Hartwell Area: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park - Battle Road Unit, National Park Service
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation and Uschold D. 1995. Hartwell Area: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park - Battle Road Unit, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation; NPS Northeast Regional Office. Boston/Northeast Regional Office
Cultural Landscape Inventory park report for the Hartwell Area at Minute Man National Historical Park - Battle Road Unit The Minute Man National Historic Park (MIMA) stretches between Concord and Lexington, located about 15 miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, and contains three separate units: the Battle Road Unit, North Bridge Unit, and Wayside Unit. The 210-acre Hartwell Area is a centrally-located component landscape of the Battle Road Unit. The site is traversed by several roads and includes areas with potential archeological value, three historic structures, a network of historic stone walls, and fifteen contemporary residences all set within forested terrain. As a part of the Battle Road Unit, the Hartwell Area has national historic significance for its association with the events that marked the outbreak of the American Revolution. The Hartwell Area features four areas of historic significance: the Battle Road, Bloody Angles at the intersection of Old Bedford Road and Virginia Road, the Hartwell sites, and the William Smith site. Bloody Angles was an area of intense fighting during the Revolutionary War event known as the Running Battle, occurring on April 19, 1775 as Colonial Minute Men forced British troops to retreat eastward to Lexington. Here, Minute Men used the sharp bend in the road and thick woodland for protection as they attacked the British Regulars coming around the “Angle.” During the battle-era, the Ephriam Hartwell Tavern (1732) and Samuel Hartwell house were occupied by the Hartwells. The tavern has been reconstructed by the National Park Service (NPS) and is open to the public as an interpretive site. The Hartwell farmhouse burned in 1968, and a shelter now protects the remains of the house. The William Smith House, also restored by the NPS, is found at the east end of the Hartwell Area landscape and was home to a Colonial militia captain. Evidence of the 1775 battle events and the agricultural landscape that existed at the time of the Revolutionary War are still present today through the structures, landscape features, and potential archeological sites. The appearance of the Hartwell Area has changed considerably since 1775, when the landscape had a very open agricultural character consisting of small fields and orchards separated by stone walls. While most of these open vistas have been obscured by forest, several notable features from the revolutionary era remain. Overall, it continues to be a significant part of the Battle Road and Minute Man Park landscapes. This report is a Level II CLI, completed in 1995 for the Battle Road Unit of MIMA. An updated and revised CLI was completed in 2012, partly based on Deborah Dietrich-Smith’s “Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Battle Road Unit: Minute Man National Historical Park” (2005).
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation; Uschold, David
- Date of Issue
- 1995
- Publisher
- Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation; NPS Northeast Regional Office
- Units
- MIMA , NER
- Keywords
- Agriculture, American Revolution, Archeology, Battle Road, Bloody Angles, Concord, Ephriam Hartwell Tavern, farmstead, Fire Damage, Forest, Hartwell Farm, historic site, inn, Interpretive Site, Lexington, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Minute Men, Revolutionary War, Running Battle, Samuel Hartwell, stone walls, Vegetation, William Smith House