps the largest practice in Massachusetts,
west of Boston, being extensively retained in the conduct of
important cases.
He was a member of the legislature in 1852 and chair-
man of committee of probate and chancery. In 1857 of the
State Senate, and chairman of the committee of the judi-
ciary.
He was elected representative from Worcester to XLI, XLII,
XLIII and XLIV congresses, declined re-election to XLV
but elected to the U. S. Senate to succeed Geo. S. Boutwell,
and took seat March 5th, 1877. -
He was author of the bill to extend national education
in the South, which passed the House, but was not acted
on in the Senate. Chairman of committee of House of
Representatives in 1875, at request of legislature of Louisiana,
to investigate election returns of 1874, and wrote report of
a part of the committee, consisting of W. A. Wheeler (vice-
pres.), W. P. Frye of Maine, and himself. One of the mana-
gers of the Belknap impeachment in 1876, selected by his
associates to argue the question of jurisdiction, the only serious
legal difficulty involved in the trial. Member of the commit-
tee which formed the Electoral Commission Bill of 1876; and
one of the few Republicans in the House who advocated the
measure, and was chosen a member of the commission. Has
been trustee of Leicester Academy, and is a trustee and one of
168 THE COA/COA’/X GUADAE / OCA'.
the founders of the Worcester Free Institute of Industrial
Science.
He is one of the overseers of Harvard College, and first
vice-president of the American Antiquarian Society. Pre-
sided over the Republican National Convention at Chicago
in 1880.
On the other side of Main street is the birthplace of the
Hon. William Whiting, who graduated at Harvard College in
1833, and began the practice of the law in 1838. His prac-
tice soon became so extensive and varied that the court of
Common Pleas was often humorously called Whiting's Court.
He soon turned his attention chiefly to patent cases, of which
he studied the mechanical details so closely, as to be able to
instruct his clients upon practical defects in their inventions
as well as upon the law. In 1862–5 he was the solicitor of
the War Department, in which office his services, which he
gave gratuitously, were of immense importance to the coun-
try at its most critical need. IIe was President of the New
England Historic Genealogical Society from 1853–8, and a
member of many of the societies in the United States, de-
voted to antiquarian and similar researches. He has left over
thirty published works on legal and historic topics, and his
work on the “War Powers of the President’’ has passed
through forty-three editions in this country and abroad.
He was elected to Congress in 1872, but died in June, 1873,
before taking his seat.
Opposite is the estate of Calvin C. Damon, Esq., a successful
and highly esteemed manufacturer. Beyond the estate of the
ZAZA, AC/PAA’ AAWD /ZS SURA'OU.VD/AWG.S. 169
late J. M. Cheney is that of Frederic Hudson, the former editor
of the New York Herald, whose knowledge of the shipping of
that port, and on many literary matters was never surpassed,
and whose contributions to literature were many and varied, and
whose character exerted great influence over the community
who loved and depended upon him. Rev. Mr. Reynolds, estate
comes next on the river, which is thickly settled along its left
bank for half a mile with pleasant homes one of which is occu-
I
º
*Egºis:
→ ~
J <<– --- -
-º-º: –
5
MR. F. B. SAN BORN’s HOUSE.
pied by, F. M. Holland the scholar and author. Great credit is
due to Mr. W. F. Hurd for the energy and skill by which he
has converted the waste places along the river into comfortable
and picturesque estates. Mr. Sanborn's new house is at the
bend opposite the old home of Simon Willard, one of the found-
ers of the town.
After passing under the Stone Bridge and the old South
Bridge, where a guard was placed on the day of the Fight, and
near which are the Wood and Hosmer houses previously de-





17o THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK.
scribed, the next land on the left is that of the Middlesex
Agricultural Society; adjoining which is the extensive farm of
the Hon. H. F. French, formerly a distinguished lawyer in pa-
tent and other great cases, a Judge of the Courts of New
Hampshire, and a prominent writer on Agricultural and other
subjects, having been President of the Agricultural College of
Mass. He is at present Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, an
office which he has held with marked ability under two admin-
istrations.
After passing the French and Hubbard farms the river winds
along through green meadows for two miles, by Heath's swamp
so rich in botany, to the beautiful cliffs which give a hint of
grandeur to the placid loveliness of the river. At Martha's
Point, where the rare milk weed grows, and the Fall picnics fill
the air with the steam of boiling corn and roasting potatoes,
Fairhaven bay gradually widens out into a great lake, covering
an area of over seventy acres.
