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What My Family Learned on a Literary Road Trip Through New England

On a pilgrimage to the homes of Alcott, Twain, Melville, Stowe, and Dickinson, we realized the great writers of 19th-century America offer a window on our present, and our past.

Shortly after I met my wife, she told me she hoped to one day visit Emily Dickinson's house in New England . She was working at a publishing house in Paris's 14th Arrondissement, across the street from Montparnasse Cemetery, where some of France's most important writers—Baudelaire, Duras, Sartre, and Beauvoir, among others—are buried. As my wife explained to me, it's a common article of faith in France that you can know a country through its authors .

By the time we began to plan our trip to Dickinson's home, we had been married for 11 years and had two sons, ages 9 and 10. After five years in Paris and six in New York City, we had recently moved to the Hudson Valley, and had expanded our range of writers to form a loop that swept east to Hartford, Connecticut; northeast to Concord, Massachusetts; and, ultimately, back west, to the towns in the Berkshire Mountains. It was the only family trip we would take that summer; the pandemic had rendered most of the country off-limits, and our afternoons and evenings had become devoted to reading about and watching the protests against racism and police brutality flaring up across the country.

Before leaving, my wife and I tried to prepare our sons. We painted quotes from Dickinson's poems on our pandemic rock garden. We downloaded an audiobook of Moby-Dick, returned to our favorite Edith Wharton novels, and watched Greta Gerwig's 2019 version of Little Women. The night before our departure, our oldest son told us that he had reservations about visiting old homes no one lived in. My wife explained that the tour was a way to understand what was happening to the country now.

"But the writers are all dead," my son observed.

"Yes, but we still read their books."

"So… Are the houses haunted?"

It was too good an opportunity to pass up. "Yes," we told him. "The houses are definitely haunted."

On the morning we left to visit Mark Twain's and Harriet Beecher Stowe's homes in Hartford, Connecticut, we watched an episode of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a Japanese anime series from 1980 dubbed into French and English that my wife and I both remembered from our childhoods. We'd been watching the show only a few minutes before we realized that the complicated issues of race raised by Twain's work had become not only simplified, but also more racist in the animated version. We turned off the computer. When our youngest son asked why, I said something about history being complicated and messy.

The night before our departure, our oldest son told us that he had reservations about visiting old homes no one lived in. My wife explained that the tour was a way to understand what was happening to the country now.

Some of the conflict in how we approach the past was on display at the Stowe and Twain homes. For years, two of America's most famous writers lived within shouting distance of each other in what was then a bucolic, wealthy enclave. Compared to Twain's sprawling mansion, which sits on one side of an open lawn, Stowe's cottage-style home, on the other side, comes off as almost self-consciously discreet.

As soon as we entered, my sons were surprised to find familiar faces hanging on the wall—President Obama, James Baldwin , Frederick Douglass, Laura Bush—along with quotes from each that praised or criticized the legacy of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe's most famous novel. It's a uniquely nondogmatic approach designed to invite debate and discussion—something Briann Greenfield, the executive director of the Stowe Center, told us was essential to the work of the foundation, which is determined to use Stowe's work to engage with the moment we live in.

Even from the outside, Stowe's house felt familiar. Walking through the parlor and dining room, which are largely decorated with furniture that belonged to the writer, my oldest son insisted we had been there before. I wanted to whisper to my wife that we had seen these rooms, with their lace curtains and decorative wallpaper, in a Whistler painting or while rummaging through a small-town antiques store. That familiarity made it easy to assume we knew the lives that had been lived inside of them—the bowed heads at the dinner table, followed by piano in the parlor.

While some version of that might be accurate, it's equally true that the stolid ordinariness of the Stowes' lifestyle belied their radical politics. Harriet was the seventh of 13 children in a family of prominent ministers who did more than just preach fire and brimstone. Her father, Lyman Beecher, and brother Henry Ward Beecher were prominent abolitionists. Stowe would outdo them all with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852.

In one seemingly perfect midsize town lived Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott, four writers occupying the same cultural landscape and often the same salon or dinner table.

On the upper floor is the bedroom where Stowe worked, along with a gallery of the numerous translations and adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin that appeared around the world, most without her permission. Horrified but not surprised by the ways the novel had been adapted to reflect as many racist tropes as possible, I was reminded that Stowe's legacy was far from settled.

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In the modern glass-and-brick Twain museum adjacent to his house, it became obvious that Twain, unlike Stowe, had become a brand. Etched into the walls were some of the pithy one-liners he was famous for, which my children read out loud. "Always obey your parents, when they are present" was a particular favorite.

Twain famously lost most of his money, and as we followed our guide out of the museum and into the house, we got a clearer sense of just how much effort that must have taken. Twain's 25-room mansion is a marvel of American Gothic—an almost comically elaborate marriage of styles that seems intended to overwhelm visitors with its scale and detail.

Twain was a frequent but often reluctant host, and as we entered the house, our guide noted that if we were visiting in 1881, "George would have had us wait downstairs." At some point, according to our guide, George would have returned to tell us, "I'm sorry, but Mr. Clemens has just stepped out." Our youngest son asked me, "Who is George, and why does he say 'Mr. Clemens'?"

I did my best to explain that Samuel Langhorne Clemens was Mark Twain's real name and that George Griffin, a formerly enslaved Black man, had been the butler of the house, and perhaps the inspiration for the character of Jim, the escaped slave in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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"Is that why he keeps mentioning him?" my son asked. "Or are you going to say it's more complicated than that."

"Yes. And it's more complicated than that."

Unsurprisingly, Twain's house has been immaculately preserved with original objects from the Clemens family. There is the painting named for Emmeline Grangerford, a character from Huckleberry Finn, hanging above the fireplace, and the Clemenses' carved wood "angel bed," made famous when Twain conducted a newspaper interview in it. There is also the recently restored bedroom where Griffin occasionally slept when it was too late for him to return to his own home in Hartford. That room, like Griffin's elusive presence throughout the tour, is the last and perhaps most poignant reminder that Twain endures in no small part because his novels, like Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, continue to elicit as much admiration as rage for their depictions of Black lives.

This Gilded Age Mansion in the Berkshires Is the Perfect Setting for a Romantic Winter Get

When we reached Griffin's room at the end of the tour, our guide pointed out that there are no pictures of him, and that everything we know about him came from Twain or his family. Out on the lawn, my youngest son asked, even though I suspected he knew the answer, how that was possible in a house where so much had been preserved.

In 1885, the Concord Library became one of the first in America to ban the recently published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn —an act of cultural sedition impossible to imagine today, given Concord's reverence for its literary history. In one seemingly perfect midsize town, close enough to Boston to be a suburb but with too distinguished a history to feel like one, lived Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott, four writers occupying the same cultural landscape and often the same salon or dinner table.

Before checking in to Concord's Colonial Inn , we stopped at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where the four rest along a ridge overlooking a valley dotted with graves. From there, we made a brief stop at the Old North Bridge, where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired. I explained that the next morning we were going to visit Orchard House , the Alcotts' family home.

"Will we see ghosts?" they asked.

