By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world."
Those words, penned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, have come to mean a great many things, but they were originally written about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, started on Lexington Common, April 19, 1775. The battle progressed to the Old North Bridge which crosses the Concord River in Concord, MA.
Emerson's words above, the first stanza of the poem Concord Hymn, are inscribed at the base of the statue pictured which stands on the western bank, looking towards the North Bridge. I am lucky enough to live no more than 30 minutes from the Old North Bridge and Lexington Common, and have for all of my life. Visiting them dozens of times, I have taken them for granted, never truly feeling their significance and how fortunate I was until my daughter was doing a report on the Revolutionary War. As we were looking through her history books for answers to questions, I said, "Why don't we take a ride to Lexington and you can research it there?" As I took pictures of my daughter in front of the Minuteman on Lexington Common, standing on the ground where Americans lost their lives for claiming independence, I finally got it. I am fortunate.
By the way, she got an A.
There were many fine entries in the contest to save my butt and come up with a creative name for our links, but "Shots Heard 'Round the Web" seemed to have a particular significance. Thank you.