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46-708: It is located on North County Road , just off Battle Road (formerly the Bay Road), a few hundred yards east of the Hartwell Tavern and the contemporary Samuel Hartwell House . Its first known occupant was yeoman Benjamin Whittemore (d. 1734). It was latterly the home of Captain William Smith (1746–1787), commanding officer of the Lincoln minutemen and the only brother of Abigail Adams , wife of

92-466: A British regular who was wounded nearby was left in the care of Catharine Louisa, Captain Smith's wife. Despite her best efforts and those of Lexington physician Joseph Fiske, the soldier died of his wounds two or three days later, and he was buried near the farmhouse." – National Park Service Virginia Road Virginia Road , also known as North County Road , North Country Road and Bay Road ,

138-523: A compromise, proclaiming the day as Patriots' Day . In April 1975, Concord hosted a bicentennial celebration of the battle, featuring an address at the Old North Bridge by President Gerald Ford . Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century around Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen. A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in

184-552: A continuation and a survey of the Hartwell farms executed in 1779 shows no such road. While it might have been a useful addition to the Lincoln network of highways, there is no proof that it existed. The route taken by "Virginia Road" on today's maps continues northwest for around 0.18 miles (0.29 km) from Hartwell Tavern to around 350 feet (110 m) southeast of the Bloody Angle , where British regulars were ambushed by

230-470: A manner indistinguishable from the American pronunciation of the word "conquered." In the local dialect of Greater Boston , it is frequently heard with the [ər] in the second syllable replaced by [ ʏ ] ( [ˈkɒŋkʏd] KAHN -kəd ). According to Concord's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the principal employers in the town are: Concord and West Concord stations are served by

276-580: A small cabin near Walden Pond , where he wrote Walden (1854). After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against slavery and the Mexican–American War , Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as Civil Disobedience (1849). Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on

322-551: A vote of 265 to 272. The ban on selling water in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of one liter or less passed in 2012 by a vote of 403 to 364, and a repeal effort in April failed by a vote of 621 to 687. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 25.9 square miles (67 km ), of which 24.9 square miles (64 km ) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km ), or 3.75%,

368-553: Is a historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts , United States. It was part of Concord until 1754. Today, located in Lincoln , it is in the care of the Minute Man National Historical Park . The road runs from today's Massachusetts Route 2A (North Great Road) in the east to Old Bedford Road in the west, and is located on the northern side of Battle Road , of which, in colonial Massachusetts , it

414-592: Is also notable for its progressive and environmentalist politics, becoming in 2012 the first community in the United States to ban single-serving PET bottles. The area which became the town of Concord was originally known as "Musketaquid", situated at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers. The name was an Algonquian word for "grassy plain", fitting the area's low-lying marshes and kettle holes . Native Americans had cultivated corn crops there;

460-647: Is not believed to have fought in the battles of Lexington and Concord, but on April 24, 1775, he enlisted as a soldier in Smith's newly formed company in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment commanded by Colonel John Nixon . He died in New Castle, New York , in January 1777. Smith died in Philadelphia on September 3, 1787, aged 40, after abandoning his wife and (now six) children and becoming an alcoholic. Smith's father, Revd. William Smith, had assumed ownership of

506-475: Is water. The city of Lowell is 13 miles (21 km) to the north, Boston is 19 miles (31 km) to the east, and Nashua, New Hampshire , is 23 miles (37 km) to the north. Massachusetts state routes 2 , 2A , 62 , 126 , 119 , 111 , and 117 pass through Concord. The town center is near the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers, forming the Concord River , which flows north to

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552-605: The Los Angeles Times characterized the ban as "born of convoluted reasoning" and "wrongheaded." Some residents believed the ban would do little to affect the sales of bottled water, which was still highly accessible in the surrounding areas, and that it restricted consumers' freedom of choice. Opponents also considered the ban to unfairly target one product in particular, when other, less healthy alternatives such as soda and fruit juice were still readily available in bottled form. Nonetheless, subsequent efforts to repeal

