USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
The Concord Reservoir is situated upon the highest point and nothing but the eminence itself with its aborigi- nal name now remains to remind one of Tahattawan and his wigwam as it once nestled near the rivers by Egg Rock, or of the farm building, formerly erected by the sturdy Simon Willard, or of the tall timber trees that long ago stood there until "cut down by the orders of 'Billy Gray' the merchant, and carted to the seaboard, there perhaps, as before intimated, to become a part of Old Ironsides "whose thunders shook the mighty deep."
In closing this sketch of the farms at Nashawtuc perhaps nothing could be more appropriate than the following from a paper of Dr. Reynolds read before the Antiquarian Soci- ety and since published in a book containing his works. The paper is entitled "The Story of a Concord Farm." "Rightly viewed this farm has been in itself a little world. All trades, all professions, all human interests, seem sooner or later to have come to it. The Indian, the fur trader, the planter of new towns, the Cromwellian soldier and inn- keeper, merchants, doctors, lawyers, mechanics, farmers, a judge, a minister, a sailor, a railroad manager, - all these have possessed the land, and for the most part have depart- ed and left little trace of themselves behind. I count that nine different stocks or families have in two hundred and fifty years owned the farm, and that only two of them are represented in the town today, unless it be by remote side branches. But on the soil there are nothing but surface changes. The beautifully rounded little hill, the green meadow, the winding rivers, - these are just what they were two hundred years ago.
Instinctively, as I close, I recall Emerson's words, which seem simply concentrated history:
Concord
299
"Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm, Saying, ''Tis mine, my children's and my name's ; How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees ! How grateful climb those shadows on my hill ! I fancy these pure waters and the flags Know me, as does my dog ; we sympathize ; And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil."
"Where are these men ? Asleep beneath their grounds ; And strangers, found as they, their furrows plough
"The lawyer's deed Ran sure Intail, To them and to their heirs
Who shall succeed, Without fail, Forevermore.
"Here is the land, Shaggy with wood,
With the old valley, Mound and flood. But the heritors ?
Fled like the flood's foam, -
The lawyer and the laws, And the kingdom, Clean swept herefrom.
"They called me theirs, Who so controlled me ; Yet everyone wished to stay, and is gone. How am I theirs, If they cannot hold me, But I hold them ?
CHAPTER XXXI.
Old Houses - The Elisha Jones House - The Block House - Hunt House - Abel Hosmer House - Wheeler House - Joseph Hosmer House - Woods House - Buttrick House - Barrett House -- Old Manse -Wright Tavern - The Colonial - The Meriam, Tuttle, Fox, Brown, Heywood, Beal, Bull and Alcott Houses - Ancient House Sites - Site of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley Parsonage - Site of the Major Simon Willard House - Deserted Districts and their suggestiveness.
I T would be a matter of much interest to know of the houses or even their sites where the original owners of alloted lands first lived. It is exceedingly improb- able how ever that any of the first houses of the persons whose names are on the list of earliest granters is now stand- ing, and only one is known to exist which belonged to one of the settlers who next succeeded them.
The following is a list of some of the older houses of which we have any knowledge and a sketch of the history of a portion of them :
The Block house, Elisha Jones house, Hunt house, Bar- rett house, the Wright Tavern, the Old Manse, the Col- onial, Wheeler house, Abel Hosmer house, Joseph Hos- mer house, Woods house, Buttrick house, Meriam house, Tuttle house, Fox house, Reuben Brown house, George Heywood house, the Beal house, Alcott house and the house once inhabited by Ephraim Bull the originator of the Concord grape.
300
THE ELISHA JONES HOUSE.
301
Concord
THE ELISHA JONES HOUSE.
The Elisha Jones house now occupied by the Hon. John S. Keyes is situated on Monument street a short dis- tance from the lane leading to the Battle-ground and just beyond the Old Manse on the opposite side of the way. Its first owner was John Smedley an original grantee, of Huguenot descent who arrived at the Concord plantation probably before 1640.
It is not certain that the house stood where it now stands since there are early records which indicate that it may have been on either the east or west side of the high- way as it then existed. The road however may have been changed in subsequent years, so that to follow it might mislead as to the original house spot.
