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Photos Hartwell Tavern to Parker's Revenge

pmclaine

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
  • Nov 6, 2011
    34,880
    69,130
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    MA
    Had a mission today to find if the grave of the Brit killed at Captain William Smiths House was marked. His body was uncovered in some late 1800s road work and he was supposed to have been reburied at Folly Pond....

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    Starting pretty much at Hartwell Tavern....

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    Just to the east is the Samuel Hartwell House a picture before it burned down....

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    What remains.....

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    Some old school masonry....

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    They had plenty of cobble to build with....

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    On the road from Samuel Hartwell House to Capt Smith House....

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    The obelisks with chain indicate where the Old Road meets New Road.....

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    Smith House with a Park Trail running in front.....that is not Old Road.

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    This is the Brit I want to locate "By Folly Pond"

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    Where the Old Road merges with the modern....

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    Smith House from the road as the Brits would have viewed it....

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    Folly Pond....

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    An old foundation by the Pond, walked all around...didnt find the typical marker.

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    I went back across the street to the Park Path and I had known this stone was here.....it being across from Folly Pond it must represent the Gold Coin soldier. Not as close to Folly Pond as I was expecting. These stone dont mark exact graves....

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    More old foundation...

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    The new road over the Old, Folly Pond is in the woods to the left....this is looking west toward concord.

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    This is looking east toward the Revere capture site.

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    Getting back on the Old Road from the new....

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    Couldnt live without Hops......

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    This is probably what the road looked pretty much like April 19, 1775.....just with more horse shit on it.

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    This was a hot stretch for the Brits....

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    William Thornings cover...

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    How William Thorning would have viewed the Brits.....

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    There are a lot of these "erratics" in the woods here.

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    Josiah Nelsons House...

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    All that remains is his door stoop and the base of the chimney....

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    It was mentioned that William Thornings "kills" were buried on a "knoll" this was the only high ground in that area....

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    and on the road.....

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    Looking west toward Concord...

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    another Nelson family House...

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    Just foundation remains and the stoop. In the picture above the oldest part of the house is shaded yellow and the three stones comprising the stoop are clearly recognizable and still exist as originally laid...

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    Their well to the side....

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    Remains of a boot scrape....

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    The houses were not big....My coffee mug for reference in the center of the main room...

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    Just east of the Nelson House is a little brook. These little water ways were significant...

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    It can hardley be made out in the tangle of weeds and it now goes under a culvert but in the day it was crossed by a bridge. The column had to tighten up and an advance was sent across to get a "bridgehead". Im standing where the bridge would have been in this picture.

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    Across the modern asphalt road the old road breaks to the right.

    Capt Parker and his Minutemen that survived the fight on the Green were over there.

    The Old road crosses the asphalt and continues to the right....

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    Looking west toward the little brook....

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    A cleaner image of where the Battle Road breaks right after it crosses the modern Airport Road....

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    These pictures should have been oriented right...sorry.

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    This is where they thought "Parkers Revenge" occurred....It looks tactically right...high ground, rocks to hide on....

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    The British were being hit with constant harassing fire...

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    This is where the Americans were and archeological dig found this hillside peppered with lead from the Brits....

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    This is the view from where they thought Parkers Revenge occurred...

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    If there is a Brit here I dont know why no stone....

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    None of these trees existed. The Colonists were behind all the rocks on this hillside firing into the face of the Brits and the advance guard the crossed the bridge...

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    After engaging the column the Americans ran back east through this wood to take up positions to re-engage further down the road...

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    Boulders all over the area they fired from....

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    I continued to travel back over the Hill like the Colonists did and left the road behind....
     
    Thanks for taking the time to post this.
    Folks need to realize that our history from above is reason for having a Militia.
    Just because this happened so long ago doesn't mean it couldn't happen today.
    There are many enemies that would love to have what we have.

    Thanks again for posting this.