At Meriam's Corner you face the Nathan Meriam House. This is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution’s first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. The house was built around 1705 and stands on Old Bedford Road near its intersection with Lexington Road, an intersection now known as Meriam’s Corner. It is one of eleven houses within the Minute Man National Historic Park that still exists today, and this area was part of the former Battle Road.
Listen to the layers of family life: Joseph and Sarah Meriam arrived in Concord from Kent, England, in 1638 with six children; another child, John, was born after their arrival. John and his wife Mary built the first home at Meriam’s Corner in 1663. Their son John built a second home in 1691, and in 1705 his son Joseph built the third home where he and his wife Dorothy Brooks lived. That house later came to be known by the names Nathan and Abigail Meriam; they lived here with seven children whose ages ranged from eleven to twenty-nine. The house remained in the Meriam family until 1871, when it was sold to Thomas Burke.
Notice Old Bedford Road meeting Lexington Road here, the stretch once known as Battle Road.