Historic Ironwork and Hidden Paths: The Buttrick Gardens Restoration

August 29, 2024

The Buttrick Gardens at Minute Man National Historical Park look better than ever after several years of hardscape preservation projects that enhance the natural beauty of the historic gardens. Owned by the Buttrick family from the colonial period until the 1960s, the gardens were installed and expanded by three generations of the Buttrick family from 1911 to 1962, when they conveyed the property to the National Park Service.

Concord’s Community Gardens

May 13, 2022

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Community gardening in Concord had its beginnings in 1973, when Dan Monahan, the Director of Natural Resources at that time, investigated the concept being practiced in other parts of the U.S. by those who remembered the success of the WWI and WWII Victory Gardens in local communities throughout the country.

The Summer Issue is Here!

As our nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this issue explores the people, ideas, and stories that continue to shape its legacy. Inside, Professor Robert A. Gross offers fresh perspective in “A Referendum on Independence,” while a special foldout guide, “Following in Thoreau’s Footsteps,” invites you to explore the landscapes that inspired him. Discover an unexpected connection in “A Tale of Two Authors,” revisit the moving story of “A Hawthorne Homecoming,” and enjoy summer events, arts, and ways to experience Concord firsthand.

A Referendum on Independence

The road to American independence took time to complete, and Massachusetts, despite its reputation as a vanguard state, was not always in the lead. In 1775, even after the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, most Patriot leaders were still seeking restoration of colonial rights within the British empire. Thomas Paine broke the logjam with the publication of Common Sense early the next year. The instant best-seller argued the case for separation by appealing to economic and political self-interest, emotional resentment of a brutal and oppressive king, and a utopian vision of America as “an asylum for mankind.”

A Hawthorne Homecoming

Two white horses pulled the hearse into Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, a top-hatted driver at the reins. A band of mourners followed on foot as they made their way toward Authors’ Ridge.Except for the bright sunshine, this scene wouldn’t seem out of place in a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. But it happened a mere twenty years ago, on June 26, 2006. That was the day Hawthorne and his wife and daughter were reunited after his death separated them 142 years earlier.