Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or time is short, a half-day excursion is reasonable. For an excellent overview of town
history, start at the
Concord Museum.
After just a little time in this lovely town, you might find yourself adopting the local
attitude toward two famous residents:
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
who comes across as a
respected uncle figure, and
Henry David Thoreau,
everyone's favorite eccentric
cousin. The contemplative writers wandered the countryside and did much of their
work in Concord, forming the nucleus of a group of important writers who called the
town home. By the mid-19th century, Concord was the center of the Transcendental-
ist movement. Sightseers can tour the former
homes of Emerson, Thoreau,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
and
Louisa May Alcott,
and visit their graves at
Sleepy Hol-
low Cemetery.
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE
From Lexington, take Route 2A west from Mass. Ave. (Route
4/225) at the National Heritage Museum; follow the
BATTLE ROAD
signs. From Boston
and Cambridge, take Route 2 into Lincoln and stay in the right lane. Where the main
road makes a sharp left, go straight onto Cambridge Turnpike. Signs that point to
HIS
-
TORIC CONCORD
lead downtown. To go straight to Walden Pond, use the left lane,
take the main road (Route 2/2A) another mile or so, and turn left onto Route 126.
There's parking throughout town and at the attractions.
The
commuter rail
(
&
617/222-3200;
www.mbta.com) takes about 45 minutes
from North Station in Boston, with a stop at Porter Square in Cambridge. The round-
trip fare is $13. The station is about three-quarters of a mile over flat terrain from the
town center. There is no bus service from Boston to Concord, and no public trans-
portation between Lexington and Concord. The
Liberty Ride
tour (see p. 246) oper-
ates in the summer and fall.
VISITOR INFORMATION
The
Chamber of Commerce,
15 Walden St., Suite 7,
Concord, MA 01742 (
&
978/369-3120;
www.concordchamberofcommerce.org),
maintains a visitor center at 58 Main St., next to Middlesex Savings Bank, 1 block
south of Monument Square. It's open daily 10am to 4pm from April through Octo-
ber; public restrooms in the same building are open year-round. Ninety-minute
guided walking tours ($18 adults, $12 seniors and students 13-18, $10 children
6-12, free for children under 6) are available Friday through Monday from mid-
March through October. Tours start at the visitor center. Group tours are available by
appointment. The chamber office is open year-round Monday through Friday; hours
vary, so call ahead.
The town website,
www.concordma.gov
, has an area with visitor information.
EXPLORING THE AREA
Minute Man National Historical Park
This 970-acre park preserves the
scene of the first Revolutionary War battle at Concord on (all together now) April 19,
1775. After the skirmish at Lexington, the British continued to Concord in search of
stockpiled arms (which militia members had already moved). Warned of the advance,
the colonists prepared to confront the troops. The Minutemen crossed the North
Bridge, evading the regular standing guard, and waited on a hilltop for reinforce-
ments. The British searched nearby homes and burned any guns they found. The colo-
nials saw the smoke and, mistakenly thinking that the troops were torching the town,
attacked the soldiers at the bridge. The gunfire that ensued is remembered as “the shot
heard round the world,” the opening salvo of the Revolution.
Kids
