134 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



TWO THOROUGHFARES TO BOSTON. 



In former times there were two main thoroughfares be- 

 tween Groton and Boston: one of them, starting from the 

 Ridges, passed through Littleton, Acton, Concord, Lincoln, 

 and Lexington, and so on to Boston ; while the other, also 

 starting from the Ridges, passed through Westford, Car- 

 lisle, Bedford, and Lexington, where it met the first 

 road, and thence on to Boston by a common way. A 

 large share of the travel between certain parts of New 

 Hampshire and Vermont and Boston took one or the 

 other of these highways, and the incidental business was 

 an item of much importance to the traders and tavern- 

 keepers along the road. Eighty-five years ago there was 

 great rivalry among interested persons to obtain the travel 

 and teaming on their respective thoroughfares, and the trade 

 of store and tavern was jealously watched and carefully 

 guarded. In 1823 a sign-board was set up in the crotch 

 of the roads at the Ridges, saying that the way through 

 Concord to Lexington was two miles further than the one 

 through Carlisle ; and soon afterward a counter-statement 

 was made by the other side. I have been told that, when 

 Mr. Gerrish's store was dismantled in the summer of 1885, 

 before its removal to another site, this old sign-board was 

 found there ; but I have never yet been able to verify the 

 statement. 



The following extract from the " Concord Gazette & Middle- 

 sex Yeoman," February 21, 1824, seems now to give a fair 

 and impartial version of the controversy: — 



We insert below the statement of the Committee appointed to 

 measure the roads from Groton to Lexington. It is a subject, we 

 are aware, on which the respective parties concerned feel pretty 

 deeply. If any objections should be offered, written in a becoming 

 style, and calculated to affect the accuracy of the subjoined statement, 

 we shall give them publicity without hesitation. 



