The first of these was Walden
Pond – the birthplace of the American conservation
movement. It was here that scholar and essayist Henry
David Thoreau lived in solitude from July 1845 to
September 1847 studying nature and developing the science
of ecology. His
resulting book, Walden,
is largely responsible for increasing public awareness and
respect for our natural environment.
I walked part way around the pond (I’d call it a
lake) to Thoreau Cove, the location of his one-room cabin.
The original cabin is long gone, but the location
is marked. Near
that site, I found a great quote from Thoreau:
“I went to the woods because I wanted to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.
And see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not
lived.”
The second place that I wanted to visit was the town
of Concord, just a couple of miles down the road from
Walden Pond.
I rode by, but did not take time to tour, the Alcott
House (childhood home of Louisa May) and the Ralph Waldo
Emerson Home.
I then rode to the North Bridge and the Minute
Man National Historical Park Visitor Center. The first battle of the American Revolutionary War took place
at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775.
Earlier in the day, British troops had fired on
Colonial militiamen in Lexington, killing eight of the
colonists. News
of this event had reached Concord long before the British
troops arrived, and the militiamen there were ready and
fully prepared to defend their town.
As the British arrived, the militiamen withdrew to
Punkatasset Hill. When
they later attempted to cross the Concord River, they
found the bridge guarded by three companies of British
troops. The
British took up positions on the far side of the bridge,
then opened fire when the colonists did not stop their
advance. Major
Buttrick of Concord then gave his order, “Fire, fellow
soldiers, for God’s sake, fire!”
And they did - for the first time, American
colonists fired on the British, an event later described
by Emerson as “the shot heard ‘round the world.”
The British retreated first to Concord, then on to
Boston. Colonists
followed them most of the way, ambushing them from many
points along the road.
By the time they reached the safety of Bunker Hill,
the British had lost 73 dead, 174 wounded and 26 missing.
American losses on the day were 49 dead,
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
