1635. Resting here in the shadow of the pines, listening to the busy
gossip of the squirrels, many scenes and people which have made the town
of Concord, Massachusetts, so noted, seemed to pass in review, some of
which will here be recounted.

Perhaps on this spot Simon Willard and his associates may have stood,
and these rough rocks been laid in place by their hands. Peter Bulkeley,
the wise and reverend, may have consecrated this solemn occasion with
prayer in accordance with the good old custom of the time. To the two
gentlemen above-mentioned the chief credit of the settlement of Concord
is mainly due. Attention was early called to the broad meadows of the
Musketaquid or 'grass grown river' and a company marched from the
ancient Newtown to form a settlement there early in the fall of 1635.
Few of the thousand pilgrims who arrive every year over the Fitchburg
and Lowell railroads can imagine the discomforts of the toilsome journey
of these early settlers as they penetrated through the unbroken
wilderness and wet and dreary swamps, devoting nearly two weeks to the
journey now easily accomplished in forty minutes. Many of their cattle
died from exposure and change of climate, and great heroism and courage
were required to make them persevere. They were kindly received by the
Indians who were in possession of the lands along the rivers, and who
finally consented to part with them so peacefully, that the name of the
town was called Concord.

Near the present site of the hotel stood an oak tree under which
tradition locates the scene of these amicable bargains. On a hill at the
junction of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers, rumor also locates the lodge
of the squaw who reigned as queen over one of the Indian tribes, and
thus introduced into the village female supremacy which has steadily
gained in power ever since. Later the Apostle Eliot preached here often,
and converted many dusky followers into "Praying Indians." Remnants of
their lodge-stones, arrow-heads and other relics were abundant half a
century ago in the great fields and other well known resorts, and a
large kitchen-miden or pile of shells, now fast becoming sand, marks the
place of one of their solemn feasts. The early explorers seem to have
built at first under the shelter of the low sand-hills which extend
through the centre of the town, and perhaps some of them were content to
winter in caves dug in the western slopes. Their first care was for
their church