"We'll do our best," I promised.

Unfortunately for my children, nothing about Orchard House suggested ghosts.

"This isn't spooky at all," was how my oldest son put it, and he was right. The two-story wooden manor, set back slightly from the road, looked like the quintessential country home. As we walked through, Jan Turnquist, the executive director, frequently asked us to imagine Louisa May and her sisters performing plays in the living room, running through the garden, or writing and painting upstairs. It was easy to picture, given the careful preservation of the original objects the Alcotts lived with, including the desk where Louisa May wrote.

"You see," my wife told our sons. "The house is better than haunted. It's so alive you don't want to leave."

For anyone who has read Alcott, walking through her home is as much an act of memory as imagination, as if it were the embodiment of Margaret's declaration in Little Women, "I know, by experience, how much genuine happiness can be had in a plain little house." That sentiment lived on in the pillow Louisa May used to signal her moods, in May's paintings hanging on the walls, and in the open chest of dolls and toys in one of the bedrooms upstairs that my sons unexpectedly asked if they could play with.

"You see," my wife told our sons, who had never, as far as we knew, asked to play with dolls. "The house is better than haunted. It's so alive you don't want to leave."

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By the time we left Concord, we had given up hunting for ghosts, in no small part because my children had begun to suspect that there was something more interesting about a house that felt alive. When we arrived at Wyndhurst Manor & Club , in the town of Lenox, they were more concerned as to whether or not the resort, which resembled a medieval Scottish castle, had room service and a pool. The hotel had originally been built as a private residence—one of dozens of ornate summer "cottages" that had sprung up around the Berkshire Mountains at the turn of the century. It was the kind of home where Edith Wharton, whose estate, the Mount, was only two miles away, would have passed a summer afternoon visiting before returning to her own "cottage" to write.

When we arrived at the Mount the next morning, our children ran off to hunt for snakes along the edges of the garden. Wharton lived there for 10 years, trapped in a loveless marriage. While there aren't many objects belonging to Wharton still in the house, there is the beautifully preserved library, which contains her vast collection of books, and perhaps above all, there is the house itself, which Wharton played an instrumental role in designing. Its relentless symmetry, secret doors, and fake windows, along with grounds inspired by French and Italian gardens, transformed it into something more than just another stately country mansion.

The Mount is as much Wharton as The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth, her two most famous novels. Like a novel, it was constructed by a singular artistic vision laboring to make something grand and sublime.

I asked my sons if they could see the whale yet. This time they barely bothered to respond. There. Is. No. Whale.

While our children explored, my wife and I sat on a bench adjacent to an alley of trees that reminded us of Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, which Wharton, who moved permanently to France in 1911, had also loved. Given her dismal marriage and the critiques of wealth and privilege that run through her novels, we debated, briefly, how hard it must have been to leave that vast house. My wife reminded me of a quote from The Age of Innocence that she had written in her journal after reading the novel: "It seems stupid to have discovered America only to make it into a copy of another country."

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The next morning, as we made our way to Arrowhead , the house where Herman Melville lived in the town of Pittsfield, I told my kids that if they looked closely at the mountains on the horizon, they might be able to see the whale that inspired the novel.

"There are no whales in the mountains," my oldest son said.

"And what about ghosts?" I asked.

"And there's no such thing as ghosts," they said in unison.

"You're both wrong," I said.

Coming from Wharton's Mount, there was something charmingly ordinary about Arrowhead, a large farmhouse near the edge of a busy road. The surrounding fields, adorned with towering pine trees, have an uninterrupted view of the Berkshire Mountains. Before entering the home, we spent a few minutes taking in the view on the porch that Melville dramatically referred to as the piazza. I asked my sons if they could see the whale yet. This time they barely bothered to respond. There. Is. No. Whale.

While my wife lingered over the striking details of the ground floor—the fireplace inscribed with a quote from a Melville story, a pitcher imprinted with leaves nearly identical to one at the Stowe house—my children and I made our way to Melville's study, which holds a replica of Melville's desk.

Our guide handed them the tip of a harpoon and then pointed out the window to Mount Greylock off in the distance. He asked them to look closely, promising that if they did, they would see what Melville saw roughly 170 years ago, when he sat at the desk and wrote that "there floated into my inmost soul, endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air."

It was hard to imagine a writer whose life was more apt for the moment of isolation and social distancing than Dickinson, who famously spent the bulk of her adult years sequestered in her room.

If they were disappointed at not seeing an actual whale, they kept it to themselves. I'd like to think it was because they were as invested as we were in the story of Melville's life. It was in that room that Melville had written Moby-Dick, Pierre, Benito Cereno, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," and, of course, "The Piazza." Unlike Alcott and Wharton, Melville and his genius went unrecognized in his lifetime, and standing in his office admiring the same view that had inspired him seemed like a small way to amend that.

It would be a few more days, and a brief trip back home to deposit our children, before we could get to Dickinson's house —one of the hundred minor pandemic delays we had grown accustomed to. It was hard to imagine a writer whose life was more apt for the moment of isolation and social distancing than Dickinson, who famously spent the bulk of her adult years sequestered in her room on the second floor of her family's elegant hilltop home in Amherst, Massachusetts.

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Of all the homes we visited, Dickinson's was closest to our hearts. In Concord, Jan Turnquist had described how visitors show up at the Alcott house even when it is closed, just to be near it and commune with the writer whose work had shaped their lives. Dickinson's home is sparsely furnished—a piano, a comically bad family portrait. But as Jane Wald, the executive director, noted, most visitors come to see one thing: Dickinson's bedroom.

There is famously only one authenticated photograph of the poet, at 16, which means that seeing the artifacts in that room is one of the few ways, other than reading her poems, that we can tether her to our world.

My wife and I spent more than an hour staring at her rocking chair, taking in the angle of light that fell across the floor, and reading through a replica of Dickinson's manuscript pages. Her poems felt more enigmatic and somehow more tender when read in her handwriting while standing at her bedroom window. I searched for my favorite poem of hers,

For each ecstatic instant

We must an anguish pay…

But I knew better than to get hung up trying to find it. Part of why my wife and I loved Dickinson, especially in a year punctuated with so much loss, was her embrace of everything ephemeral.

When we finally left the bedroom, we noticed that all along there had been a white dress standing upright at the top of the stairs, just outside Dickinson's door. The dress, a replica of the gowns Dickinson wore in her later years, seemed to float or sway just slightly as we stood in front of it.

"Look," my wife said. "There's the ghost we've been searching for."

Touring Literary New England

Hartford, connecticut.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center : The writer's longtime residence is the ideal place to consider her complicated legacy. The center's engagement with issues of race and justice ensures the house is more than just a testament to the past.

Mark Twain House & Museum : This stunning neo-Gothic Lenox mansion, where Twain lived for 17 years, offers an intimate glimpse into his personal and public life. An adjacent museum gives visitors the opportunity to explore Twain's writings.

Delamar West Hartford : A short drive from theTwain and Stowe houses, this hotel, which opened in 2017, has 114 spare but tasteful rooms. Doubles from $269.

