As my husband drove us to the most well-known historical site in Concord, Massachusetts, he said, “Wow. That is a very cool house.”
Before I could reach for my binoculars, tucked in the pocket that runs the length of the bottom interior passenger door, he spoke again. “Wait. There’s a sign.”
Pulling up to it he read, “Louisa May Alcott.”
“What???,” I screeched.
“Yep. Louisa May Alcott. Who’s that?,” Mister Rain questioned.
“Who’s that??? She wrote Little Women,” I exclaimed, the screeching now full out yelling. “Is it Orchard House?”
“Yes, it is.”
For all you Mister Rains out there: Louisa May Alcott was an American author born in 1832. She is best known for writing the novel Little Women, a beloved classic novel. Louisa died in 1888 at the age of 55.
I took in every nook and cranny as best I could through the binoculars while he took a few photos. I quickly went on my iPad to see if you could tour the home, but it was two hours until it opened.
I have read Little Women and watched three film adaptations with the following actresses in the role of Jo March: Saoirse Ronan (2019), Winona Ryder (1994) and June Allyson (1949). The Winona Ryder version is my favorite, I am riveted whenever it is on, sometimes even seeking it out to stream.
Maybe it was a good thing that I was unable to go inside. In my mind, what lay beyond the exterior walls of this house was exactly like the movie I so enjoy. But, of course, this was not the fictional March house. It was the Alcott family home.
Looking around, I imagined what the surrounding area had looked like in 1868, when Louisa wrote the novel here: a quiet rural landscape of apple orchards, a wooded area with no paved roads.
Regretfully, we had to move on. “We can go,” I told Mister Rain.
You never know what you will find when you visit a new place. Orchard House was not a destination on our itinerary of historical sites, but it is an important part of this country’s past, for it is where a beloved Great American Novel was written.
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