The Old Manse is on Monument Street, with the Concord River behind it. It was built by Ralph Waldo Emerson's grandfather in 1770, the town minister and chaplain to the Provincial Congress and the Continental Army. The house is adjacent to North Bridge. After his death, his widow married his successor, Reverend Ripley, and they continued living in the house. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne also lived in the house but at different times. The house remained in the Emerson-Ripley family until 1939 when it was transferred, with all its contents, to the Trustees of Reservations. It is open seasonally.

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