Concord, Massachusetts

Orchard House : Of all the homes in which the Alcott family lived, Orchard House is where Louisa May and her sisters' vibrant spirit is most acutely felt. The writer drew on it for the setting of Little Women.

Concord's Colonial Inn : This is an ideal Concord retreat, a colonial mansion steps away from the center of town with a wonderful pub and restaurant. Doubles from $209.

Barrow Bookstore : A book lover's dream, with an excellent selection of titles from Concord's golden age, including many rare and first editions.

The Berkshires, Massachusetts

Arrowhead : This literary treasure, hidden in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in the town of Pittsfield, is where Melville wrote his greatest works.

The Mount : Edith Wharton's gloriousGilded Age estate in Lenox is as elegant as they come, with Wharton's original library and a pair of European-inspired gardens to stroll through.

W yndhurst Manor & Club : Located in the town of Lenox, this family-friendly hotel occupies a beautifully restored Gothic mansion and is well situated for exploring the region. Doubles from $389.

Amherst, Massachusetts

Emily Dickinson Museum : The poet's residence is home to arguably the single most important room in American literature: the bedroom where Dickinson wrote nearly all of her poems. The house is closed until March 2022, but is hosting a range of virtual events in 2021.

Inn on Boltwood : This 49-room hotel, just a few paces from Amherst College and Dickinson's home, combines classic New England charm with up-to-date amenities. Doubles from $229.

Osteria Vespa : Tucked away in a quiet corner of town, this restaurant features traditional Italian dishes like eggplant parmesan. Entrées $18–$31.

A version of this story first appeared in the August 2021 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline New England By the Book.

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New England Literary Tours

See sites related to some of the following authors – Ann Hutchinson, Cotton Mather, Phyllis Wheatley, Thornton Wilder, Margaret Sydney, Robert Frost, James Russell Lowell, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, E.E. Cummings, Saul Bellow, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

We can also visit the homes of Henry David Thoreau (including Walden Pond), Ralph Waldo Emerson, David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Patricia Cornwell, Greg Maguire, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, John Updike, Isaac Asimov, Joe Haldeman (sci-fi), Herman Melville, Alan Lightman, Noam Chomsky, David Allen Sibley, and Rudyard Kipling (yes, the author of Gunga Din) – he wrote his Jungle Books while living with his American wife at their home in southern Vermont, near the Massachusetts border.

Please note that it is impossible to see all of these homes in one day, though we are happy to customize your tour so that you see just what you would like.

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Kennebunkport

New England, in addition to its history and charm, has been home to many a famous writer throughout the years. In fact, there is so much literary distinction to be found in the northeast that an entire trip can be constructed around the region’s illustrious writers and poets.

That’s why we’ve created a New England road trip dedicated to all the poetry lovers and bookworms out there. If a trip like this is calling your name, check out our road trip map and then read on to learn about our recommended stops along the way.

Mark Twain House and Museum

Hartford, connecticut.

The road trip begins at the home of Samuel Clemens, better known by his nom de plume, Mark Twain. Located in Hartford, Connecticut, the Mark Twain House was designed by Clemens and his wife and built in the early 1870s. This house was where Clemens wrote some of his most famous works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and it's said to be where the Clemens family spent their happiest years. Visitors can tour both the house and museum to see how the Clemens family lived and to learn more about the author’s life and works.

Emily Dickinson Museum

Amherst, massachusetts.

Poetry fans will love the road trip’s second stop, the Emily Dickinson Museum in Massachusetts. The museum is located in two homes — the Homestead, where Emily was born and raised, and the Evergreens, where her brother lived as an adult with his family. Notoriously reclusive, Emily spent much of her time at home, which allowed her to write almost 1,800 poems over the course of her life. History buffs and Dickinson fans should plan on signing up for a tour, which includes the houses and gardens. It's also filled with many interesting anecdotes about the writer and her family.

Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House

Concord, massachusetts.

The Louisa May Alcott Orchard House is the site where the famed author wrote the beloved classic, Little Women . The grounds for the home were purchased by Alcott’s father in 1857 and later named “Orchard House” for the 40 apple trees on the property. The Alcott family lived in this home for 20 years, during which time Alcott wrote her novel at a special “shelf desk” built by her father. There has been little structural change to the home since the Alcotts lived there, and since much of the furniture actually belonged to the family, Little Women fans will feel like they've stepped into the pages of their favorite book.

Walden Pond

A brief drive from the Orchard House is Walden Pond , made famous by Henry David Thoreau’s book, Walden; or, Life in the Woods . The non-fiction publication details the two years Thoreau spent living simply in the woods on Walden Pond and, as a body of work, cemented Thoreau’s place in the transcendentalism movement. Although the cabin where Thoreau lived was torn down, you can walk to the site where it once stood . Best of all, visitors may also swim in the pond or walk on the trails to see the world through the same lens as the literary legend.

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Cambridge/watertown, massachusetts.

Next, hop on Route 2 and drive 20 minutes east to Mount Auburn Cemetery , which lays on the dividing line of Cambridge and Watertown. Founded in 1831, the cemetery was, and still is, a prestigious burial site for prominent and intellectual Bostonians. Famous writers interred at Mount Auburn include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert Creeley and Harriet Jacobs, in addition to other noteworthy names like painter Winslow Homer and preacher William Ellery Channing. Moreso, the cemetery is a lovely place to spend an afternoon, with walking paths, mature trees and beautiful landscaping throughout the 170 acres. It’s also a hotspot for birdwatching enthusiasts, and in the springtime when the many trees are blooming, it is a beautiful sight to behold.

The House of the Seven Gables

Salem, massachusetts.

Salem, Massachusetts, home to the notorious Salem Witch Trials, is the perfect setting for the next stop on our road trip, The House of the Seven Gables . Susanna Ingersoll, second cousin of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, once lived in this house, which served as the inspiration for Hawthorne’s Gothic novel of the same name. Originally built in 1668, the house has been meticulously restored by the museum , as they have worked diligently to recreate the rooms in an authentic manner. Best of all, the museum added a hidden staircase behind the fireplace, just like in Hawthorne’s book. Visitors may partake in a 40-minute guided tour which includes the House of the Seven Gables and its seaside garden, in addition to the nearby birthplace and childhood home of Hawthorne.

Robert Frost Farm

Derry, new hampshire.

As the renowned poet lived all over the region , New England is filled with Robert Frost homesteads. For the purpose of convenience, however, this road trip stops at the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, New Hampshire. This charming farmstead was home to Frost and his family from 1900 to 1911. Visitors must partake in a guided tour to see the inside of the farmhouse, which takes about 45 minutes. The grounds are available to tour from dawn to dusk and include a self-guided nature trail, which indicates points of interest that served as inspiration for Frost’s poetry.

Wadsworth-Longfellow House

Portland, maine.

Tucked away on Congress St. in Portland, Maine, sits the birthplace and childhood home of famed poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Now home to the Maine Historical Society , the Wadsworth-Longfellow House was built by Longfellow’s grandfather in 1785. Since that time, three generations of the family have resided within these walls and nearly all the home’s artifacts and items belonged to members of the family. Set amidst a commercial area of Portland, it is the oldest house to still stand on the city’s peninsula. Behind the house is a lovely Colonial Revival garden that is free to the public during daylight hours. Plant enthusiasts will love the garden’s Plant Identification Guide , which can be used to understand and identify the garden’s blooms.

