"...to preserve for the benefit of the American people certain historic structures and properties of outstanding national significance associated with the opening of the War of the American Revolution." Public Law 86-321, Approved 21 September 1959 H. R. 5892 "The purposes of the park shall include the preservation and interpretation of (1) the historic landscape along the road between Lexington and Concord, (2) sites associated with the causes and consequences of the American Revolution, and (3) the Wayside on Lexington Road in Concord, the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, and Margaret Sidney, whose works illustrate the nineteenth century American literary renaissance." PUBLIC LAW 102-488 - OCT. 24, 1992