The Old Concord Lane

​I wasn't very optimistic about my visit to Concord in Madison County Texas. After an hour drive, I arrived five miles north of Madison to what was once the small community of Concord.  
I drove up and down the street that had once been the main street of Concord. All that was left of the former farms were large pastures, a couple of chicken factory-farms and an oil field. One-wide trailers were clustered near relatively new ranch houses. 
All I could do to document the existence of this former community was to take pictures of the streets on Concord Road and old Concord Lane.

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This was the only proof that a town or community had once existed here. For the first time there was no Concord Church or Concord Cemetery, just a dusty road bisected by a major highway.
It was a 5 mile drive 10 minutes out of my way to go to Old Concord Lane, but I'm glad I did. There was an old weathered be sign.
I was ready to head off to my next Concord, but I decided to head down old Concord Lane even though it was a dead in the road that became progressively more sketchy.I came upon three houses at the end of the cul-de-sac.
I was greeted by a wary and loud black dog, but there were no other signs of life. I am headed back towards the main highway but then stopped and backed up under a shady tree and regrouped for a few minutes.

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The dog's bark had changed. Sure enough, someone had emerged.  Now I didn't know if he'll have a shotgun or not, but I figured I had come all this way to talk to someone.  I slowly sauntered up to a rather crusty looking mustachioed guy in dark shades, a stained tee-shirt and underwear. He was holding a heart pillow.
"Howdy."
"Hey."
"I'm looking for a area called Concord."
"Yep, when my grandmother lived around here, this was Concord.  Excuse me, but I gotta sit down."
​

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​It turned out he had a good reason for both for the disheveled appearance and  hugging a heart pillow.   Bryce had been discharged from hospital that day after undergoing heart bypass surgery three days earlier.
Bryce and I had a nice long chat about his grandmother's place in Old Concord, and about his dog, and the birds and his garden.  
​It really couldn't have been a more random meeting.  A day earlier and he would have been in hospital.  If I hadn't decided to slow down a bit, he would never have emerged.  Heck he wasn't even supposed to get out of bed. 
​"I'll be damned if I stay in bed.  Supposed to stay laying down for a week, but I'm too fidgety."

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