Six years ago, a retired high school history teacher from Concord, Massachusetts, Rob Morrison, visited the West Concord Historical Society Museum. This was one of the many Concords that he visited over the past 8 or 9 years. This fascination started because he had to drive his daughter’s car to Arizona. He thought that on the way, he and his wife could visit other Concords. He thought that since they would be in the neighborhood, kind of, he would stop and see what these other Concords are like. Well this particular trip included visits to about 7 Concords. Texas alone has 13 known Concords. Why Texas has so many is a story for another time.
Fast forward to today; Rob has visited 98 different Concords across the country. Some were cities, such as Concord CA, northeast of San Francisco, which is the biggest Concord in the U.S. at 122,000 population. Some Concords were dots on a map such as Concord, Maine. The entire township has just over 300 people. As far as Rob explained it to me, there are two West Concords in the entire country, one in Massachusetts and one in Minnesota.
This year was a grand celebration in Concord, MA, as it was the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The North Bridge at Concord was where the ‘shot heard around the world’ was fired. It was the beginning of the fight for independence from England and the formation of the United States. Concord, MA celebrates every year and Rob invited people from all the Concords (and West Concords) to come to Massachusetts and help celebrate. I did not meet Rob when he and his brother visited Minnesota. Colleen Hayne gave them a tour of our Museum and then they walked Main Street and then out to Concord to visit the Concord Locker, the Town Hall and the Cemetery.
Rob’s invitation came to the Museum and I decided to take him up on his offer. What a trip back in history it was. It was my first time to Massachusetts. That made number 40 of the 50 states I’ve been to. While I was there, I made it up to 44 with visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Concord (where else) New Hampshire, Putnam, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island.
My first stop when I got to Concord was their Museum. I saw one of the two lanterns that Paul Revere used to notify people that the British were coming. Remember it was ‘One if by land’, ‘two if by sea’. Well, the British were coming by sea, so two lanterns were used. A historian at the Museum told me that the whereabouts of the second lantern is unknown. But the first one is behind glass and preserved for all to see. Concord, MA, is home to 3 very famous authors; Henry David Thoreau, Louise May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Schools, streets, many other things are named after them around Concord. Emerson’s house is just across the street from the museum. A living room is set up in the Museum with the furniture that Emerson used in his house back in the day.
After the Museum, I traveled all the way to West Concord, which is just under 3 miles away. About the same distance that Minnesota’s Concord is from West Concord. Officially West Concord, MA is a village but it’s more like a neighborhood. They don’t have a post office or a zip code, much like Minnesota. They do have some nice shops on the main street. I had dinner on the Thursday night I was there as Rob had set up a Concord host for each of the out of state visitors. My hosts were Deb and Mark Richardson. Their friend Polly and Jerry joined us, so I have 4 new West Concord friends.
I also made a stop at the Concord Country Club. A private golf course established in 1895. I purchased some items that said Concord Country Club on them as Minnesota doesn’t have a Concord Country Club, at least not yet.
On Friday, I started the day by doing a radio interview on a nationally syndicated program called First Thing Today, hosted by Joe Thomas, who is based in Charlottesville, Virginia. He had set up in the Wright Tavern, an establishment started in 1747. Sam Adams, John Hancock and others from our historic past would meet here to draw up plans for an independent country. Then it was on to many historic places in and around Concord including the North Bridge, where the first shot was fired. Several ceremonies were held there during the weekend.
Friday night, Rob held a gathering at his house on Monument Street, not far from Monument Square in the center of town and not far from the north bridge. All of the people from the visiting Concords and West Concords have a chance to visit with everyone.
April 19 is the actual date of the start of the Revolutionary War. It happened to fall on Saturday this year for the 250th anniversary. A parade was held in the morning, a 3 hour, five mile parade. It turned out to be a beautiful day, 83 degrees and sunny. The days before and the days after the weather was not as nice so the Concord Chamber of Commerce was smart to order ahead for a nice day. Various events took place through the day with a concluding drone light show.
My last day, I travelled to my 43rd and 44th states visited, Connecticut and Rhode Island before returning to Boston for an early morning flight the next day. It was a vacation trip I never thought I would do but with inspiration from Rob’s invitation, I’m glad I made the effort. The history that I’ve only read about came alive being out there. I don’t have plans to go back…yet, but I didn’t even make it to Lexington, which has more of the history that I’ve read about.
