Concord Trivia - by Barrow Bookstore

1

On Christmas Eve of 1854, 22-year-old Louisa May Alcott placed what she called her “first born” into her mother’s Christmas stocking as a gift. What was this “first born” and what was it called?

2

In his essay “Wild Apples”, Henry David Thoreau wrote about an old English custom practiced on New Year’s Eve when groups of boys would gather in apple orchards, encircle the apple trees, and repeat a chant encouraging the trees to grow strong through the winter. What was the name of this custom? Was it: a) Bough lifting b) Apple howling c) The Ritual of Rootimus Profundus d) Muggle incanting

3

In the Colonial era, residents of Concord depended upon candlelight to light their houses and break the night’s darkness. The most common material from which candles were made was: a) Duck fat b) Beeswax c) Tallow d) Tree syrup boiled to wax

4

In 1776, upper class merchants in England may have still been a little mad at the Colonists for dumping their tea into the Boston harbor during the Boston Tea Party of 1773, but they may also have felt some satisfaction in knowing a new English invention - not yet in America - would guarantee that their house interiors would be kept in better condition than those of the annoying Colonists. Was this new invention a: a) Mechanical rug beater b) Pewter lined waste can c) Candle douter d) Goose down draft stopper e) Gold chamber pot

5

A Christmas kindness. In 1881, a poor woman in Illinois wrote to a Concord author and asked the author to help fill-in for Santa Claus (who was not available that year). The Concord author jumped in to help and mailed gifts to the woman and her family. Who was the Concord author?

6

True or False. In 1930, you could meet friends in Concord at the Colonial Inn, sit in the tavern, and buy a beer.

7

In the 1800s, a particular dessert (such as one Louisa May Alcott read about in her favorite book, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol) was often made in a copper pot, doused in alcohol, and garnished with a sprig of holly. If the copper pot had not been properly maintained, copper might leach into the dessert causing consumers to experience unfortunate gastrointestinal distress and feelings of lack of friendship towards the cook. What was the dessert called?

8

Who said it? Match the Concord Author to their description of a pile of snow. a) Louisa May Alcott b) Ralph Waldo Emerson c) Nathaniel Hawthorne d) Henry David Thoreau

1) “The frolic architecture of the snow” 2) “The path is snowed up” 3) “a snowdrift swept by the cottage with a sound like the trailing of a garment” 4) “the sun glittered on the everlasting snow”

9

One of the earliest newspaper reports of Christmas trees in the United States described “an interesting festival, a Christmas tree,” in Concord with all the children of the town participating and someone dressed as St. Nicholas distributing presents. What year did this interesting festival occur? a) 1833 b) 1843 c) 1853 d) 1863

10

A riddle: Proud and true, high as a church spire, I preside in Concord Center. Directed by the wind, I look East, West, North, South; sometimes I rest, and sometimes I bow in honor. Below me stands a liberty tree on a grass plot circled by feet seeking routes to peace, and vehicles following one unchanging path. Who/what am I?