Massachusetts: Louisa May Alcott's Home in Concord

Before our trip I had no idea in addition to the Revolutionary battle, Concord, Massachusetts was home to Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. 

Nor did I know that they all knew each other. 

Small town. Same time period.

After decades of moving every couple of years, in September 1857 Bronson Alcott bought Orchard House in Concord, MA and made it the family home for him, his wife, and their four daughters for the next twenty years.

When purchased their home was "fit for pigs." Sitting on 20 acres of apple orchards, and helped by Thoreau, the home transformed into what we see it today. There were actually two house on the property that were joined together for the large family.

Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women" in this house. She based the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy on her sisters, Anna (Meg), Beth, and May (Amy), as well as herself as Jo, making them younger than she and her sisters were when they moved to Concord. Sadly, Louisa's real-life sister Beth died in 1858, just before they moved into the house.

One big difference was that instead of their father fighting in the Civil War, she served as a nurse in the war. Her father was too old to fight. 

Louisa's parents supported her desire to write. They built a desk in her bedroom. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but I studied it longingly on the house tour. It is a semi circle attached to a post. There are pictures of it on their website. It is small, but she did not need to fit a computer on it, only paper, a pen, and an inkwell.

Her parents also supported her younger sister's desire to become an artist, as did Louisa. Louisa paid for May to travel to Europe to learn from the masters.

Liberty guided us inside the home. Though we started as the only people on the last tour of the day, we were joined by a family of six (including a daughter of about seven who asked the most insightful questions), and a gay couple who breezed through the house alone even though we were told to stay together.

Walking through the giftshop we entered the kitchen. Liberty tells us 80% of the home is original to the Alcott family. Along the tour, the little girl identifies many of the object not from the family (clothing, and perhaps some toys). The stove was also not original.

The home opened as a museum in 1911. The family had moved out in 1877. A family friend lived there for ten years, then it was abandoned. A woman set up a fund in 1911 to turn it into a museum. 

In the dining room we see a beam representing where the two houses were joined. The girls put on theatrical performances here, written by Louisa. They used the back stairs to sneak upstairs to change costumes. Some of the costumes are still on display.

The walls are covered in artwork by May (who most of us translate into Amy). An hour could be given just to studying how her talent evolved.

Anna and her husband were married in the parlor. The invitations were sent out in secret the morning of the wedding. Her wedding dress is on the bed where Louisa slept after Anna moved out.

May died soon after giving birth to Louisa May. The older Louisa May raised the younger, whom they called Lulu, for nine years until her death when she was sent to live with her father. Lulu lived until 1975 when she passed away at the age of 96. She visited the museum later in life.

A piece of Louisa May Alcott trivia: she taught herself to be ambidextrous so she could write twice as fast. She wrote for 12-14 hours each day. After serving in the Civil War, she wrote "Little Women" in this house, earning herself $5 million in her lifetime. She never married so she could retain her money.

Another piece of trivia, she grew her hair to her ankles. Unfortunately it was cut off when she had typhoid in an attempt to cure her. She wore wigs and caps the rest of her life. She died at age 55 from mercury poisoning.

Bronston, her father, built a school on the property: the Concord School of Philosophy. For years he taught children and had to move every few years. Here he taught up to 30 adults per lesson in his parlor before shifting to the other building when he was 80 years old.

Louisa and her father died on the same day in 1886. Her at the age of 55, him at 88.

As we left we noticed drawings on plexiglass covering the walls. For many years these drawings by May were hidden under the wallpaper. They were discovered following a 1980s era article referencing them. The drawings have faded over time, so what they could identify, they copied onto the plexiglass. Yes, May's parents allowed her to draw on the walls, so long as they were done well.