Concord, MA is a worthwhile visit for many reasons. If you are a history buff, this is the place for you. If you are a literary buff, this is also the place for you. If you like looking at old homes, this is the place for you. Dad and I took the drive to do a little of it all. We stopped at Louisa May Alcott's home. Her childhood stories here were the inspiration for Little Women, which since it's original publication has never been out of print.
Many of the other author's homes were closed until the weekend. To see any part of them, we had to go to the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetary, where we saw the gravesites of Louisa May (she is a vet of the Civil War - did you know that?), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, And Nathanial Hawthorn. After seeing these national treasures, Dad and I walked around looking at many other headstones. This is a very old cemetary, and there are a lot of other interesting characters here including the inventor of the concord grape and the first man to manufacture pencils!
Our last stop was the Minute Man National Park where the first battle of the Revolutionary War took place. In this picture, the lift side (where the obolisque monument stands) is where the British troops advanced. The Minute Man monument (the right side) is where the colonists advanced. The monument, interestingly enough, was done by the same man who did the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C., and cooincidentally was first taught by May Alcott, Louisa May's little sister (Amy in Little Women).
Below is the inscription on the monument on the British side of the battle. We did hear quite a few British accents while visiting here (and a few British flags and other offerings left behind off to the left at a small memorial stone). Apparently the Minute Man Monument is a result of people being upset that there was no monument on the American side of the battle. Isn't history fascinating!
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