Now that the Town has issued my Occupancy Permit, it was time last night (Saturday) for a celebratory dinner. My Mom, Dad and I went over last night to the Colonial Inn and had drinks and dinner in the tap room (one of the older parts of the Inn).
We had a very good time – things were lively without being crazy. The Inn looked like it was completely full (the parking lot behind the buildings was 100% full at least) and there were a lot of people coming and going. We think there were a lot of tourists with some locals mixed in.
This might be normal or it might be because yesterday, the town of Concord unveiled the installation of the ship’s bell near the war monument of the USS Concord. The USS Concord was an Omaha Class Light Cruiser, built during the 1920’s and she served through WWII. She was decommissioned in 1946. According to Wikipedia, she fired the last shot of the war – how anybody knows this, I have no idea – unless it was purely ceremonial? Apparently the ship’s bell has been in the basement of the Concord Library since 1946 and they have been working on getting it installed since 2005 or so. I haven’t seen it yet – we were over at Vanderhoof’s hardware about an hour before the unveiling and it was causing quite a bit of traffic congestion, so we didn’t hang around. I will try and get a picture of it at some point.
Here is a link to a picture of here, in the Panama Canal Zone during the War
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/USS_Concord_%28CL-10%29_off_Balboa_1943.jpg
USS Concord
The Inn itself is a kind of a neat place – 2016 is it’s 300th anniversary. I asked our waitress if they had any commemorative T-Shirts or what not for sale. She said no and it was a total missed opportunity on their part! Clearly they are not fully up on the idea that they should be a merchandising machine with an Inn attached 🙂
From their site, this is a quick bullet point history. If you are reading this from out of town and you are coming out to Carlisle or Concord – this is a good place to stay – very central and it is a nice walk to the Minute Man National Historic Park and the Old North Bridge Battlefield (plus it is only a few minutes drive to my house and my parent’s house)
HISTORY OF CONCORD’S COLONIAL INN
Learn more about our Inn’s rich 300 year history with these key facts and dates:
- 1716 – Concord’s Colonial Inn’s original structure was built.
- 1775 – One of the Inn’s original buildings was used as a storehouse for arms and provisions during the Revolutionary War. When the British came to seize and destroy the supplies, the Minutemen met them at the North Bridge on April 19th for what became the first battle of the American Revolution. The event is commemorated every April with a parade near the Inn and a ceremony at the North Bridge on Patriots’ Day.
- Early 1800s – Parts of the Inn were used as a variety store and a residence.
- 1835 – 1837 – Henry David Thoreau resided with us while he attended Harvard.
- Mid 1800s – The building was used as a boarding house and a small hotel, named the Thoreau House after Henry’s aunts, the “Thoreau Girls.”
- 1889 – The Inn as we know it today begins operating. Situated on Concord’s town common, known as Monument Square, the Inn is surrounded by landmarks of our nation’s literary and revolutionary history.
- 1900 – The property was given its current name: Concord’s Colonial Inn.
- 1988 – The Inn is purchased by German Hotelier, Jurgen Demisch.
- 2012 – The Prescott Wing undergoes a top-to-bottom restoration.
So what is going on now with the house?
I ordered towel rods, toilet paper holders and what not from Amazon but they are on a bit of a back order. Toilet paper may be better off in the vanities from a space and streamlining point of view – more thought needed there. Shower curtain and rod for the guest bathroom too.
I also, with my Mom’s help, am getting Armstrong Hearth and Duct (New Hampshire) to do a giant vacuum clean of the duct work. The idea is to clear out anything that may have managed to work its way into the duct work, despite all the precautions Paul and team took (dust mostly).
Then it is have movers move everything over from my storage locker. I am thinking that my bureau would go in my room and the books and what not would go in the garage – but I may rethink that. Book case systems of course too – lots and lots of stuff to do! But no need to have everything done at once – step one will clear the way for step two!!!