The Crossroads of Revolution

One of my favorite places has always been Concord, Massachusetts.  Naturally, as a lover of history I would be drawn there for its rich history regarding its role in the outbreak of the American Revolution, but I am also fascinated with its literary history as well.

When I lived up in Rhode Island about 12 years ago, I made a number of pilgrimages to Walden Pond known most famously as the setting for Henry David Thoreau's observations and musings about life.  I remember reading "Walden" as a high school student and it made a profound impact on me.  It has been one of my greatest joys as a teacher to take my students there for a moment of reflection regarding the teachings of Thoreau.

A moment of reflection at Walden Pond

For the past several years we have connected both the outbreak of the American Revolution and the birth of transcendentalism, a revolution of thought, by going to Concord where both occurred in two very different time periods.  One of my favorite stories to tell is how Louisa May Alcott was appalled that centennial commemorations at Old North Bridge were closed to women unless they were in the company of a man.  She defiantly gathered women in the town square and marched down and forcibly entered the festivities with her followers.  We reenact that by marching to Old North Bridge ourselves rather than taking the bus.

The Old Manse is one of my favorite spots and I have spent a lot of time on the "Thinking Rock" looking out upon Old North Bridge and then contemplating how the transcendentalist movement was basically started started on the same property.   The Old Manse was the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson who drafted "Nature" in the residence.  "Nature" became one foundations of the movement.  It truly is a crossroads of revolution.

Little Paul on the Thinking Rock