It's not every day that you have the opportunity to stay at one of the oldest hotels in the United States. If you ever decide to visit Concord, Massachusetts, you'll get just that. Concord's Colonial Inn's original structure was built in 1716. One of the Inn's original buildings served as a storehouse for arms and provisions in 1775 during the Revolutionary War. When the British arrived to seize and destroy the supplies, the Minutemen met them head-on at the North Bridge for what became the first battle of the American Revolution. The event is commemorated every April with a parade near the Inn and a ceremony at the North Bridge on Patriots' Day. In the early 1800s, parts of the Inn's were used as a residence and variety store. From 1835-1837, author and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who was born and died in Concord, stayed at the Inn while attending Harvard. In the mid-1800s, the building was used as a boarding house and a small hotel called the ...