The Battle Road Unit of the park follows the route of the 1775 Battle Road for over five miles, from Lexington through Lincoln to Concord. Within this unit are the Minute Man Visitor Center, Hartwell Tavern, and the 5.5 mile, 11-mile round trip Battle Road Trail, which connects historic sites with natural areas in the park.

Built in 1733, the restored Hartwell home and tavern situated along the Battle Road provides a perfect setting for visitors to step back in time to April of 1775. Speak with costumed interpreters and park living history volunteers, observe colonial living demonstrations and learn about the daily lives of those men and women who took part in the 1775 Revolution.

"The Wayside: Home of Authors," incorporated into Minute Man National Historial Park in 1965, was once the home of Concord authors Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Margaret Sidney. Guided tours of the house are available.

The North Bridge area, located off of Monument Street in Concord, contains Daniel Chester French's Minute Man Statue, Grave of the British Soldiers, the 1836 Battle Monument, and the renowned North Bridge, site of the "Shot Heard 'Round the World."

On the night of April 18th, 1775, approximately 700 British soldiers gathered on Boston Common to prepare for a raid on American military supplies stored in nearby Concord. Informed of the British troop movement, Paul Revere and William Dawes, Boston residents, set out to warn their fellow colonists.

Over the next twenty-four hours, a series of events ensued which took Massachusetts and the other twelve colonies a major step closer to Independence.

By noon on April 19, 1775, British troops had reassembled in Concord Center and started the 20 mile trek back to Boston. When they came to Meriam's Corner, musket fire erupted. The encounter known as "Battle Road" had begun, with British troops retreating and colonists firing from behind boulders, walls, trees, houses and barns. Violent clashes ensued at Brooks Hill, Bloody Angle, the Bluff, and Fiske Hill. By the time the Regulars were within sight of Lexington Green, they broke into a run. Only the arrival of Lord Percy's relief column of 1000 troops averted catastrophe for the British army. Even with Percy's help, the road to Boston was treacherous. The fiercest fighting was in Menotomy (Arlington) where both Americans and Regulars inflicted considerable harm on one another. By the time the British troops reached Boston Harbor they had suffered 273 casualties while the colonists' losses totaled 94.

By the end of the day on April 19, the Minute Men had surrounded Boston and laid seige to the port city. On July 2, 1775, George Washington, a planter from distant Virginia, took charge of this army. Eight months later, British troops evacuated Boston. In Massachusetts the fighting was over, but the War for Independence had only begun.