Walking Tour of Concord

Here's my free guide to walking around Concord center and hitting all its major sights (map). More...

Emerson-Thoreau Amble

A re-creation of a path along the route that Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott and their families may have used to walk to Walden Pond, the Amble starts behind the Ralph Waldo Emerson House and at Heywood Meadow, continues through Hapgood Wright Town Forest, climbs Brister's Hill, crosses MA Route 2 and continues into Walden Pond State Reservation to the site of Thoreau's house at Walden Pond. More...

Walden Pond

	Henry David Thoreau is all set for hiking with his refillable water bottle...

The Walden Pond State Reservation near the intersection of MA Routes 2 & 126 (map) has numerous marked hiking trails (map) around Walden Pond. The 1.5-mile (2.4-km) trail around the pond takes about an hour to walk, but there are many detours and diversions you can make on the network of trails farther from the water's edge. Cross the train tracks and you can continue on trails in neighboring Lincoln all the way to Fairhaven Bay (map). More...

Battle Road Trail

Minuteman National Historical Park has recreated the Battle Road along which British troops marched from Lexington to Concord (map) on April 18-19, 1775. This 5-mile (8-km) stabilized trail through meadows, forests and fields, past historic houses and farms north of Lexington Road (MA Route 2A) is great for walking and biking. More...

Bay Circuit Trail

This 230-mile (370-km) hiking trail that joins 37 towns in eastern Massachusetts, linking parks and open spaces, comes through Concord. More...

Reformatory Branch Trail

This portion of the Bay Circuit Trail starts from Lowell Road on the southeast side of Concord Lumber Company (map), touches Lang Street, crosses Monument Street, then goes straight as an arrow to the northwest of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, follows the southeastern border of Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and finishes in Bedford MA at the Bedford Depot, terminus of the Minuteman Bikeway.

("Reformatory?" It's an old branch railroad line that once supported trains going through Concord to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution (a prison—the "reformatory") on the west side of Concord, at the Concord Rotary.)

Great Meadows
National Wildlife Refuge

This wildlife sanctuary along 12 miles of the Concord and Sudbury rivers (map) has numerous trails for short hikes and bird-watching. The Bay Circuit Trail/Reformatory Branch Trail goes right by it. More...

Town of Concord
Conservation Land

The Concord town government produces good trail maps of the nature walks on town conservation lands. Here's the list of maps.

Drop in at the Town House on Monument Square (map) to pick up paper maps.

—by Tom Brosnahan

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