598-455: The MBTA 's Fitchburg Line . Yankee Line provides commuter bus service between Concord and Boston. Concord's sister cities are: Concord is featured in the 2012 video game Assassin's Creed 3 , the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla and the 2015 video game Fallout 4 . The video game Walden, a game , based on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, is set in the town. Scenes from

644-693: The Merrimack River in Lowell. Gunpowder was manufactured from 1835 to 1940 in the American Powder Mills complex extending upstream along the Assabet River. Local government consists of a five-member executive Select Board and a legislature utilizing open town meeting . On the federal level, Concord is part of Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district , represented by Lori Trahan . The state's senior ( Class I ) member of

690-654: The Underground Railroad . The Wayside , a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors. It was occupied by scientist John Winthrop (1714–1779) when Harvard College was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War. The Wayside was later the home of the Alcott family (who referred to it as "Hillside"); the Alcotts sold it to Hawthorne in 1852, and the family moved into

736-739: The United States Senate is Elizabeth Warren . The junior ( Class II ) senator is Ed Markey . At the 2020 census, there were 18,491 people, 7,295 housing units and 6,439 families residing in the town. The population density was 714.0 inhabitants per square mile (275.7/km ). The average density of housing units was 282.0 per square mile (108.9/km ). The racial makeup of the town was 82.94% White , 2.61% African American , 6.18% Asian , 4.55% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 0.02% Native American , 0.02% Pacific Islander , 1.02% from other races , and 6.86% from two or more races. There were 6,439 families, of which 35.98% had children under

782-636: The battles of Lexington and Concord , were the incidents (including the shot heard round the world ) that triggered the American Revolutionary War . A rich literary community developed in Concord during the mid-19th century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson . Emerson's circle included Nathaniel Hawthorne , Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau . Major works written in Concord during this period include Alcott's novel Little Women , Emerson's essay Self-Reliance , and Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience . In this era,

828-579: The 2017 comedy film Daddy's Home 2 were filmed at Concord scout house. Parts of the 2019 film Little Women were shot on the Concord River . Jane Langton 's Homer Kelly murder mystery novels are largely set in Concord. Her 1964 novel 'The Transcendental Murder' was described in the Boston Globe in 1975 as 'a hymn to Concord, its history, its houses, its hallowed ground, its people and patriots, and its ghosts (Emerson and Thoreau)'. Italian director Lucio Fulci 's 1981 horror film The House by

874-517: The Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery . The 20th-century composer Charles Ives wrote his Concord Sonata ( c.  1904–1915 ) as a series of impressionistic portraits of literary figures associated with the town. Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years include Doris Kearns Goodwin , Alan Lightman , Robert B. Parker , and Gregory Maguire . In 1849, Ephraim Wales Bull developed

920-518: The Concord grape") Concord grape spread worldwide, bringing him up to $ 1,000 a cutting, but he died a relatively poor man. The inscription on his tombstone reads, "He sowed—others reaped." On September 5, 2012, Concord became the first community in the United States to approve a ban on the sale of water in single-serving plastic bottles. The law banned the sale of PET bottles of one liter (34 U.S. fl oz) or less starting January 1, 2013. The ban provoked national controversy. An editorial in

966-586: The Lincoln minutemen that fought at Old North Bridge and on the battle road. All three later served in the Revolutionary War . Paul Revere and William Dawes were detained by a British Army patrol nearby during the "Midnight Ride" to Concord of April 18. Samuel Prescott , who was also riding with them, escaped by jumping his horse over a wall and into the woods. Prescott emerged at the Hartwell Tavern, awakened Ephraim and informed him of

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1012-538: The adjacent Orchard House in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisher Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett, who wrote the Five Little Peppers series and other children's books under the pen name Margaret Sidney . Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and

1058-480: The age of 18 living with them, 62.98% were married couples living together, 22.4% had a female householder with no spouse present, 12.4% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 28.42% were non-families, and 24.59% of all households were made up of individuals. The average family size was 3.18. 25.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 28.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

