The quintessential American town
The Fourth of July has come to us again, bringing with it memories of the stories we learned in school; the half-remembered people and events that first gave us the feeling that we were part of something special, a legacy of courage and a desperate fight for freedom from tyranny.
Some years ago, I had the extreme emotional pleasure of having those half-memories become substantial. At the time, I was involved with the writing of book called “Where in the World are They Now?” that told of artifacts from all time, what they are and where they can be found today. One of those artifacts is Paul Revere’s lantern.
Because Revere’s gallant ride was described and made famous in a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, many people take the details of the adventure, some of which were inaccurate in the poet’s writing, with a grain of salt. But there was a plan, engineered by Revere, which included two lanterns placed in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church to warn of British troop movements: “One if by land, two if by sea.”
And there was an adventure in which Revere and his compatriot William Dawes set out from Boston on their famous journey to warn their countrymen to move their stores of guns and ammunition because the British were on the march.
He and Dawes arrived at Lexington separately and were successful in warning John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were hiding there, that they were being hunted as traitors by the British. The two patriots fled and were saved, but Revere was captured on the way to Concord, and only Dawes was able to deliver their warning, giving the minutemen time to entrench themselves and be ready for the Redcoats when they arrived. That’s why the battle for Concord Bridge was successful.
Part of the reason this all comes to mind is the constant escalation in the price of airline travel, especially to Europe. With summer still really beginning, vacation destinations in the United States are perhaps the way to go.
My unqualified recommendation is a trip to Concord, Mass., a town filled with visible history that will quicken your heartbeat. First, there is that lantern. You will find it in the Concord Museum on the third floor. It is quite ordinary in appearance. Rather blackish, and medium-small, it sits on an unimposing pedestal, and takes you away … because there it is! It’s not a story, or a poem, or something we remember from a classroom when we were kids. No, that lantern saved us. Had the British surprised us and found our guns and ammunition, there is a good chance we might have been done with right away. Certainly we would have lost Lexington and Concord, if they had captured and, in all probability, killed Adams and Hancock, because to the British those men were definite traitors and leaders of a revolt against their king.
Now on the wall, just to the right of the lantern, is a blowup of a page in a soldier’s diary, I think he had been a farmer, telling in the most personal way possible about what was happening in front of him. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who lived across the street, financed the museum itself. His house is still there. There had been a fire there and Louisa May Alcott, who lived around the corner, came with her children and saved the Emerson family and their house. At the time the town was looking for a place to build a museum, and Emerson, who owned the lot across from his house, gave them a large donation on the condition that his library would be housed in the building. Today, there is a doorway you can look through and see Emerson’s desk and chair, and imagine the original library. And to help you, there is a picture right in that doorway of Emerson seated in a chair to show you what you cannot see of the room.
Finally, Emerson’s grandma owned a house a few blocks away. There is a window in that house that looks out upon Concord Bridge, and the story you are told is that the lady, holding two children in her arms, witnessed the battle for Concord Bridge through that window.
Oh yes, Nathanial Hawthorn, just married, lived with his new bride in that house, wrote a book called “From the Manse” about that house and, with his wife’s diamond ring, signed his name on a pane of that window. So, as you are looking and imagining the battle for Concord Bridge as Emerson’s grandmother saw it, you are seeing an original signature of one of our greatest authors.