Concord, Lexington and Lowell

August 7 – We were back on the road today by 9:15 for Concord, Lexington and Lowell, MA.  Although we’ve been to the various parks we returned to get all of the missing passport stamps.  We are always on a mission.  In addition, things have changed and new exhibits have opened so it would not be a “hit and run” visit.

Where Paul Revere was captured on
his midnight ride

We arrived in Concord with no traffic difficulty or getting lost even once.  After parking near the visitor center for Minute Man National Historic Park at the east end of the park, we checked out the displays and got the park map and passport stamps.  We drove west and stopped at the Hartwell Tavern stop and timed it perfectly to watch the musket demonstration.  We did a brief tour of the tavern as they only let you see the downstairs and the costumed “guide” didn’t have answers for the few questions we asked which was disappointing.  The road follows along the original Battle Road between Concord and Lexington and you can walk or bike the 5 mile trail.  Along the road are numerous homes from the time of the battle and several taverns.  Not all allow entrance and some have been converted into park offices.  The Wayside was the home of the Alcott family and Nathaniel Hawthorne but it is closed for the summer for repairs and renovations.  However, just up the road from it is the Orchard House, which was also a home of the Alcotts.  Louise May Alcott’s wrote “Little Women”, which in my day was either a required reading or just one of those books young girls all read. 

Perfect shot of the shot

We parked at the west end of the Battle Road at North Bridge.  North Bridge is where the second engagement of the Revolutionary War took place.  No one knows who fired first but the number of Colonialists was daunting enough to cause the British to turn tail and run!  There is a Minute Man Statue, Grave and marker for the English soldiers and a monument marking “the shot heard round the world”.  We walked up the hill to the location where the Colonists gathered and marched down to the bridge from and then to the North Bridge Visitor Center.  It is the main office of the Minute Man Park and has many nice displays and a great movie on the battle.

Huge zuchinni

Lunch time!  We asked a ranger for a lunch recommendation and she sent us in to Concord to the Main Street Café.  It was packed!  That was a good sign.  There was no seating so we decided to order to go.  They told us there was outdoor seating behind the café so that was good enough for us.  Along the alley to the back was a big basket of “free” squash that the café garden had produced.  I took a zucchini on the way out to use for many cooking projects.  Lunch was delicious.  We both opted for the bacon quiche with a salad and the portion was generous so we were full when we left.

Minute Man Statue

It’s only 6 miles into Lexington but not too much there to see.  We parked along Lexington Battle Green and the Buckman Tavern.  Bill walked the green and took some photos while I checked the map for our trip to Lowell.  On April 19, 1775 the first blood was spilt on the green as recorded by George Washington.  On the green is the oldest war memorial at his National Historic Landmark.  Buckman Tavern was the gathering place of the militia and is now a museum with this original door and its bullet hole from a British musket ball.

Lowell National Historic Park covers an entire different time and history.  It centers around the industrial revolution in the New England area and the immigration of workers for the numerous mills in the area.  After parking at the visitor center on Market Street and checking out the displays there we walked to the Mill Girls & Immigration Exhibit in one of the old rooming houses.  We were the only ones there at the time so the ranger gave us a private discourse on what happened to the young women who lived there.

Just a block down and over was the Boott Cotton Mills Museum which is also part of the park.  The entire mill is still standing and most has been converted into apartments.  The park maintains a 1920 weave room in Lowell has miles of canals that were funneled off the Merrimack River to generate power all over the city for the mills.  Today you can go on canal rides with a ranger.  There are also Park Trolleys you can ride between park sites.  It was a great experience to see the looms and hear what would have been deafening noise in the weave room.  Only a handful of the looms were running so we could understand the volume it would be if they were all running.  

the museum which features operating power looms.  We watched fabric being made as it was in the day and got to see the tender change out the shuttle and bobbins which are available for sale in the gift shop along with several different fabrics.

Time to head home and once again the interstate traffic appeared to be at a standstill.  Bill asked me to find us any roads not on the interstate.  So we meandered through small towns and neighborhoods.  Not a fast trip but very relaxing and at least we were moving.  I routed us to connect at I-495 and the traffic had thinned immensely.  The rest of the trip home was fast and smooth.  We made a quick stop at the grocery for flour so I could make muffins and bread for everyone with some of my zucchini.  We got home at 7:30 and ate our leftovers and chilled for the night.