Thursday Oct 28th Miss Alger dined in the other
part of the house and myself and family
have been there to tea Helen came home
in the stage and Oliver & family were there
also. Oliver Miss A Susan and Augusta called
with me this evening at Mr Torreys & Augustus
Made half bushel more of barberries
A rather docile day, this was, “a pritty warm day for the season,”* according to Old Oliver. Evelina cooked more barberry preserves but otherwise was mostly occupied in social activity. She and the extended family took tea in the other part of the house at her father-in-law’s table, under the management of his daughter, Sarah Ames Witherell. Afterwards, Evelina and a group called on her brother-in-law, Col. Torrey, in the village.
Helen Angier Ames returned home from boarding school; her brother Fred had just come back, too, from Harvard. He took the train to Stoughton while she rode in the stage coach. His mode of transportation was the way of the future, hers of the past.
Like the Erie Canal, the stagecoach was on its way out. A mode of transportation that had been imported from England, early American stagecoaches were not much more than sturdy passenger wagons. As the need for travel conveyances increased, the stagecoach evolved, improved in comfort and efficiency and became widespread. In 1827, in the middle of what is considered the “Golden Age” of the stagecoach, the Abbott and Downing Company of New Hampshire built the first of an eventual 700 Concord stagecoaches. A Concord stagecoach was considered to be the best of the breed, “a cradle on wheels,” as Mark Twain described it. Pulled by a good team of horses or mules, a Concord stagecoach could travel from 6 to 8 miles per hour.
In remote areas, especially in the less well settled areas of the Wild West, the stagecoach remained important, but it couldn’t beat the faster and far more efficient railroad. Passengers trains had arrived and were growing exponentially. In 1847, Abbott and Downing ceased operations, although its famous stagecoaches remained in use for a few decades yet.
*Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection
evelinaames 
It just struck me that the name given the Concord Stagecoach, the best of its breed at the time, is the same name that was given the Concorde (plane) – the first supersonic airplane of our time. Well, so it has an “e” making it more French, I suppose, and why not, built by the French (and UK).
Interesting comparison, Caroline. There’s also Concord Trailways, a big New England bus line. There is something to the name!