Big Mama’s Breakfast, The North Bridge and Orchard House

On friday morning after the HH got his ear zapped, we loaded up the car and headed south and made our way to the John Mellencamp concert. What’s a road trip without a few stops in between though, right? 

Our first stop was Cracker Barrel in Londonderry, New Hampshire for the greatest breakfast on the planet earth. Big Mama’s Breakfast. 

We get the same thing every time we go to Cracker Barrel. The food there is always fantastic.  And while I didn’t eat all 3 of my pancakes, I did make sure to eat the crispy edges on all my pancakes. 🙂

Our next stop was The North Bridge Visitors Center in Concord, Massachusetts.

The HH is a HUGE history buff so he was especially excited to walk the grounds and see the bridge and monuments/statues in person.

The Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French.

There have been at least eight iterations of the Old North Bridge over the years. 

This version of the bridge was rebuilt in 1956 {and restored in 2005} and is a close replica of the 1760 bridge that was there during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. {They did have to add in a few extra bits for safety and potential flood waters}. 

“The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first major military actions between the British Army and Patriot militias from British America’s Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War.”  – Wikipedia

I guess when it comes to monuments, the restoration work is never really done. While we were there someone was touching up the lettering on the 1836 Battle Monument.

Which of course was nice to see. 

The next stop on our list was Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House!!!

I don’t know about you, but I have always LOVED the book Little Women.  And I especially loved the 2019 movie version directed by Gretta Gerwig.

I think I’ve seen the movie at least 50 times {maybe even 100?} so I was super excited about this stop. 

Sadly the museum has a no photo policy in the house but I was pleased to learn 80% of the contents in the house were original to the Alcott family.

The tour began in the Concord School of Philosophy {used for her father’s summer lecture series and basically adult education classes which ran for 10 years}. 

What is it about old barns that are so magical?

We watched a {very dated} 20 minute video about the family {and property} before heading inside the house.

We were both surprised at the size of the bedrooms {very large} and uneven floors {I felt like I was on a ship at sea} but all in all, it was a great tour and I highly recommend it if you are a Louise May Alcott fan.

This was our first trip to Concord, Massachusetts and it won’t be our last, that’s for sure. Concord seems like such a beautiful town.

I had hoped we would have enough time to visit the Concord Museum or take a tour of the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, but sadly we ran out of time. 

Have you ever been to Concord, Massachusetts? Do you have any suggestions for places to see, things to do on our next trip?

~Mavis