As first constructed the house contained but two rooms, one above the other and faced the four points of the com- pass. The frame was of ash, the boarding of pitch pine, the latter having edges that overlapped to protect from the weather. The lower portion of the chimney was made of stone and clay mortar and its dimensions were twelve feet by eight. John, the son of John, the first proprietor who married May 5, 1669, was the second owner of the house, and he added two rooms on the south side and between them an entry and stairway, and perhaps the east leanto. From John the second, the house passed to Ebenezer Hartwell who married Sarah Smedley, daughter of John, Junior.
In 1724, the third owner sold the place to Samuel Jones, his next neighbor, for 210 pounds.
It was afterwards occupied by his son Thomas Jones, who in 1727 married Mary Mills.
The last named couple were blest by a numerous family, all born in this house the youngest of whom, Elisha, received the old home by the last will and testament of his father.
Elisha Jones was a blacksmith, and in 1770, married
302
Concord
Elizabeth Farrar. Through his ownership of the house comes its Revolutionary history and fame.
Hon. John S. Keyes, the present occupant and owner, in his sketch of the old homestead in a paper prepared and published by the Concord Antiquarian Society, writing of Elisha Jones states as follows :
"He became the prominent man of the family, was Lieu- tenant according to some authority, and Captain according to others. In the troubles preceding the Revolution Elisha was active on the right side; he received of the military stores sent to Concord in 1775, fifty-five bbls. of beef and 1700 lbs. of salt-fish, to be stored in his cellar and shed. His family of two small children were greatly disturbed by the events of the morning of the 19th of April. The early alarm roused them, and the Militia and minute men who fell back at the approach of the British troops halted on the hill behind their house and waited there some time before crossing the bridge. The confusion and excitement increased as the five companies of the red coats marched up the road, and left two companies near his house, while two more went on to Col. Barrett's and one remained to guard the bridge.
The soldiers of the two companies then halted near this door yard, soon surrounded the well in front, drinking the cool water that was so delicious after their long march that hot day. It seems to have satisfied them as there are no report of any depredations. Mr. Jones had prudently taken his wife and babies down cellar, where they cowered in fear and trembling in the dark corners, while he stood guard over the barrels of beef. Soon the chatter and noise of the Britishers ceased, and all was still. Then the silence was broken by the volleys of musketry at the bridge. He could stand it no longer, but rushing up from the cellar fol- lowed by his wife and crying children, they saw the regu- lars retreating in confusion back to the village, bearing their wounded, some with ghastly faces, supported by their comrades, others with bloody limbs hastily bandaged to
303
Concord
stanch the flow. It was a shocking sight to the oldest child, a girl of four years, which she remembered to her old age, and often described. To her father it lent new excite- ment and patriotic rage; he pointed his gun out of the bedroom window on the north-west corner of the house, determined to have one raking fire at the foe. His wife clung to his arm begging him not to risk their burning the house if he fired from it, and succeeded in preventing his purpose and getting his gun away. Then he went to the door of the shed, and stood there looking at the retreating soldiers in scorn and triumph. One of the rear guard who may have seen his attempt to shoot, or "mis- liked his look," drew up as they passed the house, and fired a "British musket ball" at Elisha. It was a well pointed shot considering that the red coats fired from the hip, and not from the shoulder with a sight along the gun barrel, as the Yankees did. The ball struck at the height of Jones' head about three feet to the right, and passing through the boarding, glanced from an oak joist, and out through the back side into the ground behind. The hole in the front board still remains, to be seen of "pilgrims and strangers," some of whom content themselves with putting their fingers in it, while others have been known to try to cut out and carry off the hole. Whether, after this narrow escape, Mr. Jones joined in the pursuit to Charlestown, or remained at home to care for his frightened family, tradi- tion does not tell."
The old house is in the midst of an interesting locality. Not far away towards the west is the Old Manse with its gray, gambrel roof and antique pose, extending back riverward from the historic highway as if modestly shrinking from the multitudes that visit it.
Towards the east and on a large unoccupied lawn in full and open view from the Jones doorway is ground supposed to have been inhabited by the Indians as indicated by the stone arrow heads found there.
