Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Military Intelligence
Veterans' graves in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery often bear small American flags or
other symbols, especially around holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans
Day. Of the famous occupants of Author's Ridge, only Louisa May Alcott (a
Union Army nurse during the Civil War) qualifies.
Fun Fact
ego, and Elizabeth (“Beth”), a gifted musician, died before the family moved to this
house, which has been open to the public since 1911.
399 Lexington Rd.
&
978/369-4118.
www.louisamayalcott.org. Guided tours $9 adults, $7 seniors and students,
$5 children 6-17, $25 families. Apr-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-4:30pm, Sun 1-4:30pm; Nov-Mar Mon-Fri 11am-3pm, Sat
10am-4:30pm, Sun 1-4:30pm. Closed Jan 1-15, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Dec 25. Follow Lexington Rd. out of Con-
cord Center and bear left at Concord Museum; house is on the left. Overflow parking lot is across the street.
Ralph Waldo Emerson House
This house offers an instructive look at the days
when a philosopher could attain the status we now associate with rock stars. Emerson,
also an essayist and poet, lived here from 1835 until his death, in 1882. He moved in
after marrying his second wife, Lydia Jackson, whom he called Lydian; she called him
Mr. Emerson, as the staff still does. The tour (the only way to enter the house) gives
an affectionate look at Emerson's personal side and at the fashionably ornate interior
decoration of the time. You'll see original furnishings and some of Emerson's personal
effects. The contents of his study from the time of his death are in the Concord
Museum (p. 249).
28 Cambridge Tpk.
&
978/369-2236.
www.rwe.org/emersonhouse. Guided tours $7 adults, $5 seniors and stu-
dents, free for children under 7. Call to arrange group tours (10 people or more). Patriots Day weekend-late Oct
Thurs-Sat 10am-4:30pm, Sun 1-4:30pm. Closed late Oct to mid-Apr. Follow Cambridge Tpk. out of Concord Center;
just before Concord Museum, house is on right.
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Follow the signs for
AUTHOR
'
S RIDGE
and climb the
hill to the graves of some of the town's literary lights, including the Alcotts, Emerson,
Hawthorne, and Thoreau. Emerson's bears no religious symbols; the marker is an
uncarved quartz boulder. Thoreau is buried nearby; at his funeral, in 1862, his old
friend Emerson concluded his eulogy with these words: “ . . . wherever there is knowl-
edge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.”
Entrance on Rte. 62 W.
&
978/318-3233.
www.concordma.gov. Daily 7am-dusk, weather permitting. No buses
allowed.
The Wayside
The Wayside was Nathaniel Hawthorne's home from 1852 until
his death in 1864. The Alcotts also lived here (the girls called it “the yellow house”),
as did Harriett Lothrop, who wrote the
Five Little Peppers
books under the pen name
Margaret Sidney and owned most of the current furnishings. The Wayside is part of
Minute Man National Historical Park, and the fascinating 45-minute ranger tour (the
only way to see the house) illuminates the occupants' lives and the house's crazy-quilt
architecture. The exhibit in the barn (free admission) consists of audio presentations
and figures of Hawthorne, Louisa May and Bronson Alcott, and Sidney. Call ahead to
double-check hours, which are subject to change.
455 Lexington Rd.
&
978/318-7863.
www.nps.gov/mima. Guided tours $5 adults, free for children under 17.
May-Oct; open days and hours vary. Closed Nov-Apr. Follow Lexington Rd. out of Concord Center past Concord
Museum and Orchard House. Park across the street.
