Massachusetts Vacation and Travel Ideas for Literary Tours
Emily Dickinson Museum: The Homestead and The Evergreens
280 Main Street
Amherst, MA 01002
Website: http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/index.html
Email: -none listed
Phone: (413) 542-8161
Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) lived for nearly her entire life in this Amherst, Massachusetts home known as The Homestead. It was here that Dickinson, quiet by nature, enjoyed the company of a small group of intimate friends and family, and did much of her writing. Very few of her poems were published during her lifetime. It was only after her death that her family discovered bound volumes containing over 1700 poems. Her younger sister, Lavinia, encouraged the posthumous editing and publishing of many of these poems.
In 1856 Dickinson's brother, William Austin Dickinson, married her closest friend, Susan Gilbert, and purchased the home next door to the family home, known as The Evergreens. The Emily Dickinson Museum today includes both houses. The Tour Center, located in the Homestead, featured an orientation exhibit. Two tours are offered, "Emily Dickinson's World," a 90-minute tour of both houses which focuses on the poet's life, and the 40-minute "This Was a Poet," which includes a visit to the Homestead and culminates with an outdoor poetry reading (weather permitting).
Tours for groups of six or more should be reserved two weeks in advance.
---
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow National Historic Site
105 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Website http://www.nps.gov/long/
Email: Go to "Contact Us" section of website
Phone: (617) 876-4491
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) settled at this home in 1836 when he took up a Professorship at Harvard, and it was there that he spent his remaining 45 years. The poet became famous for such classics as Paul Revere's Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He also wrote the first English translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.
The Longfellow House was a gathering place for many 19th century intellectuals, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Sumner, Charles Dickens, Julia Ward Howe, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is also, in a sense, Longfellow's personal museum. The artifacts on view inside the house reflect the poet's lifelong interest in other cultures, and include European and Asian artwork, furniture, decorative objects, and books. The exterior features gardens and Longfellow Park, which offers views of the Charles River. The house is also of historical significance because it served as General George Washington's headquarters during the 1775-1776 , siege of Boston.
Longfellow enthusiasts may also want to visit the Wadsworth-Longfellow Home in Portland, Maine, Longfellow's birthplace. Visit: www.mainehistory.org/hous#8074E or call (207) 774-1822.
---
The Mount: Estate and Gardens (Edith Wharton)
2 Plunkett Street
Lenox, MA 01240
Website: http://www.edithwharton.org/
Email: info@edithwharton.org
Phone: (413) 637-1899
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is distinguished as the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Age of Innocence in 1920. She was a prolific and wide-ranging writer. She produced over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel.
Wharton herself planned her 1902 home, which she called The Mount, putting into practice design principles she formulated in her book The Decoration of Houses (1897).. The Mount was designed as a showpiece home, both inside and out. Wharton was an avid admirer of European culture who crossed the Atlantic 66 times, and the house and gardens are both strongly influenced by European sources. She maintained residence at The Mount until 1911, while at the same time becoming increasingly attached to her life in France. Wharton wrote several novels while living at The Mount, including her 1905 masterpiece The House of Mirth.
The Mount is home to many special events, including lectures on famous authors, book signings, and an annual celebration of the perennial garden. Special note: Check out the website to view photographs of the grounds.A 45 minute guided tour of the home is offered.
---
Longfellow's Wayside Inn
72 Wayside Inn Road
Sudbury, MA 01776
Website: http://www.wayside.org/index.html
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 443-1776
The Wayside Inn was where Longfellow visited and wrote a book based on an imaginary group of barflies. Today the Inn has half a million documents of its history, including menus, inn-keeping records and photographs. Historic rooms with canopy beds and a hearty New England breakfast add to the ambience as well as the stunning autumn foliage. Events include: a militia re-enactment; a Colonial music night complete with traditional dinner and a sheep shearing festival.