Stephen King House

Bangor, maine.

The final stop on our bookworm road trip brings us into the 21st century with the Stephen King House in Bangor, Maine. Horror fiction fans flock to this eccentric home, where the author resides part-time with his wife. Although the home is not open for tours, it’s a worthwhile stop. The impressive mansion is delightfully eerie,  with an expansive lawn and a spiderweb wrought iron gate. King devotees might even go a step further and take an SK Tour of Maine , which stops at three dozen King-related sites in the span of three hours.

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Penning The Perfect Getaway: 6 New England Literary Travel Destinations for Writers

Whether you’re diving into November’s National Novel Writing challenge or seeking inspiration for your next creative endeavor, consider New England a one-stop shop for wordsmiths. Follow your muse to one (or all) of these literary travel destinations to see where some of the greats crafted their best creations.

6 Literary Travel Destinations for Writers

Mark Twain House and Museum — Hartford, Connecticut

Mark Twain’s whimsical Hartford, Conn. home looks the part of an adventure through an imagination playground — and it shows, as this was his residence while crafting classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The house itself is still open for tours to give visitors a peek into his personal life, while the on-site museum boasts an impressive 45,000-square-feet of additional display space that pays tribute to Twain’s works and life.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center — Hartford, Connecticut

Although she didn’t pen Uncle Tom’s Cabin under this particular roof, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is the last place the author lived and is just as jam-packed with literary history and inspiration as her former abode. The property is home to three different 19th-century buildings: Stowe’s home, the Katharine Seymour Day House (former home of her grandniece and current home of the Stowe Center Research Library), and the 1873 Visitor Center which once served as the Seymour Day House’s carriage house. Aside from what the museum holds, writers should factor in time to journal in the Historic Gardens, grown and preserved in Stowe’s memory.

Two birds, one trip: The Stowe Center is a mere three-minute walk from Twain’s — perfect for squeezing as much out of your literary travel tour of Hartford as possible.

Herman Melville’s Arrowhead — Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Herman Melville wrote his most noteworthy novel within the walls of his home, Arrowhead, in the Massachusetts Berkshires . Supposedly, the inspiration for the big white whale came to him through the clear view of Mt. Greylock from his study. Today you can take a walk of your own through his farmhouse or set out to stop at all the significant spots along The Melville Trail — who knows, you may stumble upon sudden story inspiration of your own.

The Homes of Emerson, Thoreau, and Alcott — Concord, Massachusetts

Concord, Mass. was such a hotspot for literary hotshots that it’s the location of not one, but three of the famous literary travel destinations on this list. Ralph Waldo Emerson moved into his Concord home , now a tourable house museum, in 1835. When he wasn’t preoccupied creating groundbreaking works, like his 1836 Nature essay, he spent a significant amount of time entertaining his frequent (and soon-to-be-famous) visitors. One visitor, Henry David Thoreau, even settled his famous cozy cabin on Emerson’s property — though today you can visit its replica right on the site of Walden Pond . Yet another noteworthy visitor-turned-neighbor was Bronson Alcott whose daughter, Louisa May Alcott, went on to author Little Women. You can find and tour the Alcott family house after a quick and easy 10-minute walk from Emerson’s front door.

As lucky as we are to have these famous faces call New England home, these page-turning literary travel spots are just the preface to the area's history with the written word. Whether you set out today to visit your favorite one or hit them all on a reader’s road trip, peruse our New England properties first to find a library’s worth of perfect places to stay.

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A Suitcase Full of Books

A Literary Travel Blog

Walk in the Footsteps of Authors: New England’s Best Literary Hikes

December 15, 2019 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

Ashley recently assigned herself a reading syllabus of New England authors and then took a road trip, hiking many of the authors’ favorite trails. In this guest post, she shares with us the best of New England’s literary hikes. 

There’s an image of writing that circulates in our collective brains; the grizzled writer walking off into a field with his notebook and a nubby pencil, to sit in the setting sun and wait for inspiration to strike. A few bird chirps later and out pops a naturalist literary masterpiece.

I don’t know about you, but the last time I took my grand ideas of literary genius into the woods, I emerged with more mosquito bites than lines of prose. Personal experience aside, there’s something to this idea about writing and nature that persists. In the US it probably originated with our beloved early American New England writers. The Transcendentalists come to mind, naturally 😉. They made crafting naturalist masterpieces out of bird chirps and the last rays of sunset seem easy. But I’ve taken enough hikes to inspiring vistas and shimmering lakes and returned empty-handed enough to know that New England and the Transcendentalists had a special relationship.

After a long road trip through New England’s most literary regions (call it a literary pilgrimage), I get it. The place is gorgeous, y’all, and thankfully, blessedly, much of New England’s literary landscape has been preserved. You can actually walk where America’s most famous authors walked, breathe the same air, and if you’re lucky, glean a little writerly inspiration for yourself.

Want to take your own literary pilgrimage? Good news — I’ve narrowed down New England’s best literary hikes for you!

Monument Mountain

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

It’s true that Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and William Cullen Bryant took annual picnics to the top of Monument Mountain in Great Barrington, MA, and the stories told about these trips have reached epic (well, to a bunch of English majors anyway) proportions. According to Bernard A. Drew , Hawthorne and Melville met for the first time during a trip up Monument Mountain in 1850. Hawthorne was moody and irritable the entire trip, while Melville, who had begun writing Moby Dick earlier in the year, was acting the role of a jaunty sea captain at every overlook. Bryant, fed up with their antics, got drunk on champagne, and almost fell off a cliff.

Monument Mountain is a great hike even without this backstory, but knowing the absurdity of that trip in 1850 makes it even more enjoyable. The trail is rocky and a bit steep in places, but the gorgeous views over the valley below are well worth it. I recommend taking Indian Monument Trail until it intersects with Squaw Peak Trail up to the top (with a stop at Devils Pulpit along the way–the views are incredible), then taking Hickey Trail down again. Monument Trail is a slow and steady route, while Hickey Trail is rockier and steeper. It’s a loop so you could take either direction.

If you don’t pause at the top to read an excerpt of William Cullen Bryant’s “ Monument Mountain ” (and to drink a mini-bottle of champagne in these three authors’ honor) then we’re not the kind of people who can be friends.

Robert Frost Stone House

Shaftsbury, Vermont

If you’re in Vermont, you can’t throw a rock (or an apple if it’s October) without hitting a house that once belonged to Robert Frost, but Stone House is my favorite. He lived there in the 1920s, and it’s where he penned “ Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening .” Definitely take time to explore the house itself, but the real treasure is outside. If you’re short on time there’s a quick jaunt around the property line, but at the edge of the property is the start of a 3.1 mile (round trip) hike down to Lake Paran and back. The Robert Frost Trail (it’s on All Trails as the Paran-Frost Trail) is great for varied scenery (there are a few small creek crossings but nothing difficult), and the Stone House side of the trail passes through a pine grove planted by the poet himself.

