Concord Mass - Haunted Inns, Battlefields and THE Pond

You have choices in life.  As an adventurer, sometimes that choice is rest or more adventure.  Believe it or not, last night I would have given $20 to reschedule to a late afternoon flight.  The weather was scheduled to be a high of 42 degrees and rain (sandwiched between 60 degree days o' sun).  As you may have figured, I opted for an early flight and arrival and a bicycle rental on the day before I hit the work beat.  I've mastered the art of making a travel day into an epic adventure.  I decided to go to the hotel first to give the rain a bit more time to move through.  When I arrived I was considering a nap and short walk instead of epic bicycling, but unfortunately (I use the word loosely) the adventure started early.

The cab drops me off at the historic Colonial Inn.  I didn't do any research on the hotel, but selected it more on price, distance to the airport and walkability to restaurants.  I have a history of poor hotel selection when I'm the only one affected by the choice so this makes the hilarity that ensues even better.  I really thought I had found a better ground of quality/cost.  No one had neck tattoos!  That was an improvement.  So, I check in and the gal at the front desk is wonderfully friendly, almost giddy, but not in an offputting way.  As she goes to show me the room, she says, "I hope you don't have any issues with ghosts."  I stopped, thinking she was kidding and said, "Seriously?"  Now we are both on the staircase going to my room and she tries to laugh it off and say, well the TV will come on sometimes at night, but that is probably just from people eating someting strange at dinner.  I let it go.  It was a nice room and I find myself somewhat more motivated to not be in my room.  More on this adventure at the end of this dialog....

Off to ATA cycles where I rent a sweet Raleigh Detour fitted with a cute bell, fenders and a rather cushioned seat.  Small talk with the associate led me to mention that the hotel was willing to store the bike for me overnight if I decided to ride in the morning.  She naturally inquired about where I was staying.  "Colonial Inn," I said.  "Oh, the haunted one.  Cool."  (Insert face palm)  After one of the best customer service experiences of my life, I head out into a 32 degree windchill and spitting rain.  No worries, at least I'm not pondering haunting issues.  I struck out with the goal of reaching the main Visitors Center for the Minute Man National Historic Park.  I thought this was going to be a road riding experience, but happily stumbled onto the Battlefield Road trail.  This trail runs the length of the park and follows the road used by the British to march on Concord from Boston.  Before that, I make a quick stop at the Orchard House, former home of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women.  It's neat and not raining.  Anyway, on to the park and I am delighted to find an off road trail in great condition with loads of historical signs along the way.  

Orchard House

I've seen a lot of warnings, at a lot of parks, but this one was thorough to say the least.  NPS and Massachusetts, well done.

Loads of rock walls used to sneak up on the British as they tried to retreat to Boston after the first battle of the Revolutionary War at Concord. 

I found a new to me fungus along the way.  Anyone that knows me, knows it makes me happy.

What do I love more than fungus?  Boardwalk trails that help you travel across wetlands.  So cool!

Sweeping views - Fun fact, the Revolutionary War is often depicted as happening in forested areas, but the rock walls that line the road are indicative of fields being cleared for farming.  The farmers would move the rocks and rather than stack them haphazardly, would create these rock walls to denote their land.  

Markers that show the distance to Meriam's Corner on one side and Boston Harbor on the other.  Meriram's corner is where the ambush of British soldiers started the long engagement to push them back to Boston.

Visitor Center nerd moment.  Happy 100th Park Service!

So this continues another thread.  Seeing I was biking/rucking, the ranger asked what had brought me to bicycling on a rainy, cold day.  I told him I was in for work, a bit short on time and would be returning to Concord in the evening.  He asked where I was staying.  When I mentioned the Colonial Inn, he immediately said, "Oh, a lot of history there.  Did you know it was haunted?"  Three times a charm.  It was officially on my mind to investigate this when I got off the bicycle.  