---
Herman Melville's Arrowhead
780 Holmes Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Website: http://www.mobydick.org/
Email: info@mobydick.org
Phone: (413) 442-1793
Herman Melville (1819 - 1891) lived here for thirteen years, from 1850 until 1863. He moved to the Berkshires with his family hopeful that the tranquil environment would be conducive to his writing. His hopes proved well-founded, as it was here that he wrote his classic Moby Dick, along with three other novels, and several short stories, magazine articles, and poems. In fact, the home's view of Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts, is said to have inspired the character of the great white whale as he wrote Moby Dick.
Melville named his home "Arrowhead," after the Native American artifacts he discovered as he plowed the fields around the house. The rambling farmhouse was built in 1780, and while the Melville family lived there it was home to his wife and four children as well as numerous visitors. The author's second-floor library, which is open to visitors, became a quiet study where he could work amidst a busy household.
---
Whittier Family Homestead
305 Whittier Road
Haverhill, MA
Website: http://essexheritage.org/visiting/placestovisit/listofsitesbycommunity/whittier_family.shtml
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 373-3979
The Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892) was born in this house, which was built by his great-great-grandfather in 1688, and he lived her until 1836. Whittier was highly popular in his time, particularly for his poem Snow-Bound (1866), which was inspired by this house and its setting. He was one of a group of 19th century poets known as the "Fireside Poets," which also included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr..
The simple home has been continuously operated as a farm, and offers visitors a view of nineteenth century farm life. The house remains on its original site, virtually unchanged since Whittier's time. The home functions today as a hands-on museum, and visitors are invited to sign a guest registry that sits on the very desk the poet used when he wrote Snow-Bound. The site also offers a series of thematic historical trails, including the "Early Settlement Trail," Maritime Trail" and "Industrial Trail."
---
Orchard House - The Home of the Alcott family
399 Lexington Road
Concord, MA 01742
Website: http://louisamayalcott.org/
Email: info@louisamayalcott.org
Phone: (978) 369-4118
Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888) and her family lived here from 1858 to 1877, and she wrote her classic Little Women (1868), which is based on her childhood with her three sisters, on a small desk in her bedroom here. The book is set in the home, and many visitors feel that a walk through Orchard House is like a walk through Little Women. Almost all the furnishings on display in the home belonged to the Alcott family, and the house looks very much as it did in Alcott's day. Alcott was the daughter of Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott, and the family's social circle included Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller.
Special events include a day for children six and under, together with their parents, to explore Orchard House, sing songs, play games and dress in period costumes. One to two times a month there is a guide dressed as a member of the Alcott clan, or a famous friend who leads visitors through the house with stories and anecdotes. There is also a wide range of educational programs available for school groups.
---
The Wayside - Nathaniel Hawthorne & the Alcott Family
455 Lexington Road
Concord, MA 01742
Website: http://www.nps.gov/mima/wayside/index1.htm
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 318-7826
The Wayside is the only home in the United States to claim as residents three literary families. The Alcott family, who called it "Hillside," lived here from 1845 - 1852, Many of the stories in Little Women occurred on this property, which sits next door to Orchard House, a subsequent home of the Alcotts. In 1852, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) purchased the home from the Alcotts, and changed the name of the house to The Wayside. The Wayside was the only home Hawthorne ever owned, and it remained his until his death in 1864. In 1883 The Wayside was purchased by Boston publisher Daniel Lothrop and his wife, Harriett (1844 - 1924), who wrote children's books under the pen name of Margaret Sidney. She is best known for The Five Little Peppers. The Lothrops were admirers of Hawthorne, and made as few changes to the home as possible. Today, a visitor can see sculptures of the three authors, along with an audio program. It is part of Minute Man National Historical Park, scene of famous battles from the Revolutionary War.
For more information about Orchard House, the other home of the Alcott Family open to the public, see or visit http://louisamayalcott.org/ or call (978) 369-4118
For more information about Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts, visit: http://www.7gables.org, or call: (978) 744-0991
---
Emerson House
28 Cambridge Turnpike
Concord, MA 01742
Website: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/buildings/new-england/emerson-hse/info/info.htm
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 369-2236
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), noted American essayist, poet, and leader of the early 19th century Transcendentalist movement, lived in this house for nearly fifty years. He moved here in 1835, and it was here that he composed his famous tract Nature, (1836) setting forth many of the principles of Transcendentalism. Here, too, he composed his "Concord Hymn," commemorating one of the most famous battles of the Revolutionary War.
