History of Concord, Massachusetts

Concord, Massachusetts

One of my favorite places to visit!

When I'm there, I love to visit Louisa May Alcott's home, Orchard House. Orchard House is the little brown house where the March family lives in Little Women. Little Women is based heavily on the lives of Louisa and her sisters. In the kitchen you can see the breadboard where youngest sister Abba May (Amy) burned a portrait of a man. You can also also see her bedroom where she drew all over the walls and Louisa’s bedroom where she wrote Little Women! There is a little room belonging to Louisa’s nephews featuring toys and games from the 19th century. There are items in the house which visitors will recognize from Little Women throughout the house, such as Beth's piano and the old sofa where Jo and Laurie sat to chat with pillows between them.

Another place I love to visit is The Wayside, the home of three famous authors: Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Sidney (author of the Five Little Peppers series and other stories for children).


The home was originally built in the colonial era and has had many additions over the years. The Visitor’s Center tells about the families that lived there. The Alcott family lived there from 1845-1848. It was the first house they

owned and Louisa spent her happiest days there and it is the setting of Little Women! In fact, the visitor’s center is in the barn where the girls performed their plays! Visitors can view the room Louisa’s father used as a study and that he had turned into bedrooms for Louisa and her younger sister. In one room, you can view a place where Louisa’s family hid a runaway slave. Louisa wrote her first book during this time called Flower Fables, based on stories she told Ellen Emerson while babysitting.

Nathaniel Hawthorne lived there next from 1852-1870. The Hawthornes didn’t live there the whole time, they went to Europe for several years and the oldest daughter became very ill in Italy and the Hawthornes returned home. Visitors may see Miss Hawthorne's bedroom. The Hawthornes had many additions made to the house which caused Nathaniel Hawthorne to fall into debt. Hawthorne had a tall tower built on top of the house to use as his study. Visitors to the house climb a long narrow staircase to the study, which was modeled after a castle in Italy. The son of the next owners decorated the ceiling in memory of Hawthorne who died in 1864. In 1883 the house was sold to a publisher Daniel Lothrop as a late wedding present for his wife who admired Hawthorne. Mrs. Lothrop published a series of children’s books about a family called The Five Little Peppers under the pen name of Margaret Sidney. The Lothrops were the first historic preservationists and decided not to change the house too much from the time when Hawthorne lived there. They added the front porch in 1904 and the house is decorated in period furnishings from the Lothrop's era. After the author’s husband died, she lived at The Wayside with her daughter. They traveled around the world until her death in 1922. Her daughter turned the house into a museum. Both houses are well worth a visit for Louisa May Alcott fanatics, children's literature enthusiasts and lovers of old homes and historic towns!