The Concord Museum is a museum of local history located at 200 Lexington Road, Concord, Massachusetts

Concord, Massachusetts

Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...

, USA, and best known for its collection of artifacts from authors Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

 and Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...

. It is open daily except major holidays; an admission fee is charged.

Founded in 1886, the museum's collections started around 1850. Few collections of early Americana are as old or well documented. Its most notable items and collections include:

• The "one if by land, and two if by sea" lantern, said to be hung in the Old North Church
  Old North Church
  Old North Church , at 193 Salem Street, in the North End of Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent...
  
   in 1775, and immortalized in the poem "Paul Revere's Ride
  Paul Revere's Ride (poem)
  "Paul Revere's Ride" is a poem by an American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775.-Overview:...
  
  " by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
  
  .

• American Revolution
  American Revolution
  The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
  
   artifacts including powder horn
  Powder Horn (ammunition)
  A powder horn was a device used to carry gunpowder, and was generally created from cow or buffalo horn. They were most commonly used with eighteenth century muskets, but were rendered obsolete by the development of breech loading fire arms, in particular, innovations brought about by Hall, Sharps,...
  
  s, musket
  Musket
  A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
  
  s, cannonballs
  Round shot
  Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
  
  , and fife
  Fife
  Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
  
  s

• A recreation of Ralph Waldo Emerson
  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
  
  's study, including his books and furnishings, arranged as at his death in 1882.

• The world's largest collection of Thoreau possessions (over 250 objects), including the bed, desk, and chair from his cabin at Walden Pond
  Walden Pond
  Walden Pond is a 31-metre-deep lake in Massachusetts . It is in area and around, located in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States...
  
  .

The museum's collection of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century decorative arts includes furniture, clocks, looking glasses, textiles, ceramics, and metalware. Most displayed objects are arranged in the following period settings:

• Early 18th-Century Chamber - a principal room circa 1720 in the house of a prominent Concord citizen.

• Mid 18th-Century Chamber - with tea table and ceramics, silver, etc., as well as period furnishings including high chest, dressing table, and desk.

• Early 19th-Century Chamber - typical period furnishings.

• 19th-Century Parlor, Set for Dining - a dining room furnished to Neoclassical style.

Other museum collections include Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 stone tools, Puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 household goods, lyceum

Lyceum

The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

 and cattle show posters, clocks and other machinery manufactured in Concord, and works by sculptor Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...

.