"No bit of ground in all the world, save only the field at Runnymede, where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215, holds equal place in the mind and imagination of free peoples."

Thomas Boylston Adams, formerly President
of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Boston Globe columnist

INTRODUCTION

Minute Man National Historical Park was established by Congress to "preserve, selectively restore and interpret portions of the Lexington-Concord Battle Road, as well as its associated structures, properties and sites so that the visitor may better appreciate and understand the beginning of the American Revolution….the purpose of the Park shall include the preservation and interpretation of the historic landscape along the road between Lexington and Concord." In order to provide visitors with a more accurate physical representation of the battle arena, the Park is rehabilitating selected areas within the Battle Road Unit. This work is based upon extensive historical research and planning. At the time of the Revolution, the Battle Road landscape was open and primarily agricultural with approximately 95% of the land cleared and 5% wooded.

FACTS

¨ Landscape and field rehabilitation is underway in the Battle Road Unit of the Park. Although this work is highly visible, it involves only 5% of the Park's 900+ acres.

¨ The scope of work includes clearing a corridor for the Battle Road Trail, selective clearing to restore historic vistas, protecting archaeological resources, stone walls and rehabilitating agricultural fields.

¨ Landscape clearing of the Battle Road Unit is designed to recapture the sense of the colonial landscape in selected areas in order to provide visitors with a feeling of the physical conditions that existed on April 19, 1775. It is not an attempt to recreate the environment of 1775.

¨ Pre-1920 structures within the park will be preserved. Because a number of 18th-century structures have been lost, the 19th-century buildings show the balance between farm structures and open fields that was present at the time of the battle.

¨ Invasive and exotic plants harmful to native plant and animal communities will be removed from recently overgrown farm fields, some of which have been continuously cultivated since at least the 1600's. Evidence suggests Native Americans cultivated these fields before this date.

¨ Historic landscape rehabilitation is associated with key historical sites such as the Hartwell Tavern in front of which the running battle occurred. Visitors will have a more accurate visual sense of the historic nature and character of the land, the historic lifestyle of colonial farmers and the scope and character of the battle itself.

¨ Newly revealed areas of the historic landscape will flourish once again as open hay fields and grasslands dotted with native wildflowers. Additional plantings will screen modern structures at the edges of the fields.

¨ Extensive commercial and residential development and the loss of open fields over time have led to a serious decline of many native species in this area. Rehabilitating selected open fields within the Park will restore important habitat for meadowlarks, bobolinks and other grassland creatures and allow the native plants upon which they depend to prosper once again.

¨ These rehabilitation efforts are part of a larger effort to fulfill the Congressional vision of Minute Man National Historical Park when the Park was created in 1959. In "reclaiming" 2A from its present status as a heavily-traveled thoroughfare and restoring its rural character into a parkway that better represents its historic role, the Park will help visitors better appreciate and value the seminal events of 1775 that set the course for a new nation.

¨ Rehabilitating the historic landscapes of Minute Man National Historical Park will be a lengthy and comprehensive process over the course of many years. Award-winning Carol R. Johnson, Associates serves as the landscape architect. Additional consulting is provided by The Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, numerous historical and conservation organizations, and the towns of Concord, Lincoln and Lexington.