A Visit to Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House
The famous author found the power of her pen in this house. She grew up in the exciting era the Transcendentalist Movement and her neighbors were Emmerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller.
Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, located in Concord, Massachusetts, was the home of Louisa May Alcott and her family from 1858 to 1877. Her famous novel, Little Women, is fiction but it was based on her real family of four sisters (Louisa, Anna, May, and Lizzy) and two loving and progressive parents. She set her book in this house and wrote it there in1868. She worked on a small desk built for her by her father, at a time in history when women writers were frowned upon. People now flock from around the world to see this simple wood desk, attached to the wall in her bedroom. Today it holds a pen, ink, and paper to invoke the memory of Louisa’s literary legacy. The house has been a museum for more than one hundred years, and it was designated a Historical National Landmark in 1962. Preservation efforts have been ongoing. At different points in history, it had been rescued from obscurity or brought back from the brink of collapse.
To understand the heritage of Orchard House, it helps to understand the heritage of Concord. The enchanting nature of this home ties in with its richly historical location. It was the birthplace of the Revolutionary War, and then, it was the launch pad for the Transcendentalist Movement. Concord, in Louisa’s time, was the home of many highly individual, creative, forward-thinking people. Her father, educator Bronson Alcott, was one of them and he shared the belief in agency for women, social justice for all, and that God could be found in nature. He was encouraged to come to Concord by his dear friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also invited Henry David Thoreau (who lived in Emmerson’s shack on Walden Pond for two years), Nathaniel Hawthorne, and journalist Margaret Fuller. These were the neighbors Louisa grew up around. They influenced her writing and point of view. Even today, this ideology and transformational time period, along with the collective literary genius, seems imbedded in the soil of Concord and in the famous waters of nearby Walden Pond.
At Orchard House, visitors begin in the building that once housed The Concord School of Philosophy and Literature, founded by Bronson Alcott. Sitting in the restored school, on modern folding chairs, they watch an introductory video featuring Jan Turnquist, longtime executive director. She is dressed in period garb and speaks humorously, in the first person, as Louisa May Alcott. “I’m a literary spinster and I’m happy to paddle my own canoe,” she says. She goes on to reveal that she resisted the idea of writing Little Women at first and that she was not a fan of matrimony but would consider it if it meant she’d have a chance to “kiss Mr. Emerson.”
This “Edutainment” sets up the house tour, which is a wonderfully immersive and highly curated experience. Turnquist does not lead the tours, but her insights can be found in the Emmy Award winning documentary, “Orchard House: Home of Little Women,” a PBS special she wrote, directed, and narrates. Some of the comments in this paper are adapted from the live tour and from the documentary.
Guided in the tour by the experienced Diane, who has been doing this work for many years, it was discovered that the house is filled with an impressive number (seventy-five percent) of original Alcott belongings, which are supplemented with antiques of the same era. Though visitors are monitored, the rooms are not roped off, so you are able to see art and artifacts up close. Diane offered in-depth narration of the history of the house and all those who dwelled there. It was something she pulled from memory (no notes) as she engaged with the reminders of Alcott heritage in each room.
Once inside the home, this visitor felt an instant feeling of affinity with the place. The charm and magic of the place can draw you in. It feels like a living house, because the memories of the famous family that resided here are lovingly preserved.
Orchard House preservation efforts over the years have reflected the commitment of many individuals who stepped forward to help and had a sense of attachment and connection to the home.
It began when Bronson Alcott purchased twelve acres of land on an apple orchard in 1857. A dilapidated manor house, built from wood in the 1600s, was thrown in as part of the deal because the seller assumed it was useless. When Bronson learned of the home’s Revolutionary War heritage, he wanted to have it restored. He had dealt with poverty and had moved his family dozens of times, and this was to be a more permanent home. His daughters helped paint, decorate, and prepare the home. Their sister, Elizabeth (Lizzie) died before moving in and they put her instrument, a melodeon, in a place of honor in the dining room with her photo above it and designated her angel of the house.
Louisa left Orchard House at thirty, to become a Civil War Nurse and have an adventure, but she developed typhoid fever and the medical treatment she received caused severe mercury poisoning. Bronson brought her home, thinking it was the end, but Orchard House and her loving family revived her. Louisa loved owls, so her sister May painted a now-famous owl over her fireplace, and also hung an owl portrait and other art by her bed. (It is all still there, beautifully preserved). Louisa never fully recovered, but she revived enough to return to her passion, writing. She penned Hospital Sketches, a book that generated her first real literary success, and that led to her being asked to write Little Women. She was able to help save her family from financial despair. Both Louisa and her father wrote many books in this home.
After Bronson and Louisa passed away in 1888, their former property was overgrown and unkempt, but the house and the school quietly sat in wait for a new owner.
Fans began showing up there with copies of Little Women in hand, peeking in the window, asking questions and searching for a live connection to Louisa. Harriet Lothrop, a neighbor who lived in the former Hawthorne house next door, noticed this. Lothrop was a children’s book author and was married to a publisher, and after seeing how much the home meant to fans, she managed to buy it to pull it from the jaws of ruin. As a member of the Concord Women’s Club, she sought the help of group members to turn Orchard House into a museum. They agreed, but they had to get their husbands involved to meet the legal requirement because women were not permitted to start corporations. The men agreed. They formed the Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association in 1911 to restore and build the museum.
The museum opened to the public in 1912, and other literary homes in Concord followed.
Many generations of families have visited this place. Today, anyone can visit Orchard House if they come at a scheduled tour time and abide by the rules. It remains a beloved place of inspiration for fans, authors, researcher, students, and visitors from around the globe who feel the spirit of Louisa May Alcott, her family, and the March families in Little Women live on. In addition to tours, they have educational programs, with famous local authors and Alcott experts, as well as online events.
As you end your Orchard House visit, you can get a copy of a map of nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where all the Alcotts rest in the most peaceful place, together, and among all their old friends: The Emersons, the Thoreaus, the Hawthornes, and others. They reside in eternity together on Author’s Ridge. While there, you can leave a traditional offering for Louisa, a pen. It can be laid upon her gravestone or on the surrounding earth, among dozens of others pens that are there. In this area, there is no rule for where you can walk or what you can touch, but there is a sense of deep respect for those buried here and their contributions to this world.
Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House: Welcome to the Home of “Little Women and So Much More. https://louisamayalcott.org/