1104-403: The ban have failed in open town meetings . An effort to repeal Concord's ban on the sale of plastic water bottles was resoundingly defeated at a Town Meeting. Resident Jean Hill, who led the initial fight for the ban, said, "I really feel at the age of 86 that I've really accomplished something." Town Moderator Eric Van Loon didn't even bother taking an official tally because opposition to repeal

1150-430: The basis of the new town, called "Concord" in appreciation of the peaceful acquisition. The battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War . On April 19, 1775, 700 British Army troops led by Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith marched from Boston to Concord to confiscate a cache of arms stored in the town. Unbeknownst to them, Patriot leaders had moved most of

1196-689: The cache elsewhere. 150 Patriot minutemen from local towns, who had been forewarned of the Army's march by Samuel Prescott on April 18, quickly mustered and confronted the British in Lexington . Though who fired the first shot is unknown, a firefight broke out and the British fired a volley at the Americans before dispersing them with a bayonet charge , killing eight. The British proceeded into Concord and dispersed into company-sized formations to search for

1242-527: The cache. At 11:00am, 400 minutemen engaged 100 British troops at the Old North Bridge , leading to a number of casualties on both sides and forcing them to fall back and rejoin the Army's main force. After the British completed their search for the cache in Concord, they marched back to Boston, but were constantly attacked by minutemen in hit-and-run attacks, suffering more casualties before reaching Charlestown, Boston . The minutemen then blockaded

1288-551: The family house in 1780. Catharine, who left Lincoln in 1795, survived her husband by 37 years; she died in 1824. The house had a series of owners before it was added to the Minute Man National Historic Park in 1975. (Manuel Silva purchased the property in 1924. A hog farmer, Silva had about four hundred swine at the time of his 1945 death. It is believed his wife divided the interior into four apartments around 1956.) The cove cornice visible below

1334-495: The ideal grape. Early ripening, to escape the killing northern frosts, but with a rich, full-bodied flavor, the hardy Concord grape thrives where European cuttings had failed to survive. In 1853, Bull felt ready to put the first bunches of Concord grapes before the public and won a prize at the Boston Horticultural Society Exhibition. From these early arbors, the fame of Bull's ("the father of

1380-473: The local indigenous tribes . Bulkeley was an influential religious leader who "carried a good number of planters with him into the woods"; Willard was a canny trader who spoke the Algonquian language and had gained the trust of Native Americans. They exchanged wampum , hatchets, knives, cloth, and other useful items for the six-square-mile (16 km ) purchase from Squaw Sachem of Mistick , which formed

1426-534: The local militia on their retreat from Concord to Boston on April 19, 1775 . At this point, the road turns due north, shortly before a short stretch of an "Old Bedford Road" joins from the east. (This is not the Old Bedford Road at which Virginia Road terminates in the west.) The terrain in the area features gentle hills, with variations in elevation from 150 feet (46 m) to 230 feet (70 m) above mean sea level . The below buildings stand beside

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1472-635: The narrow land accesses to Charlestown, initiating the siege of Boston . Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson subsequently described the shot fired by the minutemen at the Old North Bridge in his 1837 poem " Concord Hymn " as the " shot heard round the world ". In 1894, the Lexington Historical Society petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19 "Lexington Day"; Concord countered with "Concord Day". Governor Frederic T. Greenhalge opted for

1518-425: The north of Hanscom Field , but its relevance to the developments of the late 18th century is not known. Another historian, Joyce Malcolm, countered the theory put forth by Toogood, after consulting the deed of Hartwell Tavern : There has been a suggestion that this road may have continued north between the farms of Samuel Hartwell and his father Ephraim to the old Bedford Road. There is no solid evidence for such

1564-509: The now-ubiquitous Concord grape at his home on Lexington Road, where the original vine still grows. Welch's , the first company to sell grape juice, maintains a headquarters in Concord. The Boston-born Bull developed the Concord grape by experimenting with seeds from some of the native species. On his farm outside Concord, down the road from the Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott homesteads, he planted some 22,000 seedlings before producing

