Featured Stories

Patriots' Day is almost here, and this issue of Discover Concord brings you a list of events, the parade route, and much more to make your celebration special.  Also in this issue is an in-depth look at the new PBS documentary "Henry David Thoreau," a fascinating piece on how the Concord Lyceum came to be, and a look at how Massachusetts civilians on the homefront managed the challenging months of January - May 1776. Freedom's Way National Heritage Area is launching an exciting program you won't want to miss called "Declaring Independence: Then & Now" in more than 20 towns across Massachusetts. With two special fold-out inserts,  maps, lists of shops, and so much more, you'll want to get your copy early!

The Boston Massacre unfolded on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. While often depicted as a brutal act of British oppression, a closer look reveals the incident was the result of increasing friction between the colonists and the British authorities. 

A series of economic acts passed by the British Parliament in the 1760s designed to generate revenue and curb England’s massive debt from the French and Indian War sowed the seeds of discontent in the Massachusetts colony. Colonists in America fiercely resisted these measures, viewing them as an infringement on their rights as British citizens. While many colonists adopted a policy of economic boycotts to reverse the laws, others, especially those in Boston, resorted to violence. 

Henry David Thoreau’s younger sister, Sophia Elizabeth Thoreau (1819–1876), was a botanist, artist, editor, and abolitionist who worked as a teacher and managed the family’s pencil business. She significantly shaped her brother’s legacy to an extent that modern scholars argue was under-acknowledged by Thoreau’s early biographers.