Minute Man National Park: Open House at Nathan Meriam Witness House

Visit the Nathan Meriam witness house on April 12, 2025, and talk with costumed park staff about the Meriam family and the importance of the crossroad near their home on April 19, 1775. In the early afternoon of that fateful day, Militia soldiers arriving from Reading, Chelmsford, and Billerica attacked retreating British soldiers near this home. From Meriam’s Corner to Charlestown the fighting raged continuously for 8 hours and roughly 16 miles. Today, this important home marks the beginning of the “Battle Road.”

An old postcard of Meriam’s Corner

The Nathan Meriam Witness House

An early 18th century house, it sits at the corner of Lexington Road and Bedford roads. Nearby, Lexington Road narrowed to cross a small brook.  There, militiamen attacked retreating British regulars on April 19, 1775.

To cross the brook, the British column pulled in their flank guard. This allowed the militiamen to get close enough to fire upon them and inflict casualties. From this point on the fire would not cease until the British regulars arrived at Charlestown, 18 miles away!

Meriam’s Corner

Joseph and Sarah Meriam came to Concord from Kent, England, in 1638 with six children. Their youngest son, John, was the first to be born in North America. John, and his wife, Mary, built the first house on the land now known as Meriam’s Corner in 1663. In 1691 their son John and his wife Sarah built a second dwelling at the corner. Then in 1705 another son, Joseph and his wife Dorothy Brooks, built a third dwelling.

By the spring of 1775, Joseph and Dorothy’s house passed into the hands of Nathan Meriam and his wife Abigail. It still stands today. Nathan and Abigail, farmers in their fifties, lived in the house with seven children between the ages of 11 and 29.  In the other house Josiah and his wife Lydia lived with 10 children between the ages of 7 and 27. Josiah was a sergeant in Capt. Joseph Hosmer’s Minute Company in Concord and his 19 year-old son, also named Josiah, was a private in the same company.

Family Lore

Meriam family oral tradition holds that on that morning, “when the alarm was given in Concord that the British soldiers were coming, Josiah Meriam, with his sons, Josiah, Jr., and Timothy, went to the village, and later were among the forces at the North Bridge, and probably crossed the meadows and appeared again at the encounter near the house. Joseph, Josiah’s youngest son, then seven years old, remained at home, as he always said, ‘to take care of the women’ and soon went with them to a place of refuge behind the hill. The British soldiers entered the house, helped themselves to whatever breakfast they could find, taking the unbaked pies from the oven…”

A Note About Parking

Meriam’s Corner Parking Lot: 751 Lexington Road, Concord, MA.
Overflow parking available on the day of the event.

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