The Center for American Studies at Concord
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CONCORD: A TREASURE HUNT Overview The first leg of Concord's 375th K-8 Treasure Hunt (with parents/ grandparents in tow) set forth during the harvest festival of Michaelmas, Sept. 29th, 2010 and concluded on Columbus Day Sunday. The second-leg of the hunt, free-for-all, proceeds as we speak. The pursuit, friends, is a no rush treasure hunt (grand prize goes to one and all), which offers each participant/pilgrim the opportunity to deepen their appreciation for Concord by discovering, ever and anew, clues to the history of this celebrated community of which we are a part. (Note: The clues, themselves, need not be gathered up. Rather, as you will discover, they accompany you and unravel each step along the way.) Young and old alike are invited to jump in and join the hunt at any point and time along the trail. The first clue is to be found at the foot of Thoreau's "Invisible Mountain" in Monument Square, on the very spot where, legend has it, the Treaty with the Original Peoples of Musketaquid was made, establishing the "plantation of Concord." Having traveled with our esteemed guides (and the spirits of our forbears) north-south-east-west throughout our town, the last clue leads us back to our homesteads, to discover under our roofs – 'midt kith and kin – our own treasures. At the conclusion of the treasure hunt, one and all, young and older alike, are invited to bring to Monument Square, in the center of Concord – considered by many, in turn, to be the center, the heart and soul of our nation . . ., still/once upon a time the leading nation in the world? – their treasures and receive the Grand Prize, before passing the torch on to their older siblings, parents, and grandparents. Together, we look forward to carrying forth the flame with further offerings, festivities that both commemorate the 375th anniversary of the founding of Concord and, turning our gazes to the future, set the stage for the celebration of our town's 400th anniversary. A Brief Introduction to Our Blessed Guides: 3 + 1 I. Waban Is the name Waban familiar to you? There is a story true that recounts how, before the first pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the shores of the "New World", the Native Peoples along the coast heard a song borne to them on the ocean wind. In due time weeks, months, a year or two later, the settlers arrived and were not only greeted by their Native brethren, but helped to survive through the first difficult winter. The seasons passed and the settlers erected their first church, parish. One morning during their service a hymn was sung by the visitors, which caused the Native Peoples around the settlement to pause in their labors, lift their gazes, and listen . . . . Was it not that very song they had heard borne on the wind? What were the tidings/testament that these visitors had brought with them? Yes, the story is a true one -- truer than the life we have otherwise come to know – about who these Peoples were who welcomed us to these shores and what they have since borne, safe-guarded – if we can imagine? – on our behalf. May I suggest that Waban, our native forebear, may prove to be one of our most illustrious residents of Concord/Musketaquid – as you’ll perchance discover as you venture forth? II. Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The Sage of Concord" The following verses from Emerson's poem, "Threnody", written after the unexpected and wrenching death of his young 5-year old son, Waldo, offer, perhaps, the deepest insight into the deeply humane and aspiring heart of our first guide. (Talk about pulling oneself up by ones bootstraps!) As with each step along the way, grown-ups are invited to lend a hand in the rendering of these and the accompanying "verses" to their young ones. The deep Heart answered, Weepest thou? Did you notice that RWE was actually addressing himself, his very Self? III. Mr. Henry David Thoreau: Concord's Native Son The following passages from Emerson's eulogy address for his beloved friend, Henry David, is perhaps the most fitting (and moving) introduction to our second guide:"There is a flower known to botanists, one of the same genus with our summer plant called 'Life- Everlasting', a Gnaphalium like that which grows on the most inaccessible cliffs of the Tyrolese mountains, where the chamois dare hardly venture, and which the hunter, tempted by its beauty, and by his love (for it is immensely valued by the Swiss maidens), climbs the cliffs to gather, and is sometimes found dead at the foot, with the flower in his hand. It is called by botanists the Gnaphalium leontopodium, but by the Swiss Edelweisse, which signifies Noble Purity. Thoreau seemed to me living in the hope to gather this plant, which belonged to him by right. The scale on which his studies proceeded was so large as to require longevity, and we were the less prepared for his sudden disappearance. The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost. It seems an injury that he should leave in the midst of his broken task which none else can finish, a kind of indignity to so noble a soul that he should depart out of nature before yet he had been really shown to his peers for what he is." IV. Little Johanny Riordan: Concord's Unsung Hero In his engaging book, Concord: American Town, Townsend Scudder offers a memorable glimpse – through the eye, in turn, of Thoreau – of our third guide, whose journey began on yee old Emerald Isles, themselves. There was little Johnny Riordan, mused Thoreau, who you could not see for 5 minutes without honoring. Johnny lived in Shantytown, along (Walden's) deep cut, where the