The Old Manse sits at 269 Monument Street in Concord, Massachusetts, built for Reverend William Emerson in 1769 (or 1770, depending on which historical authority you ask).
The house overlooked one of the very first military actions of the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Sixty-one years later, in the same house, Ralph Emerson wrote an essay that launched a philosophical and literary revolution – transcendentalism.
This is part of a series on Trulia about homes that were standing when the country won its independence. Each piece covers a short history of the home and traces how its neighborhood and broader town or city grew around it. Our last stop was the Joseph Webb House in Wethersfield, Connecticut, if you’d like to read more.
Key takeaways
- The Old Manse was built for Reverend William Emerson around 1769 to 1770. His family watched the fight at the North Bridge from its second-floor windows on April 19, 1775.
- His grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, drafted the essay “Nature” upstairs in the same home in 1836. Historians credit it as the starting point of American Transcendentalism.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia Peabody lived in the house from 1842 to 1845. He later named a short story collection, “Mosses from an Old Manse,” after it.
- Today, Concord is an affluent Boston suburb of roughly 18,000 people. As of June 2026, the average asking rent in Concord, MA was $3,200 and the average four-bedroom home is listed for about $1.2 million.
The Old Manse: a history
The Old Manse is a two-and-a-half story Georgian clapboard house built for Reverend William Emerson on the Concord River around 1770. In many ways, the Old Manse looks like a lot of Georgian houses at the time, focused on symmetry and order. The front is flat and balanced, with a center door and row of windows on each side. However, unlike most other Georgian houses, the Old Manse has two chimneys, one at each gable end.
By the winter of 1774, Revered Emerson was Concord’s town minister. He supported the resistance against the British Parliament, and advocated for resistance among his congregation. Emerson served as chaplain when the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met in Concord’s First Parish that October, as the town was already stockpiling arms.
On April 19, 1775, British regulars marched into Concord to seize stockpiled weapons. Colonial militia met them at the North Bridge, a short walk from Emerson’s door. Phebe, William Emerson’s wife, gathered her four small children at the window overlooking the North Bridge. Musket fire broke out at the bridge and shots flew past the Old Manse, before fighting moved down the road. The Old Manse overlooked one of the very first skirmishes and first battle of the Revolutionary War.
Sixty-one years after the fight at the bridge, Emerson’s grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote the first draft of “Nature” in 1836 in the home. The National Park Service calls the home (and the study in which Emerson wrote the essay) the birthplace of American Transcendentalism. The essay drew famous literary figures to Concord.
Six years after Emerson left, the house got another famous tenant when the novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne rented the Old Manse. He moved in with his new wife, Sophia Peabody, on their wedding day, July 9, 1842, staying three years. Hawthorne named his 1846 story collection “Mosses from an Old Manse” after the home. Upstairs, in the dining room, you can still find lines Hawthorne and Sophia scratched into the windowpane with her diamond ring.
Concord in the 1600s and 1700s
Concord was incorporated in 1635 by a Massachusetts General Court grant. It was the first inland town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, tucked away from the coastal harbors that other earlier settlements had clustered around. Reverend Peter Bulkeley and the trader Simon Willard led the English families who settled it, purchasing a six-mile square from the native people along rivers they called Musketaquid.
By the mid-1700s, roughly 200 farms covered the town, most averaging about 60 acres, with a population around 1,550. By 1850, cutting trees for firewood and pastureland had removed most of Concord’s earlier lush forest cover.
A literary capital, then a railroad town
The Transcendentalist years turned Concord into a literary capital of 19th-century America. In 1837, the town dedicated a granite obelisk at the North Bridge for the battle’s anniversary. It asked Ralph Waldo Emerson to write a poem for the occasion. His “Concord Hymn” gave the war its most enduring phrase, the shot heard round the world, still quoted at the bridge every April 19th.
The population grew steadily through the 1800s, reaching about 2,200 by the mid-1800s and then more than doubling to 5,700 by the century’s end. The Fitchburg Railroad arrived on June 17, 1844, connecting Concord to Boston by rail for the first time. As was also the case in Lexington, MA, trains brought commuters and manufacturing, and eventually tourists showing up for the battle sites and the writers’ homes.
From farm town to Boston suburb
The 20th century brought electric streetcars, which briefly ran along Bedford and Main Streets, and then cars. Route 2 was laid straight through town. By 1940, the population had reached about 8,000. Postwar housing filled in the farmland between the old village center and the new road.
The Old Manse stayed in the Emerson-Ripley family until 1939, when the Trustees of Reservations bought the housse. In 1959, Congress created Minute Man National Historical Park, roughly 970 acres across Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington, centered on the North Bridge and the Battle Road. The Old Manse became a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s.
Concord’s population today is close to 18,000. The historic district’s old farmhouses now share the town with newer construction on what used to be pastureland
Buying or renting in Concord, MA today
If you’re thinking about renting or buying in Concord, expect high prices. Here’s a quick breakdown of home prices in Concord, MA, based on Trulia data in June 2026:
- Average rent: $3,200
- Average rent (2BR): $3,200
- Average home price (4BR House): $2,044,000
In June 2026, the average asking price for a three-bedroom single-family home was around $1.2 million. Four-bedroom homes run closer to $2 million, and five-bedroom homes push to nearly $2.8 million. Most rentals are one or two bedroom apartments. One-bedroom apartments are listed for $2,350 per month and two-bedrooms are listed for $2,900.
If you’re curious about what’s available in Concord, you can browse homes for sale and homes for rent on Trulia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Around 1769 to 1770. The National Park Service and the Trustees of Reservations list slightly different dates, but both put construction in that window.
The house was built for Reverend William Emerson, Concord’s town minister, whose family watched the Battle of the North Bridge from its upstairs windows in 1775. Later residents included Ralph Waldo Emerson, who drafted “Nature” there in 1836, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived in the house with his wife Sophia Peabody from 1842 to 1845.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the first draft of “Nature” in the upstairs study in 1836. The National Park Service calls the room the birthplace of American Transcendentalism. The essay drew Thoreau, Alcott, and Fuller to Concord and shaped the movement’s central ideas.
Concord is an affluent Boston suburb. Based on Trulia data from June 2026, three-bedroom homes list at an average around $1.2 million, and four-bedroom homes have an average price of approximately $2 million. Most rentals in Concord are 1-2 bedroom apartments. Rentals start at an average of $2,350 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,900 for a two-bedroom apartment.
