Orchard House

Orchard House 2010

http://www.louisamayalcott.org/

This old brown house just off of ­­­Rt 62 at 399 Lexington Road may not look very impressive but to many American females it might just be the most exciting New England House. Orchard House is the home of the beloved author of Little Women Louisa May Alcott. (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/littlewomen/summary.html) To reach the house visitors can access the house by car (Directions from Interstate 95 (Route 128)
Take exit 30B, Route 2A WEST. Follow 2A past the entrance to Hanscom Air Force Base, heading toward Concord Center. At the fork in the road with a flashing yellow light (where 2A continues left), bear RIGHT, following the sign, "BATTLE ROAD APRIL 19, 1775  HISTORIC CONCORD” From this point, we are 1.4 miles on your right, .7 mile from Concord Center.) or by the commuter rail (Orchard House is a 1.2 mile or approximately 20-minute walk from the MBTA Commuter Rail (Purple Line to Fitchburg) located on Thoreau Street) The house is open to visitors Nov 1- March 31 Monday - Friday, 11:00 - 3:00, Saturday, 10:00 - 4:30, and Sunday, 1:00 - 4:30 (except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 1-2)with tours running every hour. Admission is $9.00 per adult, $8.00 per senior (+62) and college students (with ID), $6.00 per youth (6-17), and free for all children 6 and under or members.

School of Philosophy 2010

Originally two houses, Bronson Alcott created the current structure in 1857 when he purchased “two houses set upon twelve acres of land on the Lexington Road for $945.  He then moved the smaller tenant farmhouse and joined it to the rear of the larger manor house, creating extra rooms to house his wife and four daughters. Just behind the house is the Concord School of Philosophy, which was founded by Bronson Alcott in 1879 and ran for nine years as Mr Alcott attempted to teach the philosophy of Transcendentalism. House tours last about an hour and do not include the school, but afterwards visitors are welcome to take a look inside where interpreters are to help answer questions. 80% of the furnishings are original to the Alcott family and the rooms are decorated to the time period of their existence within the home. For more information on the Alcotts check out the American Literary Blog: http://americanliteraryblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Bronson%20Alcott

Louisa May Alcott's Bedroom (Postcard Image owned by Orchard House)

Tours of Orchard House are lead by docents who have a reverence for Louisa Alcott and her works, unfortunately I did not get the impression that they thought much of Bronson Alcott and he was mostly ignored on the tour. The tour guide who led my group was very knowledgeable about the architectural history of the house and clearly loves Ms. Alcott and her work. Sadly, the guide didn’t seem able to separate the Alcott family and the fictional characters of Ms. Alcott’s work Little Women. Throughout the tour the guide kept referring to the Alcott daughter’s by their fictional character’s name, making it very hard to understand about whom she was telling stories. Some of the people I was with were not familiar with Little Women (to be honest they were boys and I am not convinced that many boys unless asked to in school often choose to read Little Women) Since the guide kept telling stories about “Jo” or “Amy” and yet those were not names of the Alcott girls my friends often didn’t understand what was going on. I would just like to point out that Louisa May Alcott wrote many other pieces that had nothing to do with Little Women and the fact that this guide ignored those was more than mildly irritating. The tour guide also easily forgot her train of thought and would end up repeating the same information about each family member in every single room that was visited. All in all the experience left something to be desired, which was very disappointing since I had been recommended to this place by quite a few friends and historians. From what I have heard since, the quality of this tour really does depend on which guide visitors receive, since each person writes their own script for their time in the house.

Despite its weaknesses, the opportunity to see the house was inspiring. While not may of Louisa May Alcott’s works besides Little Women were focused on, the life of her sister May (or Amy as the tour guide liked to call her) was a highlight of the house. May was the artistic sister who loved to sketch figures and animals on all the walls of the house. These sketches and paintings have survived in both her bedroom and a few in Louisa’s making her personality really come alive in the house. May marries a Swiss businessman and musician named Ernest Nieriker and moves to France where she meets an untimely death in 1879, but her daughter Lulu returns to Orchard House and is taken care of by Aunt Louisa, living in her mother’s old room. Therefore the house has many layers of history all within the one space and regardless of the tour guides faults the opportunity to see this one room is worth the time and energy.

May Alcott's Bedroom (Postcard Image owned by Orchard House)

The only type of media that Orchard House incorporates is an introductory video of the Alcott family history that runs 20 min prior to the tour. As a suggestion on how to appropriately incorporate media into a historic house, which I do not believe should be in the historic rooms if enough of the original furniture is available; I would say using it in the visitor center would be useful. At Orchard House an index of Louisa May Alcott’s works and potentially excepts of significant passages would be very helpful, especially since the tour focuses so much on her novel Little Women. A touch screen with these images and excerpts would be a great way to save on paper and have a reusable and sharable resource for visitors. Another useful resource would be images and mini biographies of the Alcott family members to provide some background for visitors who miss the video, which I was one of, in order to prepare for the tour. Another suggestion I have is to create a podcast explaining the significance of the School of Philosophy and the transcendentalist movement as people walk through the building on their self guided exploration.

I would be willing to go back and maybe take another tour through the house, but only if someone else pays for it and I do NOT get the same boring tour guide!