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Orchard House

Coordinates: 42°27′32″N 71°20′8″W / 42.45889°N 71.33556°W / 42.45889; -71.33556
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Orchard House
Orchard House, summer 2013
Location399 Lexington Road, Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Coordinates42°27′32″N 71°20′8″W / 42.45889°N 71.33556°W / 42.45889; -71.33556
BuiltCa. 1700–1710[2]
NRHP reference No.66000781[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHLDecember 29, 1962

Orchard House is a historic house museum in Concord, Massachusetts, US. It was the longtime home of Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) and his family, including his daughter Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), who wrote and set her novel Little Women (1868–69) there.

History

The Alcotts had first moved to Concord in 1840, although they left in 1843 to start Fruitlands,[3] a utopian agrarian commune in nearby Harvard. The family returned in 1845 and purchased a house named "Hillside",[4] but left again in 1852, selling to Nathaniel Hawthorne who renamed it The Wayside.

The Alcotts returned to Concord once again in 1857.[3] They moved into Orchard House, which was then two-story clapboard farmhouse, in the spring of 1858.[5] At the time of purchase the site included two early eighteenth-century houses on a 12-acre (49,000m2) apple orchard.[2] Consequently, the Alcotts named it Orchard House.[2] "'Tis a pretty retreat", Bronson Alcott wrote soon after moving in, "and ours; a family mansion to take pride in, rescued as it is from deformity and disgrace".[5]

A. Bronson Alcott made significant changes to the building. He installed alcoves for busts retrieved from his failed Temple School, repaired the staircase, installed bookcases, constructed a back studio for his youngest daughter May's artwork, and installed a rustic fence around the property.[5] He also moved a smaller tenant house to adjoin the rear of the main house, making a single larger structure.[2] While the home was being renovated, the family rented rooms next door at The Wayside while the Hawthornes were living in England.[6] Later, Lydia Maria Child visited the house and recorded her thoughts: "The result is a house full of queer nooks and corners and all manner of juttings in and out. It seems as if the spirit of some old architect had brought it from the Middle Ages and dropped it down in Concord... The whole house leaves a general impression of harmony, of a medieval sort".[7]

Orchard House is adjacent to The Wayside on the historic "American Mile" roadway toward Lexington, and is less than a half-mile from Bush the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson,[8] where Henry David Thoreau and the Alcotts were frequent visitors.

The Alcotts in residence

Orchard House was the most permanent home of the Alcotts, with the family in residence from 1858 to 1877.[2] During this period, the family included Bronson, his wife Abigail May, and their daughters Anna, Louisa, and May.[2] Elizabeth, the model for Beth March, had died in March 1858, just weeks before the family moved in.[2]

Orchard House, 1941

The Alcott girls befriended the Hawthorne children, who lived next door, though Nathaniel Hawthorne himself was elusive. Bronson Alcott was disappointed and recorded, "Nobody gets a chance to speak with him unless by accident." However, he added, "Still he has a tender kindly side, and a voice that a woman might own, the hesitance is so taking, and the tones so remote from what you expected."[9]

The Alcotts were vegetarians and harvested fruits and vegetables from the gardens and orchard on the property.[10] Conversations about abolitionism, women's suffrage and social reform were often held around the dining room table.[10] The family performed theatricals using the dining room as their stage while guests watched from the adjoining parlor.[10]

The parlor was a formal room with arched niches built by Bronson to display busts of his favorite philosophers, Socrates and Plato.[11] On May 23, 1860, Anna married John Bridge Pratt in this room.[11]

The youngest daughter, May, was a talented artist.[12] Her bedroom contains sketches of angelic, mythological and biblical figures on the woodwork and doors.[13] In Louisa's room, May painted a panel of calla lilies as well as an owl on the fireplace.[14] Copies of Turner landscapes by May adorn various rooms in Orchard House.

In 1868, Louisa May wrote her beloved classic novel Little Women in her room on a special "shelf desk" built by her father.[2] Set within the house,[2] its characters are based on members of her family, with the plot loosely based on the family's earlier years and events that transpired at The Wayside. Also written in the house were Bronson Alcott's Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865; published 1882), Tablets (1868), Concord Days (1872), and Table Talk (1877).[3]

On the grounds to the west of the house is a structure designed and built by Bronson Alcott originally known as "Hillside Chapel" and later as "The Concord School of Philosophy". Operating from 1879 to 1888, the School was one of the first highly successful adult education centers in the country.

In 1877, Louisa May Alcott bought the a home on Main Street for her sister Anna. After Mrs. Alcott's death in the same year, Louisa and her father moved into the home as well. Orchard House was then sold to long-time family friend William Torrey Harris in 1884.[15]

The Orchard House today

Orchard House is open for guided tours daily, with the exceptions of Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 1 and 2.[16] An admission fee is charged.[16]

External videos
video icon Tour of Orchard House, June 19, 2017, C-SPAN

The exterior looks much as it did in the Alcotts' day. Care has been taken to keep extensive structural preservation work invisible. All of the furnishings are original to the mid-nineteenth century, about 75% belonged to the Alcott family, and the rooms look very much as they did when the Alcotts were in residence.[2]

The Hillside Chapel

The dining room contains family china, portraits of the family members, and paintings by May along with period furnishings.[10] The parlor is decorated with period wallpaper and a patterned reproduction carpet while family portraits and watercolors by May adorn the walls.[11] Abigail May's bread board, mortar and pestle, tin spice chest and wooden bowls are displayed on the hutch table in the kitchen.[17] Other original kitchen features include a laundry drying rack designed by Bronson, and a soapstone sink bought by Louisa.[17] The study is furnished with Bronson's library table, chair and desk.[18] The parent's bedroom contains many of Abigail May's possessions, including photographs, furniture, and hand made quilts.[19]

Orchard House has continued the tradition of Mr. Alcott's Concord School of Philosophy by hosting "The Summer Conversational Series" since 1977, and has recently added a "Teacher Institute" component. The Hillside Chapel is also used for youth programs, poetry readings, historical reenactments, and other special events.

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Orchard House at the official site
  3. ^ a b c Amos Bronson Alcott Network - Concord
  4. ^ Louisa May at the official site
  5. ^ a b c Saxton, Martha. Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995: 218. ISBN 0-374-52460-2
  6. ^ Matteson, John. Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007: 238. ISBN 978-0-393-33359-6
  7. ^ Saxton, Martha. Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995: 337. ISBN 0-374-52460-2
  8. ^ Lexington Rd, Google Maps
  9. ^ Saxton, Martha. Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995: 237–238. ISBN 0-374-52460-2
  10. ^ a b c d The Dining Room at the official site
  11. ^ a b c The Parlor at the official site
  12. ^ May at the official site
  13. ^ May's Room at the official site
  14. ^ Louisa's Room at the official site
  15. ^ Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 43–45. ISBN 0-19-503186-5
  16. ^ a b Visitor information
  17. ^ a b http://www.louisamayalcott.org/kitchen.html
  18. ^ The Study at the official site
  19. ^ The Parent's Room at the official site
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