The Concord River offers a great fishing adventure, and the adjacent Minute Man Park is a huge serving of Americana.
Colonial resentment was high when Paul Revere was an express courier delivering messages and news on horseback in 1775. Days before the start of the Revolutionary War, based on military intelligence suggesting Redcoats were soon to be marching through Charlestown and down the road to Lexington and Concord, Revere arranged the hanging of lanterns in the Old North Church to signal if British forces were approaching Charlestown by land over the bridge, or by sea and down the Charles River. 1 lantern if by land, 2 if by sea. When Patriots saw 2 lanterns on April 18, 1775, the eve of the Revolutionary War, they knew, and Revere set out for Lexington, warning households along the way, and eventually Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington around midnight. Next he headed towards Concord, where colonial munitions were stored, to alert the militia there, but was captured by British patrol on the way, and released the following day without his horse. Revere's warning to the countryside, that British
regulars were coming to stamp out rabble rousers and seize their weapons, allowed militia and specially trained Minute Men to ready for battle.
Site of Paul Revere's Capture
The first shot of the Revolutionary War was at Lexington Common, around sunrise on Wednesday, April 19, 1775. Our outnumbered militia, who were waiting at Buckman Tavern and led by Captain John Parker, suffered casualties and fell back.
Buckman Tavern
Captain John Parker Statue
Lexington Common
The militia gained in strength and reenganged at North Bridge in Concord before noon. The first Colonial shot at the North Bridge was called, by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his
Concord Hymn, the shot heard round the world. Sam Adams exclaimed it a glorious day for the 13 colonies of America. The militia pushed the regulars off the bridge and sent them back towards Lexington.
North Bridge
Minute Man Statue
Minute Men poured in from surrounding towns, spreading out along the 5 mile long Battle Road from Concord to Lexington, firing from protected positions behind rock walls, high ground, and trees. The Redcoats, trained in European style line warfare, were pummelled while running away in retreat.
Battle Road Marker
Vantage Point of Parker's Revenge along Battle Road
British reinforcements marched to Lexington, singing Yankee Doodle on their way, rescuing the desperate remaining British soldiers there, and turning back towards Charlestown, all the while being shot at by growing forces of militia using hit and run tactics. Once in Charlestown the militia prudently relented to the formidable British presence deployed to the area. By this time though the militia was sourced not just by nearby towns, but by nearby states. Days after the start of the Revolutionary War tens of thousands of armed civilians, who were soon to become regulars in the Continental Army, would conduct a lengthy
siege on British occupied Boston.
Here is the one stretch in the park where shore fishing is permitted. Free parking is on Liberty Street. Fishing is also allowed from a boat on the Concord River through the park. There is a boat launch with parking just upriver on Lowell Road. River sediment is mercury laden from industrial dumping so do not eat the fish. There are big fish in the Concord River, including pike.
Minute Man Park Map