Concord was an intellectual and literary center from the 1830s on. Emerson was surrounded by many like-mided thinkers, including Bronson Alcott (father of Louisa May Alcott), Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. The Transcendentalists were distinguished by their radical religious views, as well as their support for temperance, women's suffrage, and the Abolitionist Movement.
Emerson, who became known as the "Sage of Concord," was loved by , his neighbors who collected money for the restoration of the house when it was partially destroyed by fire in 1871. Today, the house displays some of Emerson's personal belongings and original furnishings. The beautifully decorated interior matches the lovely ambience of the grounds.
---
William Cullen Bryant Homestead
207 Bryant Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Website: http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/285_bryant_homestead.cfm
Email: bryanthomestead@ttor.org
Phone: (413) 634-2244
William Cullen Bryant (1794 - 1878) was a poet in the English romantic style, a journalist, and the editor of The New York Evening Post , where he served in that position for fifty years. The politically-active Bryant was passionately anti-slavery, and was a strong supporter of Abraham Lincoln's 1860 Presidential bid. His well-known poems include "To A Waterfowl," "The Rivulet," "The West Wind," "The Forest Hymn," and "The Fringed Gentian."
The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is Bryant's birthplace and childhood home. Bryant's family sold the home in 1835, and thirty years later Bryant himself re-purchased it as a summer retreat. He reconfigured the house, which was originally built as a center-stair Colonial, as a Victorian cottage. Today, the house features Victorian and Colonial furnishings that were owned by the Bryant family, as well as souvenirs from Bryant's travels to Asia and Europe. The maple trees and sugar bushes planted by the Bryant family are still on the grounds, and some are over 200 years old. There are two and a half miles of footpaths and old-fashioned carriage roads. . Allow about three hours to tour the house and the grounds.
---
Fruitlands Museum
102 Prospect Hill Road
Harvard, MA 01451
Website: http://www.fruitlands.org/visitor_info.php
Email: Go to "Contact Us" section of website
Phone: (978) 456-3924
In 1842, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799 - 1888), a leading member of the Transcendentalist intellectual circle, established a utopian community known as "Fruitlands." The socialist living experiment was initially successful during its first summer, but reportedly the men were more interested in discussing philosophy than in farming, and ultimately Fruitlands was short-lived. The community officially disbanded in January of 1844.
Years later, Clara Endicott Sears, a member of one of Boston's elite families, restored the farmhouse to its 1843 condition. She transformed the farmhouse into a museum, which opened to the public in 1914. Under her guidance, the museum's collections grew to include Native American artifacts, Shaker decorative arts, and American paintings. The property surrounding Fruitlands encompasses over 200 acres, which are accessible by over three miles of walking trails, and also features number of other historic structures. Special events include balloon rides, musical performances, and lunch in the Tea Room.
---
Old Manse
269 Monument Street
Concord, MA 01742
Website: http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/346_old_manse.cfm
Email: oldmanse@ttor.org
Phone: (978) 369-3909
Like so many homes in Concord, the Old Manse has a rich literary history. The home belonged at one time to the Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who drafted his essay Nature while living in the Old Manse. It was also for three years the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864), who lived here while he wrote his collection of short stories, Mosses From an Old Manse, which clearly describe the house and property.
On display in the Old Manse are artifacts from a 200-year period relating to the people who lived here, including Hawthorne's writing desk and William Emerson's clock. The home is open for either guided or unguided tours. The exterior features a reproduction of the vegetable garden Henry David Thoreau gave to Hawthorne and his bride as a wedding gift.
A short network of walking trails connects the Old Manse to the Concord River and the North Bridge, site of the "shot heard round the world" on April 19, 1775, which is regarded as the beginning of the American Revolution.