Insider’s tip: pick up a delightfully illustrated tree identification guide (drawn by Sophie Parker-Goos) to take with you as you hike!

Mt. Greylock

Berkshire County, Massachusetts

If New England has one literary holy site, that site has to be Mt. Greylock . Its craggy face appears in writing by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Most famously, it was a snow-covered Mt. Greylock that Herman Melville saw from his study window and inspired him to write about a certain white whale. Most recently, J.K. Rowling set her American wizard school on Mt. Greylock’s peak. (I tried really hard to find the entrance to Ilvermorny but failed. I’m still mad about it.)

Mt. Greylock has trails for every hiker . The shortest is less than half a mile, the longest is over 13. The Appalachian Trail passes through Mt. Greylock if you have a Bucket List item you’d like to check off. If you’re more bohemian in your planning, I recommend driving the road to Mt. Greylock Observation tower and stopping at whatever trail crossing strikes your fancy (there’s parking along the way).

Robert Frost Wayside Trail

Ripton, Vermont

After several days of long, steep hikes, you’ll probably want a rest day, and there’s no better place than bucolic Ripton, Vermont. Robert Frost lived in a cabin at the Homer Noble Farm while he taught at the Middlebury Bread Loaf school for over 20 years. The cabin isn’t open to the public, but you can walk the fields around it. And they are beautiful fields, and quieter than any other literary site we visited on our trip. Our only companion was a feisty chipmunk who guarded the path to Frost’s cabin from his burrow in a stone wall that lines the path.

Across the road from the Homer Noble property is the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail . This is a short (1.2 mile), mostly flat nature trail peppered with markers engraved with Robert Frost’s poems. You won’t be out of place at all if you stop to read poetry aloud, and there are several good places to stop for a picnic lunch (either on the trail itself, on the Homer Noble Farm, or at the nearby Robert Frost Wayside area). I loved this trail for its varied scenery–you walk through hardwoods, an open field, and along a river all in one short trek.

Walden Pond

Concord, Massachusetts

Walden Pond is perhaps the best known pond in the world, and I’m glad it’s a site people can enjoy today. The lake itself is a popular attraction. In the summer months and on holiday weekends the park frequently reaches capacity with swimmers and boaters, so check the park’s hours (they’re based on sunrise and sunset) and plan to arrive a bit before park opening to be guaranteed entrance.

There’s a network of trails that surround the lake, and it’s inspiring and a little humbling to walk the steps that Concord’s Transcendentalist greats took. The most travelled trails are the one around Walden Pond itself, and the path to the site of Thoreau’s cabin.

The trail around Walden Pond is 1.7 miles and nearly flat. There are several access points to the pond as well for a mid-hike break to dip your toes. The trail to Thoreau’s cabin site is just another 5-10 minutes from the pond, and the cabin site is marked by granite pillars. Hikers bring stones to add to the cairns in tribute to Thoreau, so be sure to bring one as well. It’s not strictly leave no trace, but it’s been a tradition since 1872 when Bronson Alcott (Lousia May Alcott’s father and leader in the Transcendentalist community) brought his friend Mary Newbury Adams to the site, who left the first stone.

There are many additional trails at Walden Pond State Reservation that could take a couple of days to fully explore. The woods are more piney than in surrounding areas, but the history of the place is worth each pine cone riddled step. Check the visitors’ center for guided hikes and literary presentations after you visit the recreation of Thoreau’s cabin (somewhat strangely placed between two parking lots).

–> Read more about visiting Walden Pond

The Emerson-Thoreau Amble

Oddly, my favorite hikes at Walden Pond isn’t near the pond itself, nor is it much of a hike. But the 1.7 mile, nearly entirely flat Emerson-Thoreau Amble is a gem of a trail that connects Henry David Thoreau’s cabin to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s back door. Emerson and Thoreau were close friends whose lives intersected both on and off the page. It was Emerson’s land on which Thoreau built his cabin, and the two visited frequently in the two years Thoreau lived on Walden Pond.

I recommend starting early in the morning at Walden Pond, visiting the cabin site before the crowds pick up, then starting the Emerson-Thoreau Amble from Thoreau’s front door (or where his front door would have been). The trail isn’t as clearly marked as it could be while inside Walden Pond State Reservation, and you will need to cross an intersection to pick up the Amble again. But once you do, the trail is well-blazed and this detailed guide explains each natural landmark along the way.

Once on trail, you’ll pass through meadows, swampland, and by a lake, and you can expect to see wildlife and public art installations along the way. The trail ends next to the Concord Independent Battery Gun House (Concord has a significant Revolutionary War history). Take a right and you’ll see Emerson’s white 1832 home. Also within walking distance: Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, The Wayside (also known as “The Author’s Home,” as Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Sidney all lived there), and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Concord’s most famous writers are all buried together on Author’s Ridge.

If you get an early enough start at Walden Pond, and plan your tour times perfectly, you could explore all these sites in one day. We explored this section of Concord entirely on foot, which felt appropriate to the authors we were paying homage to, and walking allowed us to slow down and enjoy Concord’s scenery. It’s remained mostly unchanged since the 1850s so don’t be surprised if you feel like you’re walking in Louisa’s footsteps, daydreaming along Thoreau’s paths, and contemplating Emerson’s nature.

–> Read this post to plan your own literary trip to Concord

I visited over 20 literary landmarks on my literary road trip, and the hikes were among my favorite stops. You can learn a lot about an author’s life by walking through their home, and you can learn just as much by meandering through the woods that inspired their stories.

–> Check out Ashley’s full route on Roadtrippers

Ashley has loved books since before she could read, and travel since her first trip to Washington, D.C. in the 5th grade. You can find her buying more books than she could ever read, and planning more road trips than she can ever take (and eating too many Reese’s Pieces, but that seems unrelated). You can follow her on Instagram @bigworld_books (check out the Highlights for all her literary road trip stories!). 

Let’s Talk!

I’d take this trip all over again, and would love to hear your recommendations for other literary nature sites I should add to my list! Leave your suggestions in the comments below!

Have you taken a literary inspired trip? Would you like to guest post?  Drop me a note!!

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The Top Ten Literary Sites in Boston You Should Visit

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This post on literary sites in Boston is a guest article by Jessica A. Kent of Boston Book Blog.

Welcome to Boston, a city rich with writers, readers, and literary culture, both past and present. Whether you’re looking to find your next read, be inspired by some bookish sites, or want to learn more about Boston’s literary history, here’s a list of ten not-to-be-missed literary places to visit the next time you’re in Beantown.

Table of Contents

Boston Public Library

The Boston Public Library was founded in 1848, the first large free municipal library in the country, and today it’s considered to be one of the largest municipal public library systems in America. Start your walkthrough of the space in the McKim Building (the older building facing Copley Square, built in 1895). Head up the marble staircase, past the lions, to beautiful Bates Hall reading room, probably the BPL’s most iconic space. Stop into the room next door to see Arthurian legend murals by Edwin Austin Abbey; head upstairs to see a marvelously painted Biblical ceiling by John Singer Sargent.