1610-411: The now-ubiquitous Concord grape was developed in Concord by Ephraim Wales Bull . In the 20th century, Concord developed into an affluent Boston suburb and tourist destination, drawing visitors to the Old North Bridge , Orchard House and Walden Pond . The town retains its literary culture and is home to notable authors, including Doris Kearns Goodwin , Alan Lightman and Gregory Maguire . Concord

1656-491: The pending arrival of the British soldiers. Ephraim sent his black slave, Violet, down the road to alert his son, Samuel, and his family. Mary Hartwell , Samuel's wife, then relayed the message to Captain William Smith. The minutemen received the notice in time, and arrived at Old North Bridge before their enemy. Prescott made it to Concord. "The running battle back to Boston passed by Smith's house around 1:30 p.m., and

1702-673: The philosopher Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), the father of Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). A native Concordian, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led Henry James to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America." Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, including Self-Reliance (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). Thoreau famously lived in

1748-477: The prominent patriot John Adams . The house has been restored by National Park Service to look as it would have in 1775. William and Elizabeth Dodge purchased the home as a rental property in 1758. When they moved to New Hampshire , they gave the house to their only daughter, Catharine Louisa Salmon. Catharine married William Smith in 1771. The couple lived in the house with their three children: Elizabeth, Louisa Catharine and William Jr. Their African slave, Cato,

1794-526: The rivers were rich with fish and the land was lush and arable. The area was largely depopulated in 1633 by an epidemic of smallpox , a disease likely to have been introduced to the New World by European explorers and settlers. In 1635, a group of English settlers led by Rev. Peter Bulkley and Major Simon Willard received a land grant from the General Court and negotiated a land purchase with

1840-494: The road (from east to west): Concord, Massachusetts Concord ( / ˈ k ɒ ŋ k ər d / ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts , United States. In the 2020 census , the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston . The town center is near where the Sudbury and Assabet rivers join to form the Concord River . The area that became

1886-572: The roofline of the front façade is one of only four surviving examples remaining in Massachusetts (the others are the nearby Whittemore-Smith House, and also in Danvers and Marblehead ). The battles of Lexington and Concord took form before dawn on April 19, 1775. Soldiers passed by the house on their way to Concord , and again on their way back to Boston . Three of Ephraim and Elizabeth Hartwell's children — Samuel, John and Isaac — were in

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1932-468: The town of Concord was originally known as Musketaquid , an Algonquian word for "grassy plain." Concord was established in 1635 by a group of English settlers; by 1775, the population had grown to 1,400. As dissension between colonists in North America and the British crown intensified, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord on April 19, 1775. The ensuing conflict,

1978-561: The town: his father, Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811), grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, and his grandfather, William Emerson Sr. , witnessed the battle at the North Bridge from his house, and later became a chaplain in the Continental Army. Emerson was at the center of a group of like-minded Transcendentalists living in Concord. Among them were the author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) and

2024-433: Was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 women aged 18 and over, there were 101.8 men. At the time of the 2020 census , the median household income was $ 184,086. About 2.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 1.1% of those aged 65 or over. The town's name is pronounced by its residents as / ˈ k ɒ ŋ k ər d / KONG -kərd , in

2070-440: Was a part. It was formerly the main road connecting Lexington and Concord, two of the main towns involved in the American Revolutionary War . It is possible that the road originally began in Lincoln, to the south. Historian Coxey Toogood noted that the road between Lincoln and Bedford "passed close by the Hartwell house and tavern" and that it "passed through Hartwell's property, and close to his tavern." A Hartwell Road runs to

2116-406: Was so overwhelming. It appeared that upwards of 80 to 90 percent of the 1,127 voters in attendance raised their ballots against the repeal measure. The issue had been bubbling in Concord for several years. In 2010, a ban approved in a town meeting, which wasn't written as a bylaw, was rejected by the state attorney general's office. In 2011, a new version of the ban narrowly failed at a town meeting by

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