Concord's Black Heritage Trail: Where to Walk This October

"My history deserves to stand out," Nikki Turpin told Concord's Historic Districts Commission on July 8. Turpin is The Robbins House's programming director and a lead on the Black Heritage Trail Markers Project. At the time, the project's markers were a few inches too large for the town's historic review boards.

Three months later the trail has a dedication date. At noon on Thursday, October 22, the Town of Concord's Economic Vitality and Tourism Divisions, The Robbins House, and the Black Heritage Trail Advisory Team will gather on Parcel 1693 in Monument Square, the lawn across the oval from the Town House. They will dedicate the trail and debut a Black Heritage Walking Tour with maps. If it rains, the program moves to Parish Hall at First Parish, 20 Lexington Road.

The markers you can walk to after that day don't quite match the trail that was first proposed. A summer of review left them smaller and moved some of them. As of the last public report, one was still waiting on approval. If you know how the trail reached its final shape, you'll know what to look for on the ground and where to look.

The size of the signs was set in a 3-2 vote

The first fight was over dimensions. Advocates asked for 18-by-60-inch markers. HDC members favored markers as small as 12 by 40 inches. The commission voted 3-2 for 16 by 53.3 inches. The Concord Bridge reported that the result was about 20% smaller than advocates wanted.

Commissioners said they supported the mission. Their concern was that large boards would disrupt places like Monument Square. That matters on the street because the HDC's jurisdiction covers the most historic parts of town, where several of the markers sit. In Concord Center you'll be looking for a sign a little over four feet tall. It was sized on purpose to sit among the town's older markers and monuments without competing with them.

The money had a deadline too. The same July story said a $14,000 state grant "could also be back in play" once the size compromise was reached. The Town says the project is funded by a Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism Destination Capital grant, with matching funds the Town authorized through ARPA.

Then the locations moved

The Select Board approved most of the sign locations in early September. The two cemetery markers went to the Cemetery Commission on September 2. Members worried about placing a sign on top of an unmarked grave and suggested putting the installations outside the cemeteries.

That review changed the trail in two ways. The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery marker, about unmarked graves of Black Concordians including members of the Garrison and Robbins families, was relocated. The proposed Old Hill Burying Ground marker, about John Jack's grave and the graves of other Black Concordians, was dropped. Project co-lead Joe Palumbo told The Bridge the Old Hill sign "currently has no home."

The Frederick Douglass marker moved as well. It was first proposed for outside Holy Family Parish. The version the Town board approved places it near Wright Tavern. As of The Bridge's September 28 report, supporters were still waiting for HDC approval of that Monument Square sign marking the speeches Douglass delivered in town.

"It's been a long process, but I think it will be great." Town Manager Kerry Lafleur, to The Concord Bridge

The arithmetic follows from that history. The Town's August presentation listed 11 proposed sites. With Old Hill gone and nine others approved, the September report counted nine markers cleared and Douglass pending. The Robbins House's event page announces ten new markers. Ten would mean the Douglass marker made it through. The public reports through late September don't confirm that, so the October 22 program is the place to find out.

Where the markers are meant to stand

Here are the sites from the Town's marker presentation, with addresses where a published source gives one. The final Walking Tour and map debut on October 22. Treat this as the starting outline, not the finished route.

1. The Town House, 22 Monument Square. "The Life of John Garrison Jr."
2. Monument Square, near Wright Tavern. "Frederick Douglass Speaks," pending HDC approval as of September 28.
3. Outside the Corinthian Masonic Lodge, the old Center School. "Taking Their Place in the Classroom," about Ellen Garrison and her brother John, who attended school there.
4. Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden Street. "19th Century Worship Space," about the church's history of antislavery activism.
5. Col. William Whiting House, 169 Main Street. "Harriet Tubman Stayed Here."
6. Francis and Ann Bigelow House, 19 Sudbury Road. "Shadrach Minkins Freedom Journey," marking where Minkins stopped while escaping to Canada.
7. The Great Field. "Historic Black Neighborhood," about a formerly Black and Native neighborhood in an area now covered by the wastewater treatment plant.
8. Brister and Fenda Freeman House Site. "Black Land Ownership in Walden Woods."
9. The Dugan Neighborhood, along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. "The Fight for Freedom Continues." The exact site was still under review in the Town's presentation.
10. Near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. "Unmarked Graves of Black Concordians," relocated from inside the cemetery to a spot not yet published.

The first six cluster in and around Concord Center and work as a single walk. The last four are spread out. The Great Field, the Freeman site in Walden Woods, the Dugan marker on the rail trail and the relocated Sleepy Hollow marker have no published marker positions yet. You'll want the official map for those before setting out.

What isn't published yet

No route distance has been released, and neither the event notice nor the project materials mention an app or QR codes. The Town's project plan describes an interactive web map for self-guided exploration and guided tours led by project partners. Those are planned formats. No tour dates beyond October 22 have been posted.

Installation is also unconfirmed. In late September The Bridge described the markers as "weeks away from installation." The Robbins House says the October 22 program "will recognize the installation of the new markers." If you walk Monument Square before the dedication, the signs may not all be up yet.

The Robbins House already offers a separate self-guided African American and antislavery history map that you can download today. It predates the new trail and covers several of the same addresses, but it isn't the new Walking Tour.

The nine days that matter most

The markers will stay up through the winter. The Robbins House won't stay open. The small house at 320 Monument Street, across from the Old Manse and the North Bridge, is open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through October 31, 2026. It then closes for the winter except for occasional special events. Admission is free and no reservations are needed. Group tours can be arranged year-round.

That leaves nine days between the dedication on Thursday the 22nd and closing day on Saturday the 31st. The house is 544 square feet, dates to the early 19th century, and is tied to the family of Caesar Robbins and Jack Garrison. The Garrison name shows up on the Town House marker and the Center School marker. Walking the downtown markers and then driving or biking out Monument Street to the house connects those names to a place you can step inside. After October 31 that won't be possible until spring.

Thursday, October 22, start to finish

The dedication runs from noon to 1 p.m. The program includes speakers, music, and the debut of the Walking Tour and maps. It's free and open to all. Parcel 1693 sits next to the Catholic Parish Center and Rectory at 70 Monument Square.

Later that afternoon, the Concord Chamber of Commerce lists Trick or Treat on Thoreau St from 4 to 6 p.m., with more than 20 participating businesses. The rain date is Friday the 23rd. Between the two, a household with young children could hear the dedication at lunchtime, walk the Center School and Town House markers in daylight, and reach Thoreau Street by four.

Project lead Turpin, co-lead Joe Palumbo, Robbins House interpreter Joe Zellner, and School Committee member Michael Williams have been the public voices of the project through every round of review. The October 22 program is the first time the final map will be public, and the Town's Black Heritage Trail page is where updates are expected to be posted.

When I help families settle into Concord, I usually start with a walk through Monument Square, and this fall that walk has new stops. If you'd like to talk about the town's history, its streets, or what's changing in Concord Center, call or text Suzie Winchester for a personal consultation.