Every year since 2019, I’ve taught the Concord History/Guide Course, sharing the stories of 12,000 years of human activity in this town that Thoreau called “the most estimable place in all the world.” Some take this class simply to learn this remarkable remarkable history, but most take it to become qualified for a town tour guide license.

At the end of the term, students gather at our town’s historic sites to present interpretations they have researched and written. In the years that I’ve taught the course, about half the time they do this on a rainy, chilly day, showing they have the right stuff to give an engaging, informative tour under any conditions.

April 5, 2025, was one of those days, and Meg Winslow photographed our class showing their resilience in front of the Civil War monument.