To the northerly through the pines is the "Battle Ground" including the monument, the bridge, and the
304
Colonial
"Minute Man" Statue. To the east and south are still the rough pastures over which the Provincials passed to intercept the British in their retreat back to Boston ; and before the doorway is the same old road along which the Regulars ran after the firing in the first conflict.
Truly if time has dealt favorably with any spot about Concord where a century ago men wrought mightily it is here.
The river moves onward with an unchanged course; the willows as of old grow beside it; the floods rise and occasionally sweep over the meadow lands as of yore ; and when by the winds of gray November the trees are strip- ped of their foliage, their is disclosed over the brown reaches of marsh land an interesting expanse of historic country.
From Elisha Jones the property passed to Nathan Bar- rett, from whom it was purchased by a daughter of the last owner of the Prescott place which was near by, Mrs. John S. Keyes.
The improvements made by the present owner Judge Keyes we will give in his own words :
"With much labor and expense it was carefully repaired and renovated ; a new outside and inside finish put on the building ; the old chimneys taken down and replaced by new ; the rooms finished in native woods; the small win- dows enlarged ; and Lutheran, long and bay windows, porch and piazza added, and the interior so changed that its former owners would hardly recognize it. The outside retains the lean-to roof on the North, and the general shape of the old house. The barn was moved across the road from where it had long been an eyesore to the Manse, and placed nearly on the site of the blacksmith shop, and the view over the meadows and battleground improved."
THE BLOCK HOUSE.
The Block house, or what remains of it is situated on Main Street, the first building west of the Bank. It is
305
Concord
owned now by Miss Louisa Kennedy and occupied by F. Holland. As it stands on land adjacent to the second burying ground its location may indicate that it was on land of the town since it may be inferred that the burying ground was on such land if not given by two sisters as tradition has it. The Block house was supposed to have been built as a garrison in King Philip's war and to have been made largely of solid pine logs. Judge John S. Keyes says, in 1839, when there was an enlargement made on the west side for a window, he witnessed the workmen sawing through solid pine logs.
It might be difficult to trace the entire succession of owners of this ancient structure. It is presumable that after being used as long as needful for a public purpose, it was sold to private parties for a dwelling place.
The first private owner of whom we have any knowledge was Rev. Daniel Bliss, a royalist who lived there before the Revolutionary war and is supposed to have made the first alterations in it.
From Bliss it passed into the possession of Dr. Isaac Hurd, who at one time owned nearly or quite all the land between this building and the river at the south bridge.
From about 1850 to 1880, it was occupied by Dr. Henry A. Barrett.
Associated with this old house is much that is suggestive of a stormy period in olden times. It is true that Con- cord, unlike some of the interior towns of Middlesex County, in King Philip's war was spared an attack by the Indians ; nevertheless it was subject to the liability of sud- den assault, and hence on more than one occasion the inhabitants of the lone outlying hamlets may have been summoned to this little central stronghold by the firing of significant signal guns, warning them that suspicious forms had been seen lurking by the wood side, or that the tracks of strange feet had been discovered along the meadow paths, or that mysterious smoke rising from lonesome localities where no settler was known to live, might betoken
306
Colonial
the presence of savages who very soon would be at their doors ; and as down through the years we come in thought we can perhaps faintly conceive of events that transpired about this building, when about a century later in 1775 the British Regulars marched past and may be, visited it in their search for public stores.
In former years, an ancient jail stood near and was reached perhaps by a path along its very garden fence if it had one, and the poor debtor whose board in the little grim prison house may have been paid by some obsti- nate creditor might have been reminded of home comforts and sighed for restoration to them, by sight of this house.
In its present appearance it shows but little sign of antiquity and as it stands smiling by the roadside near the place of old graves, there is nothing to remind the trav- eler that in that city of the dead may be the dust of many who have passed in and out of this old building.
THE HUNT HOUSE.
The Hunt house is situated at Punkatassett. It bears the mark of great age and is supposed to have been built about 1725. The original clapboards were of an old fash- ioned length. The place is now the property of Mr. Wil- liam Hunt, a great-grandson of the original owner.
