Essex/Boston/Concord, MA-Part 5: Concord

High on my bucket list was going to see the former home of Louisa May Alcott, known as “Orchard House.” (Although it wasn’t actually the home she grew up in, it was the home where she wrote Little Women, so she based the setting on that home). Little Women was my favorite book as a kid. SPOILER ALERT: When I was in the sixth grade I got (caught?) scarlet fever. I had just read the book for the first time, so when the doctor informed my mom, “She has scarlet fever,” I was afraid that meant I was going to die!

This book is so rich that when I reread it as an wife and mother, I appreciated it even more and for completely different reasons. As a child my favorite character was Jo. I admired her spunk despite her awkward ways. As a wife and mother I related to Meg more (mild spoiler alert), laughing heartily at the part of the book where she has just married John and tells him to invite co-workers over whenever he wants, even without notice. But he happens to invite someone when she is canning and making pies (or something like that) and the house is a wreck! She is so updumped at him for daring to invite someone over without telling her first! If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!

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It was still raining off and on and there wasn’t really an area to park, so I just had to pull over for a quick photo of the Wayside House. This house, probably dating from 1717, was at different times home to authors Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Sidney (Five Little Peppers and How They Grew).

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house is also very close to Orchard House, but I don’t think I found it. The picture I took doesn’t seem to match the ones from the internet, and I didn’t see any official signs labeling it, so I’m not going to include it here. Oh well.