A Revolutionary Experience

Yet again Brian and I found our selves enjoying the National Park Services excellent example of doing much with very little funding.  
We spent a few days in Concord (Concud) Mass. the seat of our nations birth, where young farmers chased the British regulars 11 miles back to Boston Harbor. 

 We were fortunate enough to be in Concord on the one weekend this year that all the historic homes along Battle Road were open to the public.  We watched the Minute Men muster in front of Capt. William Smiths house, he was Abigail Adam's brother.  We listened to a lecture regarding the function of the Minute Men and learned how to load and shoot a flint lock musket.  Did you know that's where the phrase "locked stocked and fully loaded" comes from.  Also a "flash in the pan"  which actually means the rifle sparked but the powder failed to ignite.

Our evenings were spent at the Hawthorne Inn, a beautiful Victorian building and a  rescued retirement home across the street from The Wayside, the former home of the Alcott Family.  The inn owners Marilyn and Gregory made the most wonderful breakfasts and were very helpful with finding things to do, the inn is located on Lexington Rd. smack dab in the middle of it all.  
We had the chance to visit Orchard House, once home to Louisa May Alcott author of "Little Women"  and see the actual room in which this wonderful tale took shape.

The Old Manse



We visited The Old Manse, a house that holds so much history a thirty minute tour does not suffice.  This particular historic building held the most fascination for me, the seat of the transcendentalist movement,  and boasts some fascinating occupants.  Ralph Waldo Emerson grew up here on the banks of the Concord River, just steps from the Old North Bridge where the "shoot heard round the world"  was fired.  The house was also occupied by Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia, they shared a unique sort of love which is evidenced by the love notes etched in the panes of glass in some of the homes windows.  Henry David Thoreau, when he wasn't camped at Walden Pond, also took refuge here on occasion.  We wandered from room to room listening to the history that has passed through this home and were simply speechless.  

The Old North Bridge

Well the trip was nearly over when we realized that not far from where we were stood was the home of our second president.  The trip from Concord to Quincy was much easier than it would have been for John Adams even as a young man, we were there in no time at all thanks to the interstate highways.   Yet again the National Park Service out did themselves in showmanship and courtesy. 

 We toured the old homestead where Adams and his new bride Abigail began there lives together, and then took a short trolley ride to Peacefield. 

 This is the home that Adams spent his golden years in, where he first learned that his son would become the president of the United States, where he held his wife's hand when she passed, and where he himself succumbed to a stroke 50 years to the day of our July 4th Independence.

I am happy to say that the National Park Service has inspired us to seek out other venues under their care, we are eagerly planning some more adventures and chances to expand our minds and swell our hearts.