Find your way through the shelves and hallways to the newer building, the Johnston Building. Built in 1972, the Johnston Building recently underwent a massive renovation, turning the once dark and dreary building into a bright space, with comfy chairs, meeting areas, a café, and a welcoming front lobby. Don’t forget to spend some time in the outdoor courtyard with your stack of books, sitting around the fountain.

Local Independent Bookstores

Independent bookstores are at the center of Boston’s literary scene simply by the culture and community they’ve created in the city. Each very different in their own way, you’ll find author readings, panel discussions, book clubs, one-of-a-kind literary events (Reader Prom, anyone?), and more. Within the city proper you’ll find Trident Booksellers and Café and I AM Books (the nation’s only Italian-American bookstore), and Brattle Books and Commonwealth Books, both specializing in used and antiquarian stock.

A short T ride away you’ll find MIT Press Bookstore, Harvard Book Store, and Porter Square Books off the Red Line; off the Green Line you’ll find Brookline Booksmith and Newtonville Books; off the Orange Line you’ll find More Than Words and Papercuts JP. A car or car app can get you to a number more. Do a bookstore crawl yourself to discover their unique atmospheres and offerings, and don’t forget to ask the booksellers for recommendations. Better yet, visit on the last Saturday of April and enjoy Metro Boston Bookstore Day!

Old Corner Bookstore

Unfortunately, the place known as the Old Corner Bookstore now houses a Chipotle (and it’s a bit of a sore spot for the local literary community). But as you’re lunching on your burrito bowl, know that you’re sitting inside one of Boston’s literary landmarks; the building that was once the hub of America’s literary society back in the 19th century. The building was built in 1718, but between 1845 and 1865 it was Ticknor & Fields, who published Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and more. At a time when America was discovering its identity, Ticknor & Fields made sure that American authors assumed a place in the literary landscape. The authors of the time would socialize in the bookstore on the first floor, and so it was thus nicknamed “The Hub of the Hub.” 

Beacon Hill

Take a walk around Beacon Hill and discover the historic homes of a vast number of Boston authors. Start on Pickney Street, where at #20 Louisa May Alcott lived with her family as a young girl; she also lived at #43 and #81. Across the street, Elizabeth Peabody, who owned a bookshop on West Street and would hold a literary salon, ran a school for children. A few doors down is #4 Pickney, where Henry David Thoreau once lived. Irish poet Louise Imogen Guiney, friends with literary socialite Annie Adams Fields and writer Sarah Orne Jewett, lived at #16.

Over on Mt. Vernon Street you can find the former residence of Henry James, at #131. Poet Robert Frost lived at #88. And just up Willow Street lived Sylvia Plath at #9. These are just a few of the many authors who populated Beacon Hill over the years; if you’d like to learn more, or even trace their steps, there are many tour companies that host walking tours of historic Beacon Hill ( Boston By Foot being perhaps the most well-known).

Brattle Book Shop and Bookstalls

The Brattle Book Shop outside bookstalls, surrounded by murals of authors and book covers, are easily one of the most Instagrammed literary sites in Boston. But the store, which specializes in used and antiquarian books, maps, prints, and ephemera, began back in 1825, originally located a few blocks away where the present Government Center complex is. The store has been in the Gloss family since 1949 when the current owner’s father bought the store.

After a 1980 fire burned the store to the ground, the people of Boston donated books to keep the store open. Today, the store is still going strong with three floors of books in which to get lost, and an outdoor sale lot with carts selling books for $1, $3, $5. Take some time to look at the author murals upon the walls above the bookstalls. Curious to learn more about antiquarian books and their market? The owner Ken Gloss hosts a podcast called Brattlecast. 

Omni Parker House

The oldest continuously operating hotel in the country, the Omni Parker House is the place where the original Boston Cream Pie was invented. Enjoy a slice inside knowing that this hotel was once the meeting place of a group of 19th-century writers called the Saturday Club. You can find a blown-up framed sketch of the authors’ table placement in the lobby (note Emerson, Longfellow, Hawthorne…).

The Atlantic Monthly was created at one of their meetings as well. Charles Dickens also read A Christmas Carol for the Saturday Club group before premiering it for Boston audiences; a frequenter of the hotel, you can find the “Dickens Door” in the lower level, which was preserved from the room he used to book when in town (look for the annual reading of A Christmas Carol here). Malcolm X was once a busboy here, Mark Twain and Willa Cather spent time here, and even Edith Wharton set a scene of The Age of Innocence here.

Today, the hotel’s literary tradition lives on in the School Street Sessions, a take on the old Saturday Club, that meets for public lectures and discussions once a month.

Head to the corner of Charles and Boylston Streets, and you’ll be in the vicinity of the boarding house where Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809. Though Poe was mostly known for being a Baltimore writer and not a Boston one, he spent some time in the city, including publishing his first poems there, including “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Yet Poe had a contentious (to say the least) relationship with Boston and its writers, famously sparring with Longfellow in print and calling the Boston writers “Frog Pondians.” Still, since he was born here, on the bicentennial of his birth in 2009, Poe Square was dedicated. A statue of the author was unveiled in 2014. The area is a rather literary one as well, with Emerson College and GrubStreet writing center located on the same block.

Boston Athenaeum

Founded in 1807, this private library located behind a set of bright red doors is one of the oldest independent libraries in America. Once a literary hub frequented by Emerson, Hawthorne, Alcott, and others, the Athenaeum is still a vibrant community of patrons and researchers. While it is a member-only library, and visitors only have access to the first floor, time your visit to their annual Fall Open House, where you can browse the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on the library’s five floors, climb metal spiral stairs to the catwalks, sit in lounge chairs and read while overlooking the Granary Burial Ground and Park Street Church, browse the art collections (the Athenaeum once had such an extensive art collection that they donated part of it to start the Museum of Fine Arts), visit part of George Washington’s library, or view their rare books collection. Members enjoy research privileges, book groups, space access, and more, yet most author talks and literary events are open to the public.

The Printing Office of Edes & Gill

Back in Colonial Boston, the Printing Offices of Edes & Gill were the printers of the Boston Gazette, a newspaper that fueled the American Revolution, and Benjamin Edes himself was one of the Sons of Liberty. Edes & Gill was resurrected in 2010 by Gary Gregory, who bought a Colonial printing press and set up a living history printing shop. Once located next to the Old North Church, Edes & Gill recently relocated to historic Faneuil Hall, where Gregory and his team of living history reenactors give demonstrations on how the printing press works, how to set type, what printing presses were functioning in 18th century America, and the role they played in the Colonies and the Revolution. They will even press out a fresh copy of the Declaration of Independence that you can purchase for $17.76 (get it?).

Boston Book Festival

Every October, Copley Square is taken over by the Boston Book Festival, a one-day gathering of authors and readers. Going into its eleventh year in 2019, the Festival provides a full menu of programming, including author talks and panels on things like historical fiction and memoir, keynote speakers, writing workshops, business and craft sessions, literary games and contests, children’s authors and activities, and more. They also promote One City One Story, where a story is chosen and copies are distributed around Boston, with the intention that the entire city will read a short story together; the author is then invited to a discussion at the Festival.

