This is the final resting place for the most famous Concordians. Though the entrance is only a block east of Monument Sq, the most interesting part, Authors’ Ridge, is a 15-minute walk along Bedford St. Henry David Thoreau and his family are buried here, as are the Alcotts and the Hawthornes. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s tombstone is a large, uncarved rose-quartz boulder, an appropriate transcendentalist symbol.
Nearby is the Melvin Memorial, a much-photographed monument to the memory of three Concord brothers who died in the Civil War. It’s the work of Daniel French, who is also buried in Sleepy Hollow.