Bill Barber’s Matching Challenge
Last few days to meet Bill Barber’s matching fund challenge! Time runs out on July 4th! He will match, dollar for dollar, any donations up to $5,000.00 that come in by July 4th! Here’s your chance to double any money you donate to our tax-deductible Drinking Gourd Project – send your donation to:The Drinking Gourd Project, IncP.O. Box 506Concord MA 01742…or donate...
Read MoreVisit Peter Hutchinson’s Unmarked Grave
In 1881, Peter Hutchinson, last member of Robbins family to live in the house, was the first African-American resident of Concord to vote. He lies in an unmarked grave in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.One of The Drinking Gourd Project’s goals is to provide engraved headstones for the unmarked graves of African Americans and Abolitionists such as Peter Hutchinson.
Read MoreEllen Garrison
Concord’s Young 19th Century African Activist (Caesar Robbins’Granddaughter) In 1835, Concord bicentennial was held, and the night before, the teacher of public school asked all the children who wanted to walk in the procession to stand. “All arose but one colored girl, a good scholar, and belonging to a respectable family. The teacher asked her if she would not like to go. She...
Read MoreWho Was Caesar Robbins and Why Is His House So Special?
This humble house is a link and a witness to some of the most important and real history that we have. It is the only standing house built by an early African resident of Concord. It in, we have been given a unique gift : the opportunity to create a center where we can teach these stories to our youth and the visitors from across the US and the Globe who come to Concord each year.
Read MoreBrister Freeman’s Ditch Fence
Naturalist J. Walter Brain discovered Brister’s ditch fence, using Thoreau’s survey map, in the Hapgood Wright Town Forest. Allan Schmidt, former member of the Trails Committee, used it to locate Brister’s home site on the Brister Freeman’s Trail Map in the town forest kiosk. Both are helping author Elise Lemire and the Drinking Gourd Project plan a stone marker to memorialize this site.
Read MoreMary Rice,’a little old gentlewoman’
by Polly Attwood Editor’s note: The following is part of a series from the Drinking Gourd Project, dedicated to preserving the Caesar Robbins house as an educational center for the untold stories of Concord’s early Africans, abolitionists and other civil liberties advocates. Many residents and visitors to Concord know the story of John Jack, whose grave can be seen at the Old Hill...
Read More