Concord, MA

After a long drive from Seneca Falls New York, we landed northwest of Boston at Minuteman Campground near Concord, MA. Concord is the small colonial town with great literary and political history. The home of many great authors it is also the site of the first battle between colonists and British forces on June 19, 1775, that began the revolutionary war.

We visited the North Bridge where “the farmer stood and fired the shot heard round the world”. We also had a very nice stroll around the Sleepy Hollow cemetery where Emerson, Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and Hawthorne are buried in the same section called “Author’s Ridge”. The cemetery is large and rustic and the famous gravestones are not particularly ornate or well cared for. It is absolutely wonderful. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s marker is a large natural un-cut marble stone with a simple plaque.

It is great fun having the name Emerson in the place where it is so known and revered. My father was born and raised in New Hampshire, and I have no idea if there is any distant connection between us and Ralph Waldo. Maybe some day I’ll check that out.

Mary and I walked around Walden Pond. I took a short and welcomed swim and we stopped and reflected at the site of Thoreau’s cabin. Walden Pond is now a State Park and only a very short distance from Concord. Thoreau’s cabin was actually only a mile and one-half from his parents’ house. He was sort of camping in his backyard as he was extolling the virtues of wilderness and living simply with the land.

I love the architecture of New England and the fact that there are so many small towns that have long histories and their own character. However, the surface roads are convoluted and usually not in great shape. Traffic in Massachusetts is also pretty heavy.

We took it pretty easy here and decided not to venture into Boston until later in the trip.