[Illustration: SLEEPY HOLLOW CEMETERY On this far ridge in Concord’s burial ground are found the graves of the literary great, Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, Thoreau, and their respective families.] [Illustration: THE BULLET-HOLE HOUSE, HOME OF MINUTEMAN ELISHA JONES The oldest portion of this house, overlooking North Bridge, dates from 1644, making it probably the oldest house in Concord. Elisha Jones, Concord minuteman, was guarding military supplies in his house when the British began their retreat. He imprudently showed himself at the door of the left wing, and was promptly fired upon. The bullet missed him, and the hole it made is still preserved under a pane of glass.] [Illustration: THE OLD MANSE (_view from the northwest_) This large gambrel-roofed homestead was built in 1769 by the Reverend William Emerson, Concord’s fighting minister. Its grounds border the Concord River, and the minister is said to have viewed the battle at North Bridge from the window of his study. His grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, spent much time in the old house as a schoolboy, and later lived here for a year, writing “Nature” during that period. Nathaniel Hawthorne rented the house in 1842, and brought his bride there, to occupy it for some four years. It was Hawthorne who named it “The Old Manse,” and it was his “Mosses from an Old Manse” that made it known to the world. The house has undergone astonishingly little change since it was built 170 years ago.] [Illustration: EARLY SPRING AT THE OLD MANSE] [Illustration: THE BATTLEGROUND, CONCORD] [Illustration: THE GRANITE OBELISK AND THE NORTH BRIDGE, CONCORD The Battleground by North Bridge is marked by this monument, erected in 1836. Nearby is a tablet marking the graves of two British soldiers killed in the fight. The present bridge is a concrete copy of the original wooden bridge, abandoned in 1794. Here was fired the “shot that was heard round the world.” Here is the setting of Longfellow’s immortal poem. Here was the turning point in America’s struggle for independence.] [Illustration: THE MINUTEMAN, CONCORD “The Minuteman,” first important Statue by Daniel Chester French, stands guard over the Battleground. The spirited young farmer is leaving his plow to answer the alarm, musket in hand. The sculptor, unable to afford a living model, is said to have used a statue of Apollo Belvedere dressed as a minuteman for the purpose. The scene of this bloody and momentous battle is now the picture of calm repose, and a shrine for innumerable visitors. The Story of the battle is eloquently related by a tablet on the scene: CONCORD FIGHT