Additionally, there are dozens of local literary vendors set up in Copley Square – publishing houses, literary magazines, literacy centers – and one can browse while listening to live music from Berklee College musicians and snacking on items from the many food trucks. This massive event is free and open to the public.

About the Author: Jessica A. Kent is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Boston Book Blog , a website covering the Boston literary scene – both past and present – featuring local event listings, interviews, articles, literary history posts, and more. Follow the Boston Book Blog on Twitter or Instagram as well!

The Hub of Literary America

Journey to victorian boston and see where writers and poets including emerson, alcott and thoreau gathered, tour description.

Journey to Victorian Boston and see where writers and poets including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau gathered to share new ideas and influence society!

Learn how local publishers lured Charles Dickens and other famous writers to Boston.

Discover why Edgar Allan Poe rejected Boston as his home.

On this fascinating guided tour, walk in the footsteps of literary greats as you stop outside the Old Corner Bookstore, Louisa May Alcott’s home, the famous Athenaeum private library, and more.

Tour Information

likely uneven surfaces and significant inclines

arts historical literary series

Public Tour Calendar

Private tours.

Starting Location

Meet your guide in the plaza at School and Washington Streets, between Walgreens and the Irish Famine Memorial.

Finding Your Guide: All guides carry an 8×11 sign that says “Boston By Foot Walking Tours.”

Nearest Accessible MBTA Station: State (Blue & Orange Lines)

Ending Location

This tour ends in the general area of Boston Common.

Nearest Accessible MBTA Station: Park Street (Green & Red Lines)

Daily & Weekly

Monthly & quarterly.

• Bulfinch Triangle Bulfinch Triangle
• Change and Response: Boston’s Architecture Change and Response: Boston’s Architecture
• Commonwealth Avenue Commonwealth Avenue
• East Cambridge East Cambridge
• Fort Point and Seaport: The Evolution of the South Boston Waterfront Fort Point and Seaport: The Evolution of the South Boston Waterfront
• The Hub of Literary America The Hub of Literary America
• Jewish Beacon Hill Jewish Beacon Hill
• Johnny Tremain’s Boston Johnny Tremain’s Boston
• Leather District Leather District
• Louisa May Alcott’s Boston Louisa May Alcott’s Boston
• North End By Little Feet North End By Little Feet
• Remarkable Women of Jamaica Plain Remarkable Women of Jamaica Plain

Annual Events

New for 2024, archives (1).

10 Best Book Festivals in New England

Looking to meet a favorite author, chat with fellow book lovers, or discover great new reads? New England’s top book festivals have got you covered.

By Joe Bills

Nov 20 2019

Boston Teen Author Festival | New England Book Festivals

Can’t-Miss Book Festivals in New England

Nantucket Book Festival  | Nantucket, MA

Connecticut children’s book fair  | storrs, ct.

Boston Teen Author Festival  | Boston, MA

Books in boothbay  | boothbay, me.

Brattleboro Literary Festival  | Brattleboro, VT

Bookstock  | woodstock, vt.

Burlington Book Festival  | Burlington, VT

Newburyport literary festival  | newburyport, ma.

Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival  | Martha’s Vineyard, MA

Boston book festival  | boston, ma.

SEE MORE: 20 Favorite Books Set in New England Best Independent Bookstores in New England New England’s Best Bookstores to Spend the Whole Day

Associate Editor Joe Bills is Yankee’s fact-checker, query reader and the writer of several recurring departments. When he is not at Yankee, he is the co-owner of Escape Hatch Books in Jaffrey, NH.

Literary New England

Destinations , Novel travel , USA

I’ve found through my travels that the best way to truly engage with an author’s spirit is to visit a house where they once lived. New England is a corner of the United States bursting with homes and landmarks associated with Great American Writers but the question is where to start?

Arguably Boston is the home to great book shops and academic learning but to snake a trail through Massachusetts and Connecticut is in my mind a Bibliophile’s perfect road trip. The true heavyweight writers can be found twenty miles north-west of Boston in Concord, at the core of Massachusetts State. This willowy town shrouded with lush greenery and quaint stores boasts more than its fair share of literary connections. Historically Concord played a pivotal role in the American Revolution but that’s another story. It’s at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery that Louisa May Alcott, Henri David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne are all laid to rest. This bowl shaped plot of land is the perfect spot to meditate and commune with nature which is in essence what the Transcendentalist’s ideal was all about.

The home and setting for Louisa May Alcott’s novel, Little Women , is preserved as it was when she wrote about heroine Jo and her sisters for the iconic novel which continues to resonate today. Orchard House was purchased by Alcott’s father Branson, who also was a part of the Transcendentalist movement established by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Probably the most influential thinker of this time Emerson having written a small 90 page book entitled Nature encouraged writers to move to Concord – notably his ancestors founded the town following the war of 1812. The Old Manse House where he wrote the inspirational book is another museum and was also habited by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Amongst a setting of mature fruit trees that shape this pretty town the Orchard House is a must see to soak up the ideals of the time. The Transcendentalists group who were nature lovers and abolitionists would gather here to discuss their writing and poetry. It must have been a remarkable time for these neighbours with their hopes in creating a new ideal of America that included equality and freedom of expression. The house is open seven days a week. See louisamayalcott.org

It was a fresh September day as autumn was descending on New England when I first visited Walden Pond – a short drive from Concord. I’d recently finished reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau and it was my first flurry with philosophy on my journey to becoming a published novelist. The peaceful and tranquil setting was a real pilgrimage worth taking as I explored the replica of the tiny dwelling where Thoreau lived for two years two months and two days from July 4 th 1845.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Walden, or Life in the Woods , highlights the injustices of society at large and proposes a way of living instead in harmony with the natural world. Something that is even more prescient in today’s world. Thoreau was a man of principals and one of the first environmentalists to put into practice a purposeful way of living that resonates significantly to those searching for the real meaning of life in a simple way. However had it not been for the generosity of Ralph Waldo Emerson allowing the eccentric Thoreau to stay on his land – Walden may never have been written.

Food for thought however doesn’t fill the belly but another epic landmark offered that option about ten miles away in a westerly direction – Longfellow’s Wayside Inn. This charming country house and restaurant transported me back to the days of stagecoaches and highwaymen with waiters dressed in pilgrim clothes from the 18 th century. The Wayside Inn has been catering for guests since 1716 and most notably it is the setting that inspired the charming book of short stories by Henri Wadsworth Longfellow Tales of a Wayside Inn .

An unlikely literary spot is in the town of Lowell, a blue collar mill town north of Concord and birthplace of Jack Kerouac. If he was still On the Road he would have turned 100 this year. No writer sums up the tempo or rhythm of the Beat Generation better than Kerouac who spent his early years in a house that is now a museum. After he went to New York on a football scholarship Kerouac found a voice that would have the biggest impact on his style. The sound of jazz runs through his novels and On the Road is infused with the essence of the time he spent post World War II driving around the country. This autumn offers the chance for fans of the writer to celebrate the beatnik generation in Kerouac’s hometown.