THE ABEL HOSMER HOUSE.
The Abel Hosmer House is situated on Elm street near Concord Junction, and is owned or occupied by George M. Baker. It is on a part of the original James Hosmer estate whose lone homestead by the interval of the Assabet river to the westerly was at its beginning one of the town's out- post houses. It is supposed to have been built about 1750, by one of the Hosmer family.
THE WHEELER HOUSE,
This house with its leanto roof to the rearward, and its little well kept front porch pleasantly facing towards the
307
Concord
wayside is very old, having been built probably from 160 to 200 years ago. It well deserves the name it is known by since it has always been identified with the Wheeler family which is one of the most numerous in Concord. It stands on the Sudbury road on the most direct way from the Public Library to the R. R. Station, and is now the property of Miss Helen Blanchard, a lineal descendant of the first owner.
THE JOSEPH HOSMER HOUSE.
This is situated a little beyond the South bridge and was probably erected in 1751. It was the home of Joseph Hosmer at the time of the Concord Fight. The house was searched at that time by the English soldiers for mili- tary stores while its proprietor was acting as Adjutant of the assembling provincials by request of Col. James Barrett. It is now owned by Prescott Keyes, Esq.
THE WOODS HOUSE.
This is now used as a school for boys and is known as the Concord School. The present master of the school and manager of the estate is Thomas H. Eckfeldt, A.M. The house was built soon atter 1760 and was also searched April 19, 1775 for military stores supposed to be secreted there.
THE BUTTRICK HOUSE.
This old and historic homestead is near the North bridge and now owned by Joseph Derby. It was built, it is asserted, by Jonathan Buttrick in 1712, and April 19, 1775 was owned and occupied by Major John Buttrick, who took a conspicuous part in the Concord fight. Before this old building to the eastward is the "Battle Lawn" lately so called, where the militia and minute men were formed, pre- paratory to their march to the bridge; and near it the detachment of Regulars under Capt. Parsons passed on their way to and from the home of Col. James Barrett.
308
Colonial
The "Battle Lawn" is marked by a suitably inscribed tablet.
THE BARRETT HOUSE.
The Barrett House is perhaps better known to the public than any other in Concord, because of its former owner and occupant Col. James Barrett of Concord Fight fame. An extended account of this house was given in a former chap- ter. It is in the vicinity of Annusnuck hill and was prob- ably built about 1725-50. The L is supposed to have been added years after the erection of the main building. In the dooryard of this house the British made a bonfire of the Provincial gun-carriages, while Capt. Parsons's com- mand were searching the house for other Provincial prop- erty.
THE OLD MANSE.
The Old Manse stands a little back from the road on Monument street, a short distance from the public square.
The plot of ground upon which it stands was originally the property of James Blood father and son who had four- teen acres allowed them in this vicinity. Various have been the owners and various and distinguished have been the occupants of this old mansion. Few if any homes in our land have associated with them more features of historic and classic interest. It was for a long time the home of Rev. Ezra Ripley, a prominent pastor of the Concord First Parish. As for many years it was occupied by successive ministers many of the New England Clergy have been entertained there, and the walk from the memorable high- way that passes it, to the little vine clad front has many times been trod by the feet of distinguished visitors, and the "prophet's chamber" has doubtless witnessed the pres- ence of guests, whose names if we knew them all would make a long and honored list.
To the rear is the river flowing onward as tranquil and bright as is the memory of the lives that were lived within those peaceful precincts.
309
Concord
THE WRIGHT TAVERN.
The Wright Tavern which apart from its age is among the historic objects in Concord was built about 1747. It stands near the spot where there was an earth pit from which the owners of the Bulkeley Grist Mill obtained material with which to repair the mill-dam, a right which was stipulated for when the mill privilege was granted.
The plot of ground which was a part of the small por- tion at the central village owned by the town was sold by a committee appointed for the purpose at a town meeting in May 1744, to Ephraim Jones in consideration of his pay- ing the sum of thirty pounds and also an agreement that the "broken ground" in said town between the training field and the meeting house "be improved in such way and manner as to prevent the Training field from wasting away the town's land."