---
House of the Seven Gables
115 Derby Street
Salem, MA 01970
Website: http://www.7gables.org
Email: info@7gables.org
Phone: (978) 744-0991
The House of the Seven Gables, located in the historic town of Salem, inspired the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne's book of the same name, published in 1851. The house is the oldest surviving seventeenth century wooden mansion in New England, Its combination of first period and Georgian architectural features makes it a significant relic of American architectural, maritime, and cultural history. Today, the house contains over 500 photographs, 2,000 artifacts and a rare book and research library.
Adjacent to the House of the Seven Gables is Hawthorne's birthplace. The home, which was built between 1730 and 1745, was originally situated on Union Street, and was moved to its present location in 1958. It was purchased by Hawthorne's grandfather in 1772, and Hawthorne lived here until age 4. Much of the original interior has been preserved.
Admission to the House of the Seven Gables includes a visit to Hawthorne's birthplace, as well as several other historic structures on the property, the Colonial Revival Gardens, and Salem's waterfront.
---
Thornton W. Burgess Museum
4 Water Street (Route 130)
Sandwich, MA 02563
Website: http://www.thorntonburgess.org/Museum.htm
Email: tburgess@capecod.net
Phone: (508) 888-4668/6870
Thornton W. Burgess is the creator of the famous character Peter Rabbit. In this eighteenth century house is where his aunt lived, and now it is a museum dedicated to his life and works. Located in Cape Cod's oldest town, Sandwich, the Museum houses artifacts, arts and writings that relate to Burgess. In the summer there are many story times for children, and a new puppet theater has opened in the Discovery Room.
---
Green Briar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen
6 Discovery Hill Road
East Sandwich, MA 02537
Website: http://www.thorntonburgess.org/Green%20Briar.htm
Email: tburgess@capecod.net
Phone: (508) 888-6870
Thornton Burgess, world-renown children's author, has the legacy of the Green Briar Nature Center. There are nature trails and a wonderful wild garden, showcasing the beautiful greenery of Cape Cod. The Center offers field trips, guided walks and science workshops as well as changing exhibits. The Jam Kitchen still cooks up the recipes of Ida Putnam, the owner who began it all in 1903. Visitors can see the jam-making process in action, and take part in jam-making workshops.
---
Dr Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden
The Springfield Museums
220 State Street
Springfield, MA 01103
Website: http://www.catinthehat.org/index.html
Email: info@catinthehat.org
Phone: (413) 263-6800
Springfield, Massachusetts, proudly claims its place as the birthplace of Thedor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991), popularly known as Dr. Seuss, author of 44 beloved children's books. Geisel is remembered here with The Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden, which contains bronze statues of some of the author's most beloved characters including The Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, The Lorax, and The Grinch. The sculptures are the work of Geisel's step-daughter, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates. They are on view in Springfield's quadrangle, which is surrounded by the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts.
On view at the Springfield Museums are two exhibits relating to Dr. Seuss, including "Seuss on the Loose," which tells about the lives of the author and his family in Springfield and how the town influenced his drawings and writings, and "SeussScape" which is a play area for young children with a push-button station to listen to books and colorful walls with characters and scenes from Seuss's many works.
---
Salem Witch Museum
Washington Square North
Salem, MA 01970
Website: http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 744-1692
Once you get to Salem, just ask for the Witch Museum and a local will happily point the way. This is Salem's most visited museum, offering everything a visitor would want to learn about the Witch Trials of 1692. The museum recreates the trials with lifelike figures, narration and spooky lighting. The official month to visit is, of course, October. The Halloween Happenings Festival lasts all month, plus on October 31st the town hosts a huge, freakish party. Special note: Check the website for various events and other Salem sites.
