The Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott and setting for Little Women

The Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts was built around 1650 and was the home of Louisa May Alcott where she wrote & set the novel Little Women in 1868. Today, it is an historic house museum and available for guided tours year round. 

The Orchard House was home to Louisa May Alcott 

In 1857, Amos Bronson Alcott ("Mr March" in Little Women) purchased 12 acres of land in Concord, Massachusetts including a home that had been on the property since the 1600's. The Alcott's had previously lived in Concord in 1840 but had moved to Central Massachusetts to establish Fruitlands- an attempt at a Utopian commune based on Transcendentalist principles. The Fruitlands commune was short lived and a fictionalized account of that time can be found in Louisa May Alcott's "Transcendental Wild Oats" 

Vintage postcard of Louisa May Alcott's room 

Back in Concord- forty apple trees grew on the land Mr Alcott had purchased leading to the name of "The Orchard House".  Using the original 1600's home as a base a smaller tenant home was moved and attached to the rear to expand the home. Mr Alcott undertook a considerable remodeling inside the home, installing alcoves and building an art studio for his youngest daughter May ("Amy" in Little Women). During the remodeling the Alcott's next door at Nathaniel Hawthorne's home The Wayside (the Hawthorne's were living in England at the time)

Rear view of the Orchard House

"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." - Lydia May Alcott 

At the urging of Thomas Niles (her publisher) and her father, Louisa was asked to write a novel that would have widespread appeal for girls. At a small shelf desk built by her father Louisa sat down to the task and assemble a cast of characters loosely based on her friends and family and their experiences in Concord.

Louisa based headstrong "Jo" who loves literature and writing on herself. "Meg" the oldest sister was based on Anna Alcott, "Amy" the artist her youngest sister May, and "Beth" her sister Elizabeth who had died of scarlet fever shortly before the Alcott's moved to The Orchard House.

"My dear Beth died at three in the morning after two years of patient pain. Last week she put her work away, saying the needle was too heavy ... Saturday she slept, and at midnight became unconscious, quietly breathing her life away till three; then, with one last look of her beautiful eyes, she was gone" - An entry from Louisa May Alcott's personal journal. 

Front Door at The Orchard House

Behind the house you'll find the Hillside Chapel which served as the Concord School of Philosophy. Founded by Mr Alcott and others in the Transcendental movement, the school's first meeting was held in the study of The Orchard House until money was raised by Louisa and others to construct the building on the small hill behind the house. 

The Alcott's notable neighbors of Concord were all in attendance including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. 

Hillside Chapel home to the Concord School of Philosophy

The Orchard House is located at 399 Lexington Road in Concord. It's not more than a half hour drive from Boston heading up Route 2. Open for guided tours only year round- the tours run about every 1/2 hour from April to October. There's no photography allowed inside the house. In close vicinity to the Orchard House you'll find a myriad of other historical homes and sights to check out- The Concord Museum has a collection of items from Thoreau, Emerson & others, Walden Pond with the partial remains of Thoreau's cabin is a short drive, Ralph Waldo Emerson's home is open for tours during the summer. 

For a more contemporary twist the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is nearby in Lincoln, Ma as is the (Walter) Gropius House run by Historic New England. 

Historic Marker at The Orchard House 

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