MA Exit 30: Concord Museum – For young and old alike, it really is exciting bumping into the famous 1775 Paul Revere lantern right here in this museum.In their gift shop, you can buy a reproduction of that lantern.
Here’s the verse in the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Paul Revere’s Ride” in which he answers the question: Was it “”one if by land, and two, if by sea”? This referred to which way the British regulars would be coming to Lexington and Concord.
“Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.”
And, by the way, Paul Revere never finished that ride. He was stopped by the Regulars and Samuel Prescott continued on with the message.
Other gifts you can scoop up here: Holiday ornaments, iron candle holders and lanterns, scarves, locally made McCrae’s caramels, quick breads and do-it-yourself fudge mixes, old fashioned cloth dolls, one-of-a-kind book houses made with recycled books, vintage camera desk clocks, “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau in all shapes and sizes, Daniel Chester French reproductions, Frasier Fir candles, diffusers, and soap, and yo-yos, marbles, pick-up sticks, and old fashioned dolls,
If you go to the museum to buy the lantern, please leave time to visit. Start your tour with the 12 min. film, and then you will be awed by seeing some of the muskets used at the bridge on April 19, 1776 and a fife from the Lexington skirmish.
Literary treasures live here too, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s study and Henry David Thoreau’s furnishings from when he lived and wrote (Walden and Civil Disobedience) by Walden pond: his desk, bed, chair, spyglass and notched walking stick.
Concord-made decorative arts fill the galleries, like textiles, clocks, silver and furniture.
Location: 200 Lexington Rd., Concord MA
Tel: 978-369-9763 or 978-369-9609
Hours: Jan-Mar M-Sat 11-4, Sun 1-4, Apr, May, Sept-Dec M-Sat 9-5, Sun 12-5; June-Aug daily 9-5.
www.concordmuseum.org