The record of a conveyance of this property was dated June 22, 1785, and describes a small piece of land with bounds "Beginning at a stake at the Northeasterly corner and leaving the highway full fore rods wide."
Not long after the purchase of the aforesaid property Mr. Jones began to build, and a tavern was established there as early at least as the middle of the 18th century.
Nov. 25, 1751, Landlord Jones sold the premises to Thomas Munroe who came to Concord from Lexington. Munroe kept the place open to the public as an Inn until he died in 1766.
After his death the place was sold at a mortgagee's sale to Daniel Taylor, the deed passing from Deacon Thomas Barrett who held the mortgage.
In 1775 Amos Wright was carrying on the business of inn keeper at this house, either as agent or proprietor. While thus engaged the Concord Fight occurred, and from that time forth the old tavern stand has been ascociated with his name.
In the colonial period when this old hostelry was open
310
Colonial
to the public it was prominently identified with town busi- ness. Its first proprietor Jones having been a leading town officer as well as militia captain, more or less of the offi- cials met there for the transaction of town business.
Sometime during the year 1775, the property passed into the hands of Samuel Swan of Charlestown, who kept tavern there till 1785. From that time till a comparatively recent date the house ceased to be used as a place of public entertainment.
The next owner was Reuben Brown a saddler who once lived in the Antiquarian House.
Since the house was closed as a tavern a variety of call- ings have been represented there, among which is that of the livery man, the baker, the book binder, the store keeper, the tinsmith, and the shoe dealer.
At present the property belongs to the "First Parish Society," it having been donated to it by the late Reuben Rice and Judge E. Rockwell Hoar who were joint owners. The house some years since again became an Inn, and at present is kept by Mr. John J. Busch.
As it stands on the corner of Main and Lexington streets, west of the Burying ground hill and just northerly of the First Parish Meeting house, it is one of the con- spicuous objects near the Public Square.
The historic features of this old hostelry are such as to render it much sought for by sightseers; and it is said that as many as fifteen thousand guests registered there the last year.
For a long time the old fireplaces, of which there is one in nearly every room, were closed up, but of late they have been re-opened, and the present proprietor has attempted to give the old house somewhat of its former antique appearance. Visitors are welcomed for an inspection of the premises, and whatever of cheer modern appliances can afford may be expected. As reference has been made in another part of this volume to the relation of the Wright
31I
Concord
Tavern to the Concord Fight, it is unnecessary to repeat it here.
The old picture by Doolittle and Earle, painted in 1775 represents the British soldiers as halting before the door while their commander, Lieutenant-colonel Smith and his Major, Pitcairn, are in the burying ground on the hill, look- ing over the village where the soldiers are in search of mil- itary stores. Before the Wright Tavern and along the way toward the public Square, the Royal troops are drawn up with martial precision, in close ranks, apparently await- ing the return of their officers for orders.
Of all the works of man set forth in this picture, which though crude in perspective, may nevertheless be compara- tively accurate in detail, there is probably not one that has undergone less of change than the Wright Tavern. It stood there then as now it stands, defiant of storms and un- touched by the embellishment of modern art, while its main companions of that old and memorable day are the moss-stained tomb stones nearly opposite, the ancient road- way, the meadows and the brook.
THE COLONIAL.
The Colonial House, or what we call the Colonial, is composed of three houses which were formerly distinct and separate from each other, viz: the White house, a public store house, and the Thoreau House. Each of these por- tions is supposed to antedate the War of the Revolution.
The White house takes its name from a former occu- pant by the name of White. The middle portion was used as a deposit for Provincial military supplies, and the Tho- reau house was once owned by aunts of Henry Tho- reau. An interesting fact connected with the Colonial House is that the portion of it which was once a public store house was probably visited by John How, a British spy, as he styled himself, whose diary was printed at Con- cord, N. H. in 1827.
How left Boston by order of Gen. Gage given April 5,
312
Colonial
1775, to examine the roads, bridges and fording places, and ascertain which was the best route for an army to take to Worcester to destroy military stores deposited there. He returned by way of Concord where, he states, he was introduced to Major Buttrick and several other gentlemen and was invited to dine at the tavern. He states:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.