A Few Days in Historical Concord (MA)
Article by Contributor Bernadette Dostaler
Concord, Massachusetts is a quintessential New England town that offers something for everyone from colonial history, American literature, a National Historical Site, shopping, inns, and outdoor pursuits, this gem has it all. We stayed at the, famously haunted, Colonial Inn at Monument Square in Concord for three perfect, blue sky, late summer days in August and found ourselves perfectly located for a wide range of adventures.
After checking into a comfortable room in the original section of the Colonial Inn we went to visit the Colonel Barrett House and Minute Man National Historical Site.
The Barrett House is a “witness house” built in the early 1700s, meaning it is a house that existed on April 19, 1775. Now celebrated as Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts, April 19, 1775, is the day the British marched from Boston to Concord to destroy Colonial weapons. The famous “shot heard round the world” occurred that day at the Old North Bridge in Concord and sparked the Revolutionary War.

We happened to have arrived on Founder’s Day which is the one day of the year that the house is open. A piper in colonial garb greeted us while park rangers and volunteers provided excellent information on the history of the house and what happened here on April 19, 1775, as well as, background on the historical architects who worked on the restoration.
After our visit to the Barrett House we returned to the inn, walked around town had an excellent traditional New England yankee pot roast dinner with roasted potatoes while seated at the outdoor, flower filled veranda.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast of fresh squeezed orange juice, bacon, eggs, toast, and cinnamon french toast with maple syrup at Main Streets Cafe, a short walk from the Colonial Inn, we drove to Meriam’s Corner parking lot to start our Battle Road trail bike ride.
Meriam’s Corner is one of the Battle Road entrances to Minute Man National Historical Site. The park preserves a beautiful swath of colonial farmland, landscapes, and buildings, as they were in 1775. Battle Road, the road the British marched on to and from Boston, is an east-west dirt road for walking and bike riding that cuts, more or less, through the middle of the park. Along the road are various stopping points that tell the story of April 19, 1775, and the colonial era in Massachusetts.

On the way back from our bike ride we stopped at the Alcott family home, Orchard House. Visitors come from all over the world to Orchard House to see and learn about the house where Louisa May Alcott lived when she wrote Little Women. The guest book attests to the number of visitors who come to this home. An excellent tour brings to life scenes from the book, and the rooms, landscapes, and people that inspired Louisa May Alcott’s novel.
The novel will come to life this Christmas Day on the big screens starring among others Meryl Streep and Emma Watson.
Next up was the Old North Bridge Visitor Center at the Minute Man National Historical Site which boasts a lovely garden and a path down to the peaceful Concord River and the Old North Bridge. A park ranger gave an excellent talk on the opposite side of the bridge.
Heading back to the center of Concord we stopped at Bedford Farms Ice Cream for delicious and huge ice cream cones. A walk around town brought us by many small shops and antique places, and then back to the Colonial Inn.
Sadly, the next day it was time to head home. Concord has much to offer and we did not have time to visit The Wayside, Walden Pond or The Manse, and many other locations in Minute Man National Historical Site.

We finished our trip with a New England turkey dinner at the Publick House in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and a stop at the Publick House Bake Shoppe to pick up some homemade pastries to bring home.
Tip: We started our first day in Lexington before driving to Concord. This is a good place to start a visit to the historical sites in the area. The British soldiers fired on the Lexington Militia in the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, before marching into Concord.
The Lexington Historical Society maintains Buckman’s Tavern which sits on Lexington Green and still has a bullet hole from the April 19, 1775 skirmish, the Hancock-Clarke House which we toured with John, an excellent docent, and the Munroe Tavern where the British regrouped on their march back to Boston. All are important and interesting sites to visit.