Towns across the USA share a historic name. This man visited them all.

Rob Morrison has visited all 97 communities named Concord in the United States. 

There are 13 in Texas, four in Virginia and two in Kansas. Concord, South Dakota, has a paint store, a cemetery and four waterfowl protection areas. Concord, New York, is home to around 9,000 people and counts the inventor of Novocaine among its hometown heroes.  

The Concords don't have much in common. But people from roughly a dozen of the areas Morrison has visited will march together in a parade on April 19 commemorating the 250^th anniversary of the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. 

Visitors flock to the small New England towns every year to watch reenactments of the skirmishes between British soldiers and local farmers that triggered the war for independence. The festivities will kick-start the country’s yearlong semiquincentennial celebration, which will culminate with the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.

But it's not all about the past. The festivities and the Concordians' visit comes at a time when Americans are deeply divided along political lines and disagree about how to reflect on the country's history. In an August 2024 Gallup poll, 80% of adults said they believed Americans were split on the values most important to the country. Eighteen percent said the U.S. was united.

Still, many visitors from “other Concords” who Morrison invited told USA TODAY that, regardless of their differences, they felt linked together – through their ancestors, American identity and town name. They also felt connected to revolutionary history, even if they’ve never visited the area critical to America's founding before. 

“It was the beginning of the country, and we're part of it, even if we're, you know, 1,000 miles away from where it started,” said Emery Kleven, a member of West Concord, Minnesota’s historical board who is marching in Concord, Massachusetts' parade.  

A ‘family reunion’ 

Morrison’s interest in the “other Concords” started in the early days of the internet when he would search for a pizza place or library, only to be directed to a town hours away.  

He grew curious about those cousin communities, and what life was like in them. In 2015, Morrison, 65, turned a trip to deliver his daughter her car in Arizona into an opportunity to check out Concords. He visited eight, then gradually tacked on more as he traveled across the U.S. over the last decade.  

The goal was the same in each location: collect stories and understand how people were living. He told USA TODAY he saw a lot of boarded-up downtowns, but he also attended a historic town picnic in Concord, Wisconsin, and spoke with a man in Concord, Kansas, for hours about their political disagreements. He documented it all on his website.

“By visiting such a variety of places, from cities to tiny hamlets, I was able to get a good sense of a broader picture of the tapestry of America,” Morrison said of the experience. 

It’s insight some Concordians convening for the parade in Massachusetts said they’re hoping to gain by gathering together.

“I think we're all very different,” Kleven, from Minnesota, said. “It’s going to be fun, like going to a family reunion” with people “you’ve never met.” 

A shared past

Becky Barlow, from Concord, Illinois, knew she couldn’t pass up Morrison’s invitation.  

He stayed at her bed and breakfast, The Red Bird Inn, in August, and they chatted about his Concord project over a dinner of chicken salad, fresh bread and chips. When the letter inviting her to Massachusetts arrived in December, she saw it as an opportunity to connect with the country’s history and her own. One of her ancestors was a soldier in the American Revolution, she said.  

Getting to Massachusetts was difficult. Barlow, 69, had to find an organist to cover for her at Easter Mass, expedite doctor appointments to get her partner’s torn bicep checked out and drive 19 hours east. The struggles have been worth it, she said.  

“When the tough gets going for me, I think of who fought so that I could have this life that I have – the freedom and the liberty,” she said over the phone. “I owe them something.”  

For others, like Lindsey Byars, director of marketing and public relations at Concord University in West Virginia, attending the anniversary celebration is a way of shifting perspective.  

“Tense is a good word to describe our country right now in a lot of different ways,” Byars said. “To remember the sacrifice and the work that it took to become a country in the first place, I think that's a good reminder of the importance of standing up for your country.” 

West Virginia wasn’t one of the original 13 British colonies, and it doesn’t have as many landmarks that serve as visual reminders of the battle for independence, Byars explained. But the name connection to Concord makes her feel tied to that history.

“It's important to know where our roots go,” she said. “By being respectful of the past and how far we've come, that helps us shape the future.” 

'Telling the American story'

The presence of different Concords – from red and blue states alike – at the anniversary event points to one of the central questions for historians ahead of America's 250 celebrations next year: What and whose stories should be told?

Similar conversations have raged around the country for years, particularly over whether Confederate monuments should be removed from public spaces. Americans are divided on that topic, with 55% saying historical figures that supported the confederacy and racial segregation should not be memorialized in a June 2024 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Some historians view America 250 as a chance to highlight underrepresented stories.

John Garrison Marks, the director of research and strategic initiatives at the American Association for State and Local History, said in a recent blog post that the goal of anniversary commemorations should be “to help audiences engage with a fuller story of our nation’s history." That includes the history of slavery and racial violence, while also helping Americans "understand how the diverse people of our past all shaped the nation."

In Boston, a group called Everyone 250 has launched an initiative to highlight the histories of Native Americans, Black Americans and others as America reflects on its founding.

The Trump administration has sought to push back on similar initiatives, accusing DEI efforts in public and private sectors of further splitting the nation in an already divisive time. In March, the president issued an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior and other agencies to review Smithsonian exhibits and National Park Service sites for what he sees as anti-American displays.

In the order, he criticized the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution, of promoting "narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive."

Suzie Barry, head of Lexington’s 250 celebration, said she views the upcoming revolution-focused events as a way to interact with and dissect American history – regardless of perspective.

“It's just basically telling the American story, of what the militiamen were willing to stand up and fight for back in the day, what we're still fighting for today,” Barry said.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)