warmth of the Irish affections made up for the firewood his family lacked. Henry often watched him, in thin, ragged clothes, with large holes at the toes of his shoes, floundering through the snow down the miles of track to the grammar school, where he sat at the head of his bench as the brightest scholar. There was a hero for you, traveling by his own brave steps! Had not the world waited for such a generation? Does our world not wait upon each generation, friends – ever and anew. Orientation Tip: As intimated above, let it be clear, at the outset, that this treasure hunt is not your "run of the mill" hunt. Specifically, if at times a parent, grandparent find themselves wondering for whom the "hunt" is laid out, the answer is that the treasures are not only for your children/grandchildren. But they have been set forth no less for you – the child within us all. As your guide, Henry David notes: "I have great faith in a seed." That faith we, too, can share. Indeed, the treasure hunt extends an invitation, no less, to the budding spirits within our children and grandchildren. As you journey together along the way, an explanation, helping hand or two toward your younger ones may, as noted, be called for at times. Such is life. Toward that end, what would be conveyed in the clues that follow is not simply the letter of the word/words, but rather their spirit – to young and old alike and together. Finally … In order to start us off on the right foot (and to help focus our gazes) a brief word regarding the realm you'll be stepping into with this treasure hunt, the unfolding landscape – clues in their own right that offer a glimpse of the treasures that lie before us. "I've traveled far and wide in Concord", noted your third guide. As we all know, not only blood, but energy – sometimes more/sometimes less – flows through us, our "system", uniting, through its exchanges, our organs within the larger organism of our body. Our bodies, in turn, are whole, a totality, or "microcosm"/small cosmos – a world unto ourselves. Different words are used to describe these flows within us: veins, currents, meridians. As it is in our human body, so it is in our larger body of the earth, the "cosmos" of which we are, no less, a part and from which we have received the very elements of our life: earth, water, air, and fire – the holy flame of the heart. As through us, so, too, through the earth doth flow a "life-blood" of its own, including water, air, and, with the return each year of spring, the quickening flame of warmth. So it is, in our earth, no less, one finds veins, currents, meridians, or what are referred to as "lay-lines." The point? There are some who suggest – as the Original People of our land, Musketaquid, understood – that one of the essential things/forces that has energized, vitalized our town since its founding is the fact that it is a focal-point, on this blessed earth upon which we find ourselves, for such veins, currents, meridians, lay-lines. An initial thought with respect to the space, the landscape of Musketaquid/Concord into which you will venture forth. Keep your eye out, if so moved, for where you may experience such a streaming, gathering of forces, a vitality unexpected. Glimpses you may well catch. With respect to the unfolding of time, the history of our town, one of the remarkable facts (synchronicities appears to be the current expression for this age old reality) in Concord's history follows. A clue in its own right. (Such facts/synchronicities are, I believe, to be found in virtually every commnity, where human beings, humanity itself, doth aspire.) The clue? Do you recall when the American Revolution, itself, began – here in Concord? Does the 19th of April, 1775 ring a resonant (patriotic) bell, that very date when the shot was fired "heard 'round the world"? Do you know what happened 86 years earlier, here in Concord, on that very same day, April 19th? In 1689, Concord decided to join its sister towns in sending troops to escort the then reigning Governor, Andros, by name, out of Boston. (The good governor had gotten it into his royal head that the land grants, which had both established and assured the autonomy of Concord and its sister towns, were no longer to be honored.) And, if that date is clear, can you guess how many years after the old shot was fired on that April morn of 1775 that Concord soldiers marched off to war, again for the third time on the 19th of April? Would you believe 86 years later? So it was, in the year 1861. A mere coincidence, "accident"? Or might life be, indeed, alive – more so than we imagine? A many splendored (and interwoven) universe! Such, friends, bespeaks the real "real world", as I suggested to my children, whose own first steps set forth from Concord center. There are no accidents in life; not even "accidents" are accidents? Indeed, can it be, friends, that some-thing brought you to Concord, some-thing that was not, in fact, a thing – that is, that is not merely material, external, readily visible to the outer eye (as we might associate with the facilities and amenities of a well-endowed, upscale "bed-room" community), but rather some-essence that is finer in its composition. If so, may you discover such illuminations ever and anew, as the harkenings of our guide (HDT), our guides, call us forward and guide us – one and all – along the way. the sun shall shine more brightly than ever He hath shone, shall perchance shine into our hearts and minds and light up our lives with a great awakening of light . . . . We sally forth … ! The Treasure Hunt Clues are available to download as a PDF file. For further information, contact Stuart Weeks at info@concordium.us or 781-266-8587. |