This is Captain William Smith's house.  It is one of 11 "Witness Houses" that were standing at the time of the Revolutionary War.  These are scattered on the Battlefield Road and anecdotal stories from the inhabitants really helped to explain what that first day was like.  

Having just missed Patriot Day, a Massachusetts state holiday, all the graves of British soldiers were freshly marked with flags in remembrance.  An intriguing note is that the locals buried many of the British dead.  Not only buried them, but often cared for them when they showed up bleeding on their doorsteps.  

This takes me to another point.  Lately, I've been less than impressed with the politics of America, the prevelant issues and general attitude of the nation.  This visit was a great reminder of how we started.  We were hardy colonists who were tired of rule from a distance and finally had it.  Enough was enough and we fought back.  We were united against a single force and out of that was born our nation.  I don't know if we will ever get that feeling back and I hope it isn't a war on our soil that does it, but it reminded me of why I'm proud to bear the label "American."  

I'm not sure what this plant is, but it was growing in water and looked pretty healthy.  I dig it.

Once I made it throught the park, read all the signs and imagined the militia pushing the British back to Boston, I struck out for Walden Pond.  I'm no Henry David Thoreau fan, but given my liberal arts degree and the fact that it seemed to feature heavily in my first 12 years of education, I though it worth one more climb on the bike.  Amazingly, the 32 degree windchill was no issue without the ripping winds that tend to accompany it in the Ozarks.  

There she is folks.  Walden Pond...with a swimming beach.  It's quite large and has a gorgeous trail surrounding it.  The woods have an aged feel and wet pine needles are always a comforting aroma. 

The view from Thoreau's House.  

The old homesite.  I'm not sure what he was doing out there, but I can't blame him.  

Ponder that - and in the tradition of visiting Walden Pond, I did add to the stack of cairns.

20 miles later, it was time to eat.  I made it to the pizzeria with the most loud, Italian men in the kitchen and settled in to check in with peeps and thaw out.  On the off hand, I thought I'd investigate this "haunted" phenomenon at my hotel.  As I typed "Colonial Inn Concord" it naturally filled in with "Haunted."  There are YouTube videos, articles, blogs, etc.  I read a few, and to my dismay, found that they all specifically mentioned room 24.

I'm brave in a lot of ways, even when I don't need to be, but I was looking forward to healthy nights of reading following by early sleep.  This was a problem.  Every article was story after story of how the room used to be the hospital for the war and how the room below it was the morgue.  I'll let you do your own research.  Google it...

Looks like a nice, affordable lodging option, right?  

I know a very specific list of my friends that would have been pumped to know they were in the most haunted room in Concord, but I was out.  As I slowly walked back and began to refreeze, I decided I needed to move rooms.  Feeling like a sheepish jackass, sorry there is no other way to put it, I went the front desk and tried to explain, "So, I need to move rooms.  I didn't really understand earlier when they told me the hotel was haunted, that room 24 was particularly haunted."  Front desk, "Oh, I figured you requested that room.  I wouldn't sleep up there either."  This dialog...luckily they had another room at a lower rate and I had very little gear to move.  I shamelessly moved my gear.  The funny part is that I'm still paranoid.  Ghosts are just not my thing.  I haven't watched TV in a hotel room in 2 years.  Look who has enjoyed the Nat Geo channel ever since they've been back....  I'm not saying I believe it, but I guess I didn't really need to confirm or deny it with hard evidence.  Creepy is not my thing.  Being woken, startled or bothered are just no-gos for me.  You have to draw the line and I guess I just found it.  Not scared of swimming in a 50-100 foot deep river in a cave in a foreign land, but I'll be damned if I stay in a potentially haunted historic American hotel room. 

Still creeped out, but hey, this is really what it's all about.  It is rare that I have a miss on adventure success.  This was no miss, just a little more flair than I was remotely interested in; however, I'm ready to get to work and get home to my own version of Walden Pond.