Concord’s house-museums
Some history and additional links to the authors’ homes we’ll be visiting.
But wait, there’s more!
Each of these places have a special connection with Concord’s literary past, and a unique story to tell.
The interior furnishings remain much as they did when Emerson lived in the home, with original furniture and Emerson's memorabilia. The exception is the furniture and books from his study, which are now on display in the Concord Museum across the street. His personal book collection has been moved to Harvard University's Houghton Library.
Today the house is still owned by the family. It was first opened to the public in 1930 as a private museum.
©Copyright 2011 Gatepost Tours, LLC
A little irreverent. A lot of fun.
The Old Manse, photo c. 1905.
Sketch of the Hillside, (later renamed The Wayside). Signed by Amos Bronson Alcott; presumably he is the artist. 1845
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s study, 1888 (shortly after his death). In 1930 the R.W. Emerson Memorial Association determined that the year-long demand for visitation by pilgrims to Emerson’s doorstep was better met at the Concord Museum than at the house, and sent the Study’s contents across the street to an exact reproduction of the room.
The Orchard House, photo c. 1941
The Thoreau Birth House (Thoreau Farm Trust) as it looked prior to its 2009/2010 renovation.
Built in 1770 for patriot minister William Emerson, The Old Manse, a National Historic Landmark, became the center of Concord’s political, literary, and social revolutions over the course of the next century. In the mid-19th-century, leading Transcendentalists such as Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller discussed the issues of the day here, with the Hawthorne and Ripley families.
A handsome Georgian clapboard building, The Old Manse sits near the banks of the Concord River among rolling fields edged by centuries-old stone walls and graced by an orchard. From upstairs, you can look out over the North Bridge, where the famous battle of April 19, 1775, took place. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne both called the Manse home for a time – and each found inspiration here. Emerson would draft his famous essay “Nature” from an upstairs room, and Hawthorne would write a tribute to the homestead called Mosses from an Old Manse. Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia, started their married life here, and you can still see the poems they wrote to each other, etched on the Manse’s window panes. The heirloom vegetable garden, which has been recreated today, was originally planted by Henry David Thoreau in honor of the Hawthornes’ wedding.
Inside, you’ll find rooms filled with antiques and memorabilia reflecting the tastes of writers, philosophers, politicians, poets, and artists who helped to shape a distinctive American culture.
The stone boathouse provides access to canoeists along the Concord River. The Old Manse is a National Historic Landmark and a link in the Bay Circuit Trail.
The Old Manse
Amos Bronson Alcott originally purchased two houses set upon twelve acres of land on the Lexington Road in 1857 -- both dating to circa 1690-1720 -- for $945. He then moved the smaller tenant farmhouse and joined it to the rear of the larger manor house, making many improvements to the home, as explained in his journals of 1857-58. The grounds also contained an orchard of forty apple trees, which greatly appealed to Mr. Alcott, who considered apples the most perfect food. It is not surprising, then, that he should name his home "Orchard House."
Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House
After moving twenty-two times in nearly thirty years, the Alcotts finally found their most permanent home at Orchard House, where they lived from 1858 to 1877. The house is most noted for being where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set her beloved classic, Little Women, in 1868 at a "shelf desk" her father built especially for her.
Fortunately, there have been no major structural changes to the house since the Alcotts' time, and on-going preservation efforts adhere to the highest standards of authenticity. Since approximately 80% of the furnishings on display were owned by the Alcotts, the rooms look very much as they did when the family lived here, causing many modern-day visitors to comment that, "A visit to Orchard House is like a walk through Little Women!"
The Thoreau Farm Trust is a non-profit group dedicated to the restoration and reuse of the c.1730 farmhouse in Concord where Henry David Thoreau was born. Currently, there is no house site in Concord that celebrates the entire life and legacy of this extraordinary American author and philosopher and our country's first environmentalist. The fact that the house where Thoreau was born is located in a modest neighborhood and is surrounded by farmland makes it a perfect place to carry on Thoreau's belief in living simply and close to the land.
Thoreau Farm Trust
Mary Jones Dunbar, Thoreau's widowed grandmother, married widower Jonas Minot in 1798 and moved to the farm with her children, including her daughter Cynthia, Thoreau's mother. Cynthia grew up in the house on the Virginia Road farm, living there for 14 years until 1812 when she married John Thoreau. In 1813, Jonas died and Cynthia returned to the farm with John at Mary's request to take over her "widow's third" and they tried to make a go of the farm. Unable to do so during a particularly harsh stretch of New England weather, they left Virginia Road and moved back to the town center in 1818 with their 8-month-old son, Henry, who had been born on the farm. Although he lived on the farm for only a short time, it provided both inspiration and subject matter for his writings.
The Wayside
The Wayside in Concord, Massachusetts is a National Historic Landmark lived in by three American Literary figures: Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Sidney and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, and the short story collections; Mosses from an Old Manse and Twice-Told Tales lived here from 1852 until 1870 and gave it the name by which it is still known.
While The Wayside is best known as the only home Hawthorne ever owned and the place where he wrote his last works, it has also been the home of several noteworthy women.
The Wayside, called "Hillside" by the Alcott family, was one the childhood homes of Louisa May Alcott, the author of the 1868 classic Little Women. Louisa lived here with her parents and three sisters from April 1845 to November 1848 during her early teenage years. The Wayside barn, which today serves as a Visitor Center and exhibit area, was used by the Alcott girls to stage the plays that were created when they lived at "Hillside"; including "Roderigo" from Little Women. The Wayside exhibit and tour make note of the many events that occurred at "Hillside" that are recalled in Little Women; as well as real life experiences that the Alcott family had here, such as their sheltering of a fugitive slave in early 1847.
The Ralph Waldo Emerson House is a registered National Historic Landmark for its associations with American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The house was built in 1828 by the Coolidge family and named "Coolidge Castle". It was used as a summer house on the village outskirts, beside the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike. It is a four-square, two-story frame building in a house style common to many New England towns.
In July 1835, Emerson wrote in his journal, "I bought my house and two acres six rods of land of John T. Coolidge for 3,500 dollars." He and Jackson married on September 14 and moved in to the home the next day, along with his mother.
The Emerson House
Did you know the Concord Museum is home to the world’s largest collection of Thoreau artifacts? Or that they have one of the original signal lanterns from Paul Revere’s famous ride?
The Concord Free Public Library. As beautiful as it is full of Concord’s history. Their Special Collections department also has an amazing amount of historical resources online for anyone to enjoy!
Walden Pond is inspiring no matter where you view it from, or what time of year.
The Thoreau Institute. An extensive collection of Thoreau’s works, papers and correspondence. And pencils! Tours through the TI will be conducted by Jeffery S. Cramer, author and Thoreau scholar extraordinaire!
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The last home of our authors. Always romantic and thought-provoking, but utterly sublime on an autumn morning. Not to be missed!
The reproduction of Thoreau’s cabin at Walden. Recreated to the exact specifications of Henry’s original house.
A treasure trove of all things Concord, The Museum provides thought-provoking and endlessly interesting exhibits. During our literary tours, we’ll see Emerson’s study, Thoreau’s writing desk and even a lock from the prison in which Henry famously spent one night!
The Concord Museum