Built in the late 1600s or early 1700s, the Hancock-Clarke House was the residence of Reverend Jonas Clarke in 1775. On the night of April 18, 1775 John Hancock and Samuel Adams stayed here after meetings of the Provincial Congress in Concord. Around midnight, Paul Revere and William Dawes both stopped at this house, separately, to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British troops were on their way. The Hancock-Clarke House was named after its inhabitants; before Reverend Jonas Clarke lived there, it was occupied by Reverend John Hancock, the grandfather of the more famous John Hancock. The Hancock-Clarke House, a National Historic Landmark, is managed by the Lexington Historical Society.
