Here on this site lived the Brown family of Concord, who arrived from England in 1644. The exposed foundation on you left is from the first Brown family home. During the 1750s, their descendent David Brown constructed a new house. On your right, the approximate location of his cellar hole is marked with granite.
A successful farmer of a 67-acre homestead, David also was a speculator in frontier real estate and a town Selectman. Under his roof lived his wife Abigail, their ten children, and his Uncle Elias.
On the day of the battle, David was a 47-year-old Captain of one of Concord's minute man companies. He led his men to the North Bridge through his own fields, while his family watched. Marching with him was his oldest son Purchase, his cousin John, and his nephew Jonas, who would be wounded in the battle. All that Brown defended lay about him; the Redcoats were trespassing on his home.
"The brave captain never crossed alone the "North Bridge" after dark . . . without singing at the top of his lusty voice some good old psalm tune, that would ring out in the night, and wake many a sleeper in the village. Perhaps to lay the ghosts of the British soldiers buried there, perhaps as a requiem to their souls . . ."
John Keyes
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