One of Grace's favorite books last summer was Little Women, and since then the girls and I have watched Little Women (1949 & 1994) more times than I can count. We rewind the Alcott sisters' play in the parlor..."Rodrigo, Rodrigo, Save me!" ....over and over and over.
Such a great story.
So...on this beautiful 72 degree, sunny spring day, Caroline and Grace rode along with me to Concord to visit the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House. It's open for tours during it's current restoration.
We took the last "Live History Tour" of the day. Marmee Alcott met us at the door and took us through the house while sharing stories of her family. They moved 29 times before settling in Concord! I was so impressed with how much of the Orchard house is original from the Alcott family. Marmee told us of parallels and differences between the Alcott family and the March family Louisa wrote about in Little Women (for example: names were changed, Louisa--aka. "Jo" never married, and Laurie was fictitious as well). We walked through the parlor where the March/Alcott sisters did their fun plays written by Louisa/Jo. We loved May's blue bedroom with her sketches on the walls. I was impressed with how hands-on Mr. Amos Alcott was with his girls' education. He was unusual for his time. Each of the Alcott daughters were encouraged to embrace and develop their unique talents. May's artwork was displayed all through the house as were Louisa's books. Anna was involved in theatre & Beth played the piano. Each member of the family worked hard and contributed to the family's well-being.
Learning from Marmee was a treat and the hour seemed to fly by. There were about 6 kids around Grace & Caroline's ages and they all were asking & answering questions and enjoyed the tour from start to finish. This was a truly enjoyable historical tour.
Some Louisa May Alcott quotes....
- Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.
- Many argue; not many converse.
- Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.
Concord is such a nice New England town. Going 30 mph, I snapped some pictures of gorgeous Concord architecture as we drove home.
FUN day!
Posts
11 comments:
Looks like the perfect time of year for this outing. Beautiful!!!! jan
This is so great! Sammy is doing her Master Project right now on Louisa May Alcott. It's a HUGE amount of work and research & she'll love this blog post. For the art portion, she's making a 'mood pillow' like LMA had to tell people what kind of mood she was in. Just what we need around here....a mood pillow!
I loved the mood pillow, Julie! It's sitting on a sofa in the parlor.
I think that Louisa may have not married b/c she started making a lot of $ publishing her books and she wanted to take care of her family. She would have had to sign her income over to her husband if she married.
Once she returned from serving as a nurse in the war she was sick off and on and never fully recovered.
One more tidbit...Little Women originally ended with Meg getting married, but book fans weren't happy with the loose ends...Did Jo end up marrying Laurie? They wanted to read more, so Louisa wrote the rest of Little Women as another book and eventually they were combined into one novel.
The Alcott house is my favorite historical tour of all the sites in Boston. Most of the stuff is original (which is so cool), I also love the "focus on the family" throughout the tour. I was always say someday maybe we'll retire in Concord and I'll get a job giving tours at the Alcott house! :-) BTW, Kimballs is open now, we need to go!
You're making me homesick! Concord is one of my all-time favorite towns. How fun that you can read the books and then go take a tour so close by!
I love Little Women. My mom always called us her Little Women and we've watched the movies countless times. The pictures of Concord make me homesick for Boston. Beautiful!
I love the picture of Caroline and Grace in front of the Orchard House. I am ashamed to admit that I have never taken the tour (and I've been to Concord 100's of times)!! Your post has motivated me to put it on my list of things to do this summer.
Oh, and you should not be taking photos while driving! ;)
What an awesome trip! We also love Little Women - my girls would enjoy that tour. I love the Concord architecture. Makes me want to move right in to one of those homes! Gorgeous!
"Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood." What a terrific quote -- and what happy memories of being at this home just last weekend.
I miss Concord! I'm so glad you shared these, what a great time you had!
Beck-y
Come out and play-ay!
I miss you.
Post a Comment