Concord’s summer is lovely and comforting. Life slows down after the energetic buzz of spring. Relax with photographer Dave Witherbee's stunning photo essay.
Cold press cocktails are in this summer! Most pack a hefty punch of caffeine, though. Create something with less caffeine but keep that complex and delicious coffee flavor with cascara syrup. Introducing the Abracadabra—the perfect drink to add a touch of magic to your summer.
To be clear, this was no ordinary carriage house even at its inception. Built in a whimsical Carpenter Gothic style, the level of workmanship and design signaled the esteem in which the original family’s horses and carriages were held. A ventilating cupola edged in gingerbread trim and topped with a sleek finial showcased the latest building innovations and style during the mid-Victorian period.
The owner of this Bauhaus home in Concord is a prolific painter whose art exploded when she moved into her mid-century modern house. It is located on a main thoroughfare in the town, but you would never know it when you are inside.
Wanderlust became a real thing for many during the pandemic. As a result, people found themselves pining to take trips they had put off previously. Now, as travel returns, we welcome you to Concord. Whether you are in town for an afternoon, are a day-tripper, or can spend an entire weekend in town, don’t worry. We have you covered.
Concord is well known for its rich history and stunning natural beauty. As the warm days of summer arrive, residents and visitors alike deeply appreciate having access to national and state parks which provide a great way to get outside and enjoy nature. Here, we present the key features of two of our most popular destinations.
In 1976, Concordians and school administrators Barbara Elliot and Janet Jones published the text Concord: Its Black History, 1636-1860 through the Concord Public Schools. The text included photos of Black and White children visiting places associated with 19th century [and earlier] Black residents.
Concord has the cure for nature-deficit-disorder, a condition that worsened during the pandemic. As kids and parents spend more time indoors and less time in nature, they’re becoming more stressed and anxious. But as the beloved sage of Concord, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.”
The Concord Free Public Library’s Special Collections holds a rich and extensive collection relating to Herbert Wendell Gleason (1855-1937), a prominent American landscape photographer and environmentalist. The holdings include close to 7,000 Gleason negatives on glass plates and film, Gleason’s slide lecture “Thoreau’s Country,” albums of Concord, and Thoreau-related images compiled by Gleason himself, as well as correspondence and lecture notes.
Although not as well-known as some of the other conservation sites in Concord, Bear Garden Hill remains a popular destination for local and out-of-town Thoreau enthusiasts, walkers, runners, and those pursuing other forms of passive recreation, including snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and horseback riding.
Every backyard has a unique variety of flowers, trees, and the occasional persistent weed. The importance of our yard vegetation often falls under the radar, especially in grass lawn-dominated suburbia and a society that prizes outdoor aesthetics with little thought to the ecological value a landscape can provide.
It was cold outside, but the glowing fire in the brick oven warmed the kitchen as Elizabeth busied herself baking the week’s bread for her enslavers, Col. John Ashley and his wife Hannah. Her younger sister Lizzie, also enslaved in the Ashley household, was too frail for heavy labor, so she watched as Elizabeth stirred the fire with an iron shovel. A
On July 9, 1842, a small wedding took place at the bookstore of Elizabeth Peabody at 13 West Street in Boston. After a highly secretive three-year engagement, 38-year-old struggling novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne married 33-year-old Sophia Amelia Peabody, the younger sister of the bookstore owner.
Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond is his most famous residence, yet historians and scholars also credit several other sites in Massachusetts that served as “home” to this American literary figure. Looking into Thoreau’s past offers a glimpse into how his early years played a role in shaping the artist he would eventually become.
When doing research, you occasionally come across a colossal mess that makes you think, “Wow! This is so inappropriate!” And you can’t wait to share it. This article is the result of one of those moments. Are you ready?
The Emerson family has been welcoming tourists since the mid-nineteenth century, when writer and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson personally greeted visitors in his study. Emerson’s house, at the Lexington Road and Cambridge Turnpike intersection, was convenient to the Boston stagecoach and remains today only a short walk away from the railroad depot.
The Thoreau Society was founded in 1941 to stimulate interest in and foster education about Thoreau’s life, works, and legacy and his place in his world and ours; to encourage research on Thoreau’s life and writings; to act as a repository for Thoreauviana and material relevant to Thoreau; and to advocate for the preservation of Thoreau Country.
For more than 30 years, Debra Stark tirelessly led her community towards a healthier lifestyle by making organic and healthy foods available at her “Natural Gourmet” store – first opened in 1989 at a time when most people thought of health food as “tofu and twigs.” Debra’s charm, persistence, and genuine belief in what she was trying to achieve eventually overcame the naysayers, and the shop soon became a thriving cornerstone for the West Concord community and beyond.
Concord boasts several house museums, but one stands apart as a place of pilgrimage. Filled with authentic Alcott furniture and belongings, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, where Little Women was written and set, looks and feels as if the family just stepped out for a moment.
Professor J. Drew Lanham, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology, Master Teacher, and Certified Wildlife Biologist at Clemson University, is a renowned ornithologist, an accomplished author, poet, and scientist. He is also the keynote speaker at this year’s Thoreau Society Gathering in Concord. It’s not a surprising link. Henry David Thoreau was a careful observer of nature, as well as an eloquent writer and a social justice warrior. All these traits drew the attention of Prof. Lanham, as we discussed in a recent interview.
Concord usually gets attention for its past. Even Louisa May Alcott worried that her town was “degenerating into a museum of revolutionary relics.” She, of course, belonged to an intellectual event that gave a second chapter to Concord’s celebrated history, but the Concordian of today is liable to feel that everything great belongs to the past.
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