Visiting an authors home is also an opportunity to touch the furnishings that the author sat on and read words written in their own hand. It sends shivers up my spine when I see the pens and handwritten notes once touched by a writer who has passed away and confirms to me that words make the finest legacies. Hartford in the neighbouring state of Connecticut is host to two houses that are a must for literary lovers. “To us our house…had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with;” so said the witty and remarkable writer Samuel Clemens. Author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Prince and the Pauper he is of course better known as Mark Twain. The Gothic mansion where he wrote his most seminal works is a cornucopia of delights with exotic vases and carved furniture that reflects the brilliant mind of the man who has left us with some of the wisest and best quotes in English Literature. The house offers the unique opportunity to book three hours writing time in Twain’s own library which for any discerning author must surely provide some divine inspiration. The price for each session is $50 and only 8 permitted at a time.

It is poignant that Twain’s friend, who he admired and defended greatly, Harriet Beecher Stowe lived around the corner and her house is now open to public also. ‘There is more done with pens than with swords,’ according to Stowe, the author of the largest selling novel of the 19 th century, Uncle Tom’s Cabin . Being an abolitionist her work is credited by many to have been instrumental in the cause of the American Civil War. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is today preserved in its original Victorian splendour and carries on the legacy of the author in the form of inspirational debate with a tour-guide. The centre displays not only the style and decorations that Stowe enjoyed during her 23 years living in the house but also some of the authors own oil paintings. The mission of the centre is to inspire inspirational commitment to social justice and positive change which is enough reason to visit in itself. Tour visits are limited and booking on line is recommended. www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org

No literary trip to New England would be complete without a stop off in Boston at the Omni Parker House Hotel. The hotel is the oldest still in use in America and was a favourite haunt of some of the writers that I followed around on my travels through Massachusetts. Be sure to try the Boston Cream Pie which is a speciality of this old world hotel that is steeped in atmosphere and dates back to 1856. It’s nice to imagine the many writers who have visited sitting around a table in the plush finery of 19 th century style. It’s even better that we can hear their voices in the words that the left us – keeping their spirits alive today.

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival from 6th – 10th October 2022

The October Festival features tours of Kerouac Lowell places including many sites described in his Lowell-based novels. Panel discussions, reading, jazz and folk music, films,

open mike events, high poetry competition, book signings, and more are all planned to run over this four day festival.

More info at www.lowellcelebrateskerouac.org

Salem, Massachusetts, is a thirty minute train ride north of Boston and home to more than the infamous witch trials. The House of the Seven Gables from the gothic novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorn in Salem, is a landmark and part of the trolley tour around this quaint town. Oozing with exciting happenings Salem is a must see with historic architecture and supernatural stores – especially during October with the build up to Halloween. This stolid colonial mansion dates back to the 1600’s and is now an intriguing museum. www.7gables.org

For more about New England see  https://discovernewengland.org/

A fly drive through New England with Sunway Holidays www.sunway.ie

Price from €1999pp

This includes return direct flights to Boston including checked bag, Car Hire for 10 Days p/u & d/o Boston Airport, Hotels 3* standard for each destination above, 9 Nights

This price is based on October/November departure

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10 Literary Sites in Boston All Book-Lovers Should Visit

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• 10 Literary Sites in Boston All Book-Lovers Should Visit - April 18, 2023

Welcome to Boston , a city rich with writers, readers, and literary culture, both past and present. Whether you’re looking to find your next read, be inspired by some bookish sites, or learn more about Boston’s literary history, here’s a list of ten not-to-be-missed literary places to visit next time you’re in Boston .

Oh, and don’t miss out on these cozy coffee shops, cool breweries, or scrumptious restaurants while you’re visiting, either!

Table of Contents

Literary Sites in Boston

Boston public library.

The Boston Public Library was founded in 1848, the first large free municipal library in the country, and today it’s considered to be one of the largest municipal public library systems in America. Start your walkthrough of the space in the McKim Building (the older building facing Copley Square, built in 1895).

Head up the marble staircase, past the lions, to beautiful Bates Hall reading room, probably the BPL’s most iconic space. Stop into the room next door to see Arthurian legend murals by Edwin Austin Abbey; head upstairs to see a marvelously painted Biblical ceiling by John Singer Sargent.

Find your way through the shelves and hallways to the newer building, the Johnston Building. Built in 1972, the Johnston Building recently underwent a massive renovation, turning the once dark and dreary building into a bright space, with comfy chairs, meeting areas, a café, and a welcoming front lobby. Don’t forget to spend some time in the outdoor courtyard with your stack of books, sitting around the fountain.

Local Independent Bookstores

Independent bookstores are at the center of Boston’s literary scene simply by the culture and community they’ve created in the city. Each very different in their own way, you’ll find author readings, panel discussions, book clubs, one-of-a-kind literary events (Reader Prom, anyone?), and more.

Within the city proper you’ll find Trident Booksellers and Café and I AM Books (the nation’s only Italian-American bookstore), and Brattle Books and Commonwealth Books, both specializing in used and antiquarian stock.

A short T ride away you’ll find MIT Press Bookstore, Harvard Book Store, and Porter Square Books off the Red Line; off the Green Line you’ll find Brookline Booksmith and Newtonville Books; off the Orange Line you’ll find More Than Words and Papercuts JP. A car or car app can get you to a number more.

Do a bookstore crawl yourself to discover their unique atmospheres and offerings, and don’t forget to ask the booksellers for recommendations. Better yet, visit on the last Saturday of April and enjoy Metro Boston Bookstore Day!

Old Corner Bookstore

Unfortunately, the place known as the Old Corner Bookstore now houses a Chipotle (and it’s a bit of a sore spot for the local literary community). But as you’re lunching on your burrito bowl, know that you’re sitting inside one of Boston’s literary landmarks; the building that was once the hub of America’s literary society back in the 19th century. The building was built in 1718, but between 1845 and 1865 it was Ticknor & Fields, who published Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and more. A

t a time when America was discovering its identity, Ticknor & Fields made sure that American authors assumed a place in the literary landscape. The authors of the time would socialize in the bookstore on the first floor, and so it was thus nicknamed “The Hub of the Hub.” 

Beacon Hill

Take a walk around Beacon Hill and discover the historic homes of a vast number of Boston authors. Start on Pickney Street, where at #20 Louisa May Alcott lived with her family as a young girl; she also lived at #43 and #81.

Across the street, Elizabeth Peabody, who owned a bookshop on West Street and would hold a literary salon, ran a school for children. A few doors down is #4 Pickney, where Henry David Thoreau once lived. Irish poet Louise Imogen Guiney, friends with literary socialite Annie Adams Fields and writer Sarah Orne Jewett, lived at #16.

Over on Mt. Vernon Street, you can find the former residence of Henry James, at #131. Poet Robert Frost lived at #88. And just up Willow Street lived Sylvia Plath at #9.

These are just a few of the many Boston authors who populated Beacon Hill over the years; if you’d like to learn more, or even trace their steps, there are many tