The Wayside, Home of Authors, Closed for Repairs

While the house is closed, NPS rangers will give free neighborhood walking tours.

The following information was provided by Minute Man National Historical Park. Do you know what site with literary associations was the first to be preserved by the National Park Service? Do you know where Louisa May Alcott wrote her first published work? Do you know the location of the only home ever owned by Nathaniel Hawthorne? If you answered The Wayside on Lexington Road in Concord, you would be correct. As part of Minute Man National Historical Park since 1965, it has welcomed visitors for five decades. Now, it will be closed for two years while undergoing much-needed repairs. Work will include replacing all of the cedar roof shingles, repairing the metal roof on “Hawthorne’s Tower” and replacing the metal roof on the piazza (porch…

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This Week in Concord History: Train Depot Sale; Perry Farm Sale

Here's a look back at some of the stories that were making headlines this week in Concord.

Each week, Concord Patch is hitting the history books and microfilm at Concord Free Public Library in search of interesting and amusing tidbits that offer some insight into what was happening on this week in local history. Here’s a look at what happened in Concord between March 6 and 12, as originally reported by the Concord Journal. 25 Years Ago…

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Object of the Week

Historical Object of the Week: 1880 Silk Quilt

A weekly look at some of Concord’s most historical items.

  Welcome to Concord Patch’s newest feature, Object of the Week. Each week we will present an artifact from the Concord Museum collection that speaks to Concord’s storied history. We welcome comments, memories and suggestions for future items. Whether it is a small cradle quilt passed down in the family of a patriot of the American Revolution, a large quilt commemorating the 1975 Bicentennial of that war, or a complex geometric pattern crafted in silk like this one, each quilt in the Concord Museum collection has a story to tell about the makers, the communities they lived in, and the era in which the quilt was made. During the Victorian era, the log cabin style quilt became popular and women on the forefront of fashion often chose to make…

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This Week in Concord History: Shoe Store Dismantled; Liquor License Suspension

Here's a look back at some of the stories that were making headlines this week in Concord.

Each week, Concord Patch is hitting the history books and microfilm at Concord Free Public Library in search of interesting and amusing tidbits that offer some insight into what was happening on this week in local history. Here’s a look at what happened in Concord between March 6 and 12, as originally reported by the Concord Journal.  75 Years Ago… 50 Years Ago… 25 Years Ago…

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Object of the Week

Historical Object of the Week: A Silhouette of Cynthia Dunbar

A weekly look at some of Concord’s most historical items.

Welcome to Concord Patch’s newest feature, Object of the Week. Each week we will present an artifact from the Concord Museum collection that speaks to Concord’s storied history. We welcome comments, memories and suggestions for future items. Most of the household and personal objects that can reliably be associated with Henry Thoreau and his family are in the Concord Museum.  Many details of Thoreau’s everyday life can be discerned in these 250 or so objects.  The Thoreau family material includes this silhouette of Henry Thoreau’s mother, Cynthia Dunbar.  Cynthia Dunbar (1787-1874) and her mother, Mary Jones Dunbar Minott, and stepfather Jonas Minott,  all had their silhouettes taken, possibly on the same occasion sometime around 1804-1806…

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Minute Man Visitor Center to Open Saturday

The center features a multimedia theater program, among other features.

  On Saturday, March 24, Minute Man National Historical Park will open its main visitor center, located on Route 2A at the Lincoln/Lexington town line.  The center features the award-winning multi-media theater program, “The Road To Revolution,” which tells the dramatic story of the events at Lexington and Concord on the first days of the American Revolution in 1775.  This very popular presentation is considered one of the best in the national park system.  The visitor center will be open seven days a week from 9:00 to 5:00.  The last showing of the theater program is at 4:30.  Admission is free. Also at the center are a large mural of the fighting on April 19, 1775, exhibits and a bookstore.  Visitors can pick up a free park map which …

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This Week in Concord History: Massive Flooding; Library Raises Overdue Rates

Here's a look back at some of the stories that were making headlines this week in Concord.

Each week, Concord Patch is hitting the history books and microfilm at Concord Free Public Library in search of interesting and amusing tidbits that offer some insight into what was happening on this week in local history. Here’s a look at what happened in Concord between March 13 and 19, as originally reported by the Concord Journal. 75 Years Ago… 50 Years Ago… 25 Years Ago…

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Object of the Week

Historical Object of the Week: Rebeckah Wheeler's Needlework

A weekly look at some of Concord’s most historical items.

Welcome to Concord Patch’s newest feature, Object of the Week. Each week we will present an artifact from the Concord Museum collection that speaks to Concord’s storied history. We welcome comments, memories and suggestions for future items. This needlework picture was worked by one of Concord’s earliest residents, Rebeckah Wheeler (1645-1718), who was born just 10 years after the town’s founding.   The picture has long been listed in needlework books and elsewhere as the earliest signed and dated pictorial embroidery of American origin.  The needlework depicts episodes from the Book of Esther in the Old Testament, which was a common theme for young needleworkers in the 17th century.  Queen Esther was a heroic young woman who saved the …

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This Week in Concord History: Resident Hits the Lottery; the ‘Rising Cost of Government’

Here's a look back at some of the stories that were making headlines this week in Concord.

Each week, Concord Patch is hitting the history books and microfilm at Concord Free Public Library in search of interesting and amusing tidbits that offer some insight into what was happening on this week in local history. Here’s a look at what happened in Concord between March 6 and 12, as originally reported by the Concord Journal. 75 Years Ago… 50 Years Ago… 25 Years Ago…

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Object of the Week

Historical Object of the Week: Ellen Tucker Portrait

A weekly look at some of Concord’s most historical items.

Welcome to Concord Patch’s newest feature, Object of the Week. Each week we will present an artifact from the Concord Museum collection that speaks to Concord’s storied history. We welcome comments, memories and suggestions for future items. Women’s History Month continues with a portrait of Ellen Louisa Tucker. Tucker (1811-1831) was just 16 when she met Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1827 in Concord, New Hampshire.  In a letter to his brother in 1829, the 26-year-old Emerson described Tucker as “simple but very elegant in her manners....she is beautiful, and finally I love her.” Tragically, just 17 months after Ellen and Waldo were married, she died of tuberculosis.  The Concord Museum has two miniature portraits of Ellen Tucker in its …

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