#concord river

[vieformidable]

Early evening sunset over the Iconic North Bridge spanning the Concord River in Concord MA, July 2021. This is the nexus of the American Revolution and the "shot heard round the world" which took place on April 17, 1775.

[iseultsdream]

Nov 6, 2018 -The North Bridge over the Concord River -taken Sept 17, 2018

[iseultsdream]

Nov 17, 2018 -the view north of the Concord River from the North Bridge -taken Sept 17, 2018

"It may well be called the Concord--the river of peace and quietness--for it is certainly the most unexcitable and sluggish stream that ever loitered, imperceptibly towards its eternity, the sea. Positively, I had lived three weeks beside it, before it grew quite clear to my perception which way the current flowed. It never has a vivacious aspect, except when a north-western breeze is vexing."

Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864), "Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)"

[iseultsdream]

Nov 17, 2018 -looking out over the Concord River from the south side of the North Bridge. The Old Manse's boathouse barely seen here on the far left -photo taken Sept 17, 2018

Excerpts from Nathaniel Hawthorne's journal during his three year stay at the Old Manse:

1 September 1842

"Mr. Thoreau dined with us yesterday.... He is a keen and delicate observer of nature, -- a genuine observer, -- which, I suspect, is almost as rare a character as even an original poet; and Nature, in return for his love, seems to adopt him as her especial child, and shows him secrets which few others are allowed to witness....With all this he has more than a tincture of literature, -- a deep and true taste for poetry, especially for the elder poets, and he is a good writer...."

"After dinner... Mr. Thoreau and I walked up the bank of the river, and at a certain point he shouted for his boat. Forthwith a young man paddled it across, and Mr. Thoreau and I voyaged farther up the stream, which soon became more beautiful than any picture, with its dark and quiet sheet of water, half shaded, half sunny, between high and wooded banks...Mr. Thoreau managed the boat so perfectly, either with two paddles or with one, that it seemed instinct with his own will, and to require no physical effort to guide it....he was desirous of selling the boat of which he was so fit a pilot, and which was built by his own hands; so I agreed to take it, and accordingly became possessor of the Musketaquid (the Indian name of the Concord River, meaning the river of meadows). I wish I could acquire the aquatic skill of the original owner."

2 September 1842

"Yesterday afternoon Mr. Thoreau arrived with the boat...I entered the boat with him, in order to have the benefit of a lesson in rowing and paddling.... I managed, indeed, to propel the boat by rowing with two oars, but the use of the single paddle is quite beyond my present skill. Mr. Thoreau had assured me that it was only necessary to will the boat to go in any particular direction, and she would immediately take that course, as if imbued with the spirit of the steersman."

"It may be so with him, but it is certainly not so with me. The boat seemed to be bewitched, and turned its head to every point of the compass except the right one. He then took the paddle himself, and though I could observe nothing peculiar in his management of it, the Musketaquid immediately became as docile as a trained steed. I suspect that she has not yet transferred her affections from her old master to her new one. By and by, when we are better acquainted, she will grow more tractable."

[iseultsdream]

Nov 17, 2018 -The turn around the stone wall from the river path, on the way to the front of the Old Manse. A view of the Concord River and the North Bridge obscred by the line of trees along the river's banks -taken Sept 17, 2018

[iseultsdream]

Nov 17, 2018 -rear view of the Old Manse, its yard sloping down to the Concord River, in Concord, MA -photo taken Sept 17, 2018

A short walk up from the North Bridge leads to a very historic old house,built in 1770, which was a silent witness to a lot of history. It is known as the Old Manse.

[iseultsdream]

Nov 17, 2018 -view of the North Bridge and the Concord river from the Old Manse's boathouse -taken Sept 17, 2018

[ladyscout]