The Cliffs command a fine view of the bay and river, and
Walden Pond can be plainly seen from the top of a rock which
is a hundred rode distant from them, toward the east. A great
pine tree on the upper side of the cliff bends its low branches
above a niche in the rocky sides, forming a secure shelter from
the sun and rain, known to some as the Retreat of Friendship.
This is a favorite spot for sunset and moonlight picnics, and
is accessible by a rough wagon road through Hubbardville, as
well as by a steep and winding path from the river to the
hilltop. The Cliffs and Fairhaven Bay have for years been cen-
tral points of romance, a modest specimen of which is added.
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THE AC/VEA’ AAWD A ZS SUAEA’OUAVD/AWG.S. I73
The radiant Indian summer, in floods of glory lay
Upon the jewelled tupelos around Fairhaven Bay,
Just as the Sun, in splendor was sinking to his rest,
And the golden gates of glory were transfigured in the west.
As she stood upon the summit in an attitude of grace,
With soft brown tresses haloed close around her winsome face,
In a dress of modest color and of beatific fit,
She lent her beauty to the spot, which seemed to hallow it.
Now the summer has departed, and the rocks lie brown and bare.
And winter, with his frosty Smile, gleams through the chilly air;
Fairhaven Bay lies buried beneath its shrouds of snow,
And the rapture of her presence the cliffs no longer know,
As in the glowing sunset she made a picture there,
So tender, Sweet and witching, so pure and true and fair,
That the glory of the human will still make the place divine,
And through its winter dreariness eternal summer shine.
On the left side of the bay is Baker Farm celebrated in song
and prose by Emerson, Thoreau, Channing and Lathrop, above
which is Mount Misery. Opposite is Conantum the crown of the
river, the place beloved of Thoreau and his disciples, and by the
many picnic devotees from far and near who have climbed its
cliffs, lunched under its great pines, or sentimentalized on Sunset
Rock from which for miles the windings of the river can be
traced past Mine Hill and Lee's Bridge to Bound Rock where
four towns join. -
As no account of Concord river would be complete without
mention of the annual Fourth of July festival which originated
*
174 7 HE COAVCORD GUIDE BOO K.
upon it, we copy from the Wide Awake Magazine an account of
the
CARNIVAL OF THE BOATS,
“At the appointed time the bridges and banks were covered
with anxious spectators, as the boats promptly assembled and
took their appointed places in the line. On they came, down the
open Sudbury and from beneath the leafy arches of the Assabet
where the great hemlocks reach over to see their reflections in
the black water.
“Mr. J. L. Gilmore had been selected as marshal, and meeting
his aids in their light wherries or birch canoes, he led off the
glittering train promptly and without confusion. The new
moon was fortunately obscured by a heavy cloud, and dense
blackness hung over the river until the procession drew near
when sky and water were lighted up with ten thousand rain-
bows. Many of the large boats carried lanterns of red and
green hung over the bow, close to the water. All had high
frames from which Chinese lanterns of many hues dangled and
danced with the motion of the oars.
“One graceful Whitehall boat was ornamented in truly Japan-
ese style, as a long bamboo rod projected from stem to stern
hung with lanterns of graduated sizes. One blue and white
dory was adorned with twenty-seven brilliant lanterns, and was
rowed by a young lady, while the owner sat in the bow and
burned gold fire in a large pan. A great black and yellow dory
bore a huge transparency representing the old bridge and the
7A/E A*/VER AAVZ) /ZS SURA’O UAVD/AWG.S. - I75
Liberty Bell, while a neat boat from the Hudson had a great
crystal shield with appropriate device. The cedar wherry, the
pride of the river, was as graceful as ever in its adornment, and
the boats from the North Bridge, were perfectly gorgeous with
lanterns of gelatine and paper, Roman candles and brilliant fires
of many hues. The place of honor in the front was, however,
allotted to a low white boat having a handsome boy in costume
at the bow, and a lovely blonde from the South at the helm,
with tri-colored gelatine lanterns surrounding her fair head.
“Thus led, they glide solemnly under the dark bridge and
turn around a sharp bend till they see in surprise the bridge
between the two monuments appear in lines of colored light,
as its graceful outlines have been closely decorated by lanterns
of many kinds; and as the marshal's boat passes under it,
a volley of rockets spring up from Honeysuckle island, and
fireworks of varied kinds follow until the long array of boats
has countermarched through the new stone bridge, and as-
sembled in a glittering crowd below the Minute Man which
stands out from the darkness in its wondrous strength and
grace, by the fitful glare of the changing light.
“The spectators who crowd the high banks on each side pro-
nounce the spectacle unsurpassed by anything they have seen,
as at a little distance the boats are only distinguished by the
outlines of light, and the reflections above and below seem to
blend together in rainbows.”
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