By Melissa Saalfield, Minute Man National Historical Park

For many years, it was believed that the Olive Stow House (above right), located at 965 Lexington Road along a portion of the Battle Road in Concord, was constructed around 1760. A wayside information marker along the Battle Road Interpretive Trail describes Widow Stow and her two children residing at the house at the time of the battle possibly hiding within as the British retreated to Boston pursued by companies of Minute Men and militia.

In a letter written in 1825 by a member of the Reading Company, the Minute Men were described as having "sought [their] own place and opportunity to attack and annoy the enemy from behind trees, rocks, fences, and buildings?" Such a description might well have been a reference to the home and grounds of Widow Olive Stow, securing for the site an important place in Revolutionary War history.

New research recently undertaken for a "Historic Structure Report" however, indicates that the house occupying this site today did not witness the momentous retreat. Rather, documentary records and physical evidence reveal the house was not built until several years after the Concord fight.

Solving this mystery has involved extensive sleuthing on the part of National Park Service architectural professionals at the Northeast Cultural Resources Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Tax records suggest that Ebenezer Hardy who married Olive Stow's daughter ca. 1781 constructed a the existing wood-framed house on this site sometime between 1784 and 1798. This new home replaced an earlier house constructed between 1684 and 1689 by Nathaniel Stow, Olive's father-in-law.

It was the Nathaniel Stow structure of the late 1680s that actually "witnessed" the events of April 19. While it is not altogether clear what became of this "witness" structure, no portion appears to have been incorporated into the new structure, based on a thorough physical examination of the existing house.

While archival records hint at a late-18th century construction date, physical evidence provides more precise information. Earlier this year, dendrochronology experts were contracted to conduct a tree-ring analysis of the oak framing timbers in the attic. This study targets the year "1786" for the construction of the present house.

Within the last few weeks, exterior investigations have also uncovered original 18th-century clapboards (see photo above right) preserved on three sides of the house. These hand-rived boards were attached with hand-wrought nails.

This early siding had been covered for the last 110 years by wood shingles (see photo above left), partially backed by a Boston Globe newspaper dated August 21, 1892. The paper features sale advertisements by department store Jordan Marsh at truly bargain prices by today's standards! Other surviving original materials include wide sheathing boards, plank-frame windows, multi-pane sashes, and paneled doors.

Although not a "witness" structure, the existing Olive Stow House is nevertheless significant as the later 18th-century home of one of Concord's witness families. Future archaeological excavations may yet solve the mystery of the location and fate of Olive Stow's historic home.

Photos: Top left - Front elevation, showing original clapboards found beneath the ca. 1892 shingles
Center right - West elevation showing original clapboards found beneath the ca. 1892 shingles
Bottom left - Peter Deleon, exhibit specialist with the Northeast Cultural Resources Center of the National Park Service, shown removing later shingle siding from the Olive Stow House
All photos courtesy of Minute Man National Historical Park.

Backgrounds: EOS Development.