Hartwell Tavern — Attraction in Lincoln

The battles of Lexington and Concord took form before dawn on April 19, 1775. Soldiers passed by the tavern on their way to Concord, and again on their way back to Boston. Three of the Hartwells' children — Samuel, John and Isaac — were in the Lincoln minutemen that fought at Old North Bridge and on the battle road. All three later served in the Revolutionary War.[1] Paul Revere and William Dawes were detained by a British Army patrol nearby during the "Midnight Ride" to Concord of April 18. Samuel Prescott, who was also riding with them, escaped by jumping his horse over a wall and into the woods. Prescott emerged at the Hartwell Tavern, awakened Ephraim and informed him of the pending arrival of the British soldiers.[8] Ephraim sent his black slave, Violet, down the road to alert his son and his family. Mary then relayed the message to Captain William Smith, commanding officer of the Lincoln minutemen,[9] who lived a little to the west and whose home still stands along Battle Road. The minutemen received the notice in time, and arrived at Old North Bridge before their enemy.[1] Prescott made it...

We visited on a Friday morning in mid-June 2025.

It was really nice to have a real bathroom here near the parking lot. It's located at central location with a intersection of a ton of different hiking paths as well.

There are signs here a that also talk about park programing throughout the day at different locations and even a bike rack.

This is also a much nicer parking lot than some of the other stops on the trail because there is a lot more spots and it's paved asphalt. There is also lots of trees for shade. It's a short walk to the Hartwell Tavern itself. The trails are crushed gravel and compacted dirt.

We arrived really early in the morning before the visitor centers even opened so the tavern itself was not open to tour or anything. But we wanted to at least go look at it. It's a pretty popular trail as we saw many people hiking and walking dogs this early in the morning. We were also in a hurry and wanted to see a few things before the visitor center opened and then we had to run off to our next site at Saugus Iron Works NHS for their...

Nice museum. They try to preserve the original building that was there at the time of the battle of Lexington and Concord and do a good job at it.

The real treasure of this place are the workers-guides. Amazing people, open to deep conversations, very much versed in the history of the time. We enjoyed this tremendously.

Good experience for kids as well. They have musket firing demonstrations and group tours, but you'll get a better experience talking to the guides individually after the...