Stones marking the location of the former Ebenezer Fiske House are located at the eastern end of the Battle Road Unit of Minute Man National Historical Park in the area known as Fiske Hill. The site is served by a parking lot near the corner of Old Massachusetts Avenue and Wood Street. The house site is across the road from the parking lot. This is also the place to park for anyone wanting to start a hike or bike ride on the Battle Road Trail or a hike on the Fiske Hill Loop Trail.
The original Fiske House was built around 1674. Ebenezer inherited the house and farm in 1729 and lived there until his death in December 1775 (not related to the war). He was a very wealthy landowner and had one of the largest farms in Lexington. The house was torn down in 1852 and a new one was built on the site using the same foundation. That house was torn down in 1955.
The Fiske House played a small part in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, when a Patriot militiaman and a British soldier shot each other at the same time near the house. The supposed exchange of words is now in the annals of history: “You are a dead man,” yelled the Redcoat. “And so are you,” replied Patriot James Hayward. The British soldier was killed instantly, while Hayward died later from his wounds. They, along with other wounded soldiers left behind by the British, were treated in the house by Doctor Joseph Fiske, cousin to Ebenezer. Most all of the men died and were buried on the property. Hayward was shot near the farm’s well, and this has since been called the Hayward Well. A memorial marker has stood at the site since 1885.
Marker for the well where James Hayward was shot by a British soldier at the Ebenezer Fiske House site in Minute Man National Historical Park
For those starting a journey on the Battle Road Trail, you will be traveling on the actual Battle Road up until a little past the John Nelson House. However, the Fiske House site is not quite at the beginning of the trail, so if you are a stickler for details, follow the path back to Wood Street. There you will find an information panel explaining that while Battle Road now ends here, in 1775 it was the main road between Cambridge and Concord (it was originally called the Bay Road or Concord Road, among other names). Any sections of the original road east of here have been paved over by modern roads or buried beneath buildings; the entire area back to Boston is heavily developed. The original road segments west of Meriam’s Corner are now Lexington Road. Thus, the only sections of the original Battle Road that are accessible for hiking and biking are within the Battle Road Unit of Minute Man National Historical Park.
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Last updated on September 4, 2023