Old North Bridge
Coordinates: 42 ° 28 ′ 9 ″ N , 71 ° 21 ′ 2 ″ W.
| Old North Bridge | ||
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| Official name | North Bridge | |
| use | pedestrian | |
| Subjugated | Concord River | |
| place | Concord , Massachusetts , United States | |
| Entertained by | National Park Service | |
| construction | Yoke bridge | |
| completion | 1760, 1793, 1875, 1889, 1909, 1956 | |
| opening | 2005 (after restoration) | |
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The Northbridge , in common parlance often referred to as Old North Bridge called, is a wooden Trestle in Concord in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . It spans the Concord River 0.5 mi (0.8 km ) northeast of the point where it begins as the confluence of the Assabet Rivers and the Sudbury Rivers , and can still be used by pedestrians today.
The current structure is a replica of the original built around 1760 from 1956 and was last restored in 2005. The bridge is part of Minute Man National Historical Park, managed by the National Park Service .
Historical meaning
In 1775 five companies of Minutemen and five other militias, along with other men, occupied the hill known as Punkatasset Hill near the bridge. With a total of about 400 men they received a 95-strong British infantry formation under Captain Walter Laurie. This was the second battle in the American War of Independence .
The bridge and nearby monuments
bridge
The first bridge, built in 1760, was demolished in 1793 by Concord's city council and rebuilt a few hundred yards away. More new buildings followed in 1875, 1889 and 1909, which were finally replaced in 1956 by the replica based on the original plans that is still standing today. In 2005 the bridge was extensively restored.
Obelisk Monument (1836)
When there was no bridge at this point in 1836, the residents of Concord erected a monument in the form of an obelisk on the east bank of the river . The following inscription is on the east side:
"HERE On the 19 of April, 1775, was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression [.] On the opposite bank stood the American Militia [.] Here stood the Invading Army and on this spot the first of the enemy fell in the." War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States [.] In gratitude to GOD and In the love of Freedom this Monument was erected AD. 1836. "
“On April 19, 1775, it was here that the first violent resistance to British aggression took place. The American militias stood on the opposite bank. This is where the invaders' army stood, and it is where the first enemy fell in the war of this revolution that gave the United States its independence. This monument was erected in 1836 AD in gratitude to God and in love for freedom. "
The memorial was inaugurated on July 4, 1837, United States Independence Day . For the occasion, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his Concord hymn , the first stanza of which is:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard 'round the world ."
Statue Monument (1875)
The first stanza of the Concord hymn is engraved on the 7 ft (2.1 m ) high granite base of the Minute Man statue created by Daniel Chester French . It was cast in Chicopee from seven Civil War cannons that the United States Congress made available for the project. The statue was inaugurated together with the bridge built in 1875 on the occasion of the centenary of the battle on April 19, 1875.
British soldiers burial site
The American poet James Russell Lowell wrote the poem Lines in 1849 about the graves of two of the three British soldiers who died on the bridge. The grave is located on a stone wall at the eastern end of the bridge and is marked with a plaque reciting a few lines from Lowell's poem.
Surroundings of the bridge
Natural landmarks near the bridge include Egg Rock 0.5 mi (0.8 km ) upriver where the Assabet River joins the Sudbury River to form the Concord River. 0.7 mi (1.1 km) downstream is the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge , known throughout New England as a particularly good birding area. To the northwest of the bridge is Punkatasset Hill , from where the colonial militias watched the British troops at the bridge. The bridge is in close proximity to the 1,200 acres (4.9 km² ) Estabrook Woods , where Henry David Thoreau liked to stay.
In 1911, Stedman Buttrick, a great-great-great-grandson of Major John Buttrick, who led part of the colonial troops at the bridge, built a house nearby. The National Park Service bought it from the family in 1962 and converted it into a visitor center with office space.
In the immediate vicinity of the bridge is the Old Manse house , where Emerson grew up temporarily and where Nathaniel Hawthorne later lived.
In pop culture
The Old North Bridge is the historical model for a bridge in the Magic Kingdom amusement park belonging to the Walt Disney World Resort , which leads from Cinderella Castle to Liberty Square .
literature
- Susan Wilson: Literary Trail of Greater Boston . Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-618-05013-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilson, p. 145
- ↑ Wilson, pp. 145-47.
- ^ Wilson, p. 145.
- ^ North Bridge Questions. National Park Service , accessed April 24, 2014 .
- ^ Wilson, p. 147.
Web links
- Old North Bridge in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- D. Michael Ryan: Simple Purpose - Historic Span: The Old North Bridge. In: The Concord Magazine. November 1998, accessed April 23, 2014 .