Concord: The Old Manse

Replete with its original 18th and 19th century furnishings, the Old Manse is located adjacent to Concord’s Old North Bridge, where on April 19, 1775 Minutemen fired the shots ‘heard 'round the world.’ Built by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather in 1769, this atmospheric parsonage not only witnessed America’s birth, but also nurtured the American Renaissance within its walls and on its beautiful grounds. Here Emerson drafted Nature, Nathaniel Hawthorne established his literary career, and naturalist Henry David Thoreau tended the land. In addition, woman’s rights activist Margaret Fuller, pioneer educationist Horace Mann, and abolitionist John Brown paid regular visits. The Old Manse remained in the Emerson family until 1939, when Massachusetts’ leading conservation organization, the Trustees of Reservations, purchased the property and opened it as a house museum. Do not miss this very special place!