The Concord Museum is the best single introduction to the town's two defining stories — the Revolutionary War battle and the Transcendentalist literary movement. Opened in 1886, it holds the most comprehensive collection of artifacts from both narratives, including furniture from Thoreau's Walden cabin, Ralph Waldo Emerson's original study (relocated here from his house), Paul Revere's signal lantern, and a large collection of military equipment and documents from the April 19 battle.
The Thoreau room, which includes his simple writing desk and the furnishings from the Walden cabin (donated by his sister after his death), makes the abstract story of his experiment in simple living concrete. The Emerson study, with its crowded bookshelves and cluttered desk exactly as he left it, gives a vivid sense of the man and his working life. The museum is an essential stop before visiting the Emerson House and Orchard House; the context it provides makes those visits considerably more meaningful. The museum is on Cambridge Turnpike, directly across from the Emerson House.