June 24, 2007

 

Brona Simon

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125-3314

 

RE:      Build-Out of Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Campus

            Including Artificial Playing Fields in Walden Woods

            At 500 Walden Street, Concord, MA

 

Dear Ms. Simon,

 

I am writing to apprise you of my research into the history of slavery and its aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts, particularly as it pertains to BristerÕs Hill and the area recently earmarked for the development of artificial turf fields for Concord-Carlisle High School.

 

I have been researching slavery in Concord since 2001.  I was recently awarded a one-year fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for my project Slavery and Freedom in Concord: The Story of John Cuming, Brister Freeman and a New England Village, which will be completed next summer.  The NEH has designated the project a ÒWe the People ProjectÓ in recognition of the importance of understanding the role of slavery in New England and in Concord in particular.

 

As the subtitle of my book manuscript makes clear, I have been able to recreate the life of Brister Freeman from his first appearance in the archives at the age of nine years old until his death on BristerÕs Hill in 1822.  I urge you to read those portions of my research that have been posted online:

 

http://www.kouroo.info/CONCORDpeople/BristerFreeman.pdf 

 

What IÕve discovered over the course of my research is that Brister Freeman anchored an entire community of former slaves who lived together in Walden Woods from as early as the 1770s through the early 1820s.  At one point, there were thirteen, if not more, black residents living along the Walden Road.  In the chart below, I show the number of black residents living in Walden Woods on or near BristerÕs Hill.  There were three households in total, two of which housed multiple residents.

 

1. Brister and Fenda Freeman Family, 1785-1822; ½ house, owned 1 acre; 7 in household in 1790, 4 in 1800.

    Charlestown Edes, 1785-1791; other ½ of house; number in household unknown.

 

2. Cato and Phillis Ingraham Family, 1795-1805; ½ house; rented 1 acre; 4 in household in 1800.

 

3. Zilpah White, n.a.-1820; squatted on roadway; 1 in household.

 

As my book will make clear, there is much that survives in the archives that allows us to recreate what life was like for this community in the post-emancipation period.  This was a turning point in ConcordÕs history when it might have become a fairly diverse town.  Seeing why and how Concord instead became an almost exclusively white suburb is critical to understanding modern configurations of race and class.

 

My hope is that my forthcoming book will serve as the impetus to have Walden Woods added to an extended version of the Black Heritage Trail, currently run by the National Park Service in Boston.  Eventually, Walden Woods should also be added to the African Diaspora Heritage Trail.  At that time, it will be imperative that as much of the site as possible still be intact.  Walden Woods is already an overwhelmingly popular destination for Thoreau lovers, nature lovers more generally, and for recreational users.  To add the further interpretive dimension of slavery and its aftermath will require space and careful planning of a scope yet to be determined.

 

I am a former resident of Lincoln, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School where I was a member of the varsity track team and thus had ample opportunity to sample the various playing facilities in Middlesex County.  From that perspective and as a parent, I fully understand the need to continue to improve the playing fields of the areaÕs high schools.  But having been raised by the conservationist who was instrumental in the saving of Adams Woods and other Lincoln and Concord sites (see Robert Lemire, Creative Land Development: Bridge to the Future [Hougton Mifflin, 1979]) and as a scholar of Walden Woods and its people, I strongly believe that everyone would be better served if the playing fields were located elsewhere.

 

I am attaching a paper I presented in 2005 at the American Studies Association.  In it, I discuss the current interpretive framework of Walden Woods, one that has thus far erased the important black history that transpired there.  This erasure has been a great disservice not only to visitors but to the residents of Concord, who are unaware that the area they want to raze could and should instead be developed as a Black Heritage or African Diaspora site. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about black history at Walden Woods.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Elise Lemire, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Literature

Purchase College, SUNY

 

cc:        Secretary Ian A. Bowles, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

Patricia J. Hecht, Executive Director, Friends of Thoreau Country

J. Walter Brain, Friends of Thoreau Country