Meriam’s Corner: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park
Hammond JW. 2025. Meriam’s Corner: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650038. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Meriam’s Corner component landscape is part of Minute Man National Historical Park (NHP), located in Middlesex County, sixteen miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1959, the park preserves the sites of the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 and the “shot heard round the world” that began the Revolutionary War. Four discontiguous management units of Minute Man NHP (Battle Road, North Bridge, Wayside, and Barrett’s Farm) comprise an area of approximately 1,040 acres of land in the towns of Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington. The largest of the units, the 800-acre Battle Road Unit, preserves part of the route along which British Regulars retreated to Boston under colonial fire. The Battle Road is the primary organizing feature of the unit running in a linear route along present-day Lexington Road (Concord), North Great Road (Lincoln), and Massachusetts Avenue (Lexington), parts of which are also designated as State Route 2A. The Battle Road is set within a landscape of farmhouses, barns, stone walls, fields, woodlands, and hedgerows, all remnants of the area’s agricultural past. While there are some areas of post-historic development associated with private residences and park operations within the boundaries of the Battle Road Unit, it nonetheless retains much of its historic low-density, agricultural appearance. This contrasts with areas immediately surrounding the unit that have been heavily developed, such as Hanscom Air Force Base just to the north and its associated military housing areas. The Meriam’s Corner area is the westernmost component landscape of the Battle Road Unit. It marks the location where the British troops, slowing in their retreat to cross a narrow bridge, were engaged by the colonial militias. During the ensuing fighting, two British soldiers were killed and a number were wounded before the British column moved out of range. The name, Meriam’s Corner, is derived from the junction of the road from Concord to Lexington and the road to Billerica (today Lexington Road and Old Bedford Road). The land around this junction, a little over a mile east of the center of Concord, was originally settled by John Meriam in the 17th century, and over the next 200 years was home to five subsequent generations of the Meriam family. Today, Meriam’s Corner comprises 94 acres of farm fields, meadows, forests, and residential lots. The Meriam House, constructed in 1705, is one of the oldest structures in the park and an excellent example of a colonial farm house. Other historic buildings include the Gowing-Clark House (c.1836), the Burke House (1904), and the (Second) East Quarter Schoolhouse (1853, converted to a residence in 1904). Utilitarian structures include the Burke Garage (1941) and two farm structures associated with Palumbo Farm (1950s). In addition to these buildings, contributing features include a stone culvert, stone foundation of a former barn, and stone walls.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hammond, John
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MIMA
- Keywords
- Agricultural Field, Agriculture, And Vegetables), Archeology-Historic-Non-Aboriginal, Archeology-Prehistoric, Architecture, Barn, Battle Road, Battle Road Unit, Battle Site, Colonial (1600-1730), Craftsman (1890-1915), Developing the American Economy, Eastern Farmers, Expressing Cultural Values, Farming For Local Markets (Dairying, Farming the Northeast, Federal (1780-1820), Fruits, Historic Preservation, Historic Site, Hunters and Gatherers, Interpretive Trail, Meriam's Corner, Military, Other-Commemoration, Outdoor Recreation, Peopling Places, Period Revivals (1870-1940), Post-Archaic and Prehistoric Developments, Regional Efforts, Shaping the Political Landscape, Single Family House, The American Revolution, The Farmer's Frontier, Transforming the Environment, Vernacular Landscape, War in the North, Woodlot/Forest (Managed)