Old North Bridge

Site of the first instance where American forces advanced on British regulars, inflicted casualties, and routed them during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Around 11:00 am, approximately 400 colonial militia and minutemen under Major John Buttrick engaged roughly 90 British troops guarding the bridge. When the British fired a volley, Buttrick ordered his men to return fire, killing three and wounding nine British soldiers. Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized this moment in his 1837 poem ‘Concord Hymn’ as the ‘shot heard round the world.’ The current wooden bridge, built in 1956 and restored in 2005, is the eighth iteration at this site. The location features the famous Minuteman Statue by Daniel Chester French (1875) and a visitor center with exhibits about the battle.