Concord's 375th Birthday

Concord was the first English settlement above tide-water in North America. Incorporated on September 11, 1635, we will celebrate 375 years with a bash. There will be a parade with over 90 units, brass cannon and 50 horses. Fireworks will light the sky, music will fill the air, stories will be told and there will be dancing and merriment at the Ball. Join us for this spectacular event. For a shedule of events go to: http://www.concordma.gov/pages/concordma_bcomm/Letter%20details%20for%20375th-A.pdf

Spring came opn us with a storm of color. We established two new cutting-beds last year. Marilyn has been busy harvesting the aromantic bounty and filling vases in each of the guestrooms with fresh flowers.

This was a terrific year for the maple sap flow. March is our month to collect and boil the sap into the sweet nectar of Maple Syrup. It is a lot of work! Over 40 gallons of sap is needed for 1 gallon of syrup. We only tapped a few trees this year, but it was enough to yield 3 gallons of Grade AAA. Over the winter the life-giving sap is drawn out of the tree branches and held in the root system. In the late winter, when the days warm and the nights are cold, the sap flows out of the roots to nourish the leaf buds during the day and flows back to the roots at night. This is the flow that is collected. We use 5 gallon water bottles to collect and boil it all day on our big commercial gas stove. The house fills with rich-smelling steam. In the end we take the syrup and can it in mason jars. Yum.

The last 6 months have sped by, highlighted by many fun events. We participated in the Chamber of Commerce Holiday Open House. The inn was decked out in the finest of Christmas decorations with two trees, a half dozen creche sets and many seasonal decorations. In the Historic Districts of Concord all exterior holiday lighting is restricted to white bulbs. With the lovely snow cover this beautiful continuity of sparkling celebration highlights the icicles and intensifies the abundant stars.