---
Walden Pond State Reservation
915 Walden Street
Concord, MA 01742
Website: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/wldn.htm
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 369-3254
For two years, two months, and two days, Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) lived in a little cabin he built himself on the shores of Walden Pond. It was during his Walden years that Thoreau wrote the first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, describing an 1839 trip with his brother John. It was also during this period that he spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his taxes, citing his objection to the Mexican-American War and slavery. His experience would inspire him to write his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), which was published in 1849.
Thoreau left Walden Pond in the fall of 1847. Walden; or, Life in the Woods, was published in 1854, and recounts his life on the shores of the pond in the context of a single year, using the passing of the seasons as a metaphor for human development. Although Walden initially had few admirers among the critics, today it is considered an American classic.
Visitors to Walden Pond can visit a reproduction of Thoreau's cabin, walk around the perimeter of the pond, and explore the surrounding woods by way of a network of walking paths. The entire reservation is 400 acres, and the surrounding 2,680 acres of undeveloped forest are known as "Walden Woods." Many naturalists and scientists come to observe the massive glacial kettle-hole pond.
---
Author's Ridge
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Concord, MA
Website: http://www.concordma.com/magazine/novdec01/sleepyhollow.html
Email: thopkins@concordnet.org
Phone: (978) 318-3233
Consistent with the town's literary heritage, Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is the final resting place of a number of famous authors, including Louisa May Alcott and her family, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Harriett Lothrop. Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne are all buried in a section of the cemetery known as "Author's Ridge." Noted sculptor Daniel Chester French was commissioned to complete a memorial for three brothers killed during the Civil War, and French himself is also buried in the cemetery.
---
Jack Kerouac Memorial
Lowell National Historical Park
67 Kirk Street
Lowell, MA 01852
Website http://www.nps.gov/lowe/kerouac.htm
Email: -none listed
Phone: (978) 970-5000
Jack Kerouac (1922 - 1969), author of the Beat Generation classic On the Road (1957) was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and graduated from Lowell High School. Five of Kerouac's novels are set in Lowell during the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, and Kerouac is buried in Lowell in Edsom Cemetery on Gorham Street.
The city has honored him with the Jack Kerouac Memorial, composed of eight granite columns engraved with inscriptions from his works. A path with a cross and a series of circles refers to Kerouac's Roman Catholic and Buddhist beliefs. The Morgan Cultural Center, located in the Park, showcases the writer's backpack and typewriter. Every autumn the city holds the "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" a three-day festival honoring the writer.
Kerouac fans with a sense of adventure may want to check out the Desolation Peak Trail in the North Cascades National Park in Washington State, where Kerouac worked as a fire lookout. For more information, see , visit: http://www.nps.gov/noca/desolationpeak.htm, or call: (360) 873-4500 ext. 39
Every autumn the city holds the "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!" which is a three-day festival honoring the writer. Another annual event is the Lowell Folk Festival held in the Park at the end of July. It is the largest free folk festival in the nation. For more information, visit http://www.lowellfolkfestival.org/home.html
---
Make Way for Ducklings Sculpture & Public Garden Swan Boats
Public Gardens
Boston, MA
Website: http://www.swanboats.com/new/public_garden.shtml
Email: -none listed
Phone: -none listed
For fans of Robert McCloskey's (1914 - 2003) classic children's book, Make Way for Ducklings, a visit to Boston's Public Gardens is a must. The popularity of the book inspired the creation of a sculpture of Mrs. Mallard and her brood in the Public Gardens. The Public Gardens looks very much it they did in 1941, when Make Way for Ducklings was published, and the Swan Boats still take visitors for tours around the pond.
---
Moby Dick Marathon
New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA
Website: http://www.whalingmuseum.org/prog/marathon.html
Email: -none listed
(508) 997-0046 ext. 140
At the beginning of January every year is the Moby Dick Marathon. It is a non-stop, 25 hour reading of the Herman Melville classic. The Marathon starts at noon with a dressed-up whale man who announces "Call me Ishmael." 150 participants read, sometimes reading in other languages and English. The event is free and traditional whaling ship food is provided, along with cider and coffee. Staying the whole 25 hours is rare, but greatly appreciated.
Advertisement:
