South Bridge Boat House celebrates Concord-style Halloween

By Betsy Levinson — [email protected]

Open until Halloween, South Bridge Boat House is now festooned with skeletons in Colonial and redcoat attire, muskets, and tricorn hats.

Managed by Brianna Rohan, the family-owned canoe rental business opened in 1949 and for 75 years has put boats in the river for outdoor enthusiasts to paddle under the North Bridge or enjoy cruising past scenic Concord toward Emerson Hospital and beyond.

Rohan, granddaughter of the late George and Shirley Rohan, said Halloween provides the perfect environment to display the collection of spooky-looking figures. There’s even Paul Revere in a canoe on the roof, slumped over from a touch of bubbly, she said.

“I love Halloween, and I wanted to do something fun now and for the 250th,” Rohan said.

She acquired the skeletons from a customer “practically free.” She outfitted them in children’s clothes she had at home. One has a blue vest, for the Acton Minutemen, and another has brown for the Concord unit. Her mother, Martha Rohan, helped design the figures.

“I love history,” she said. “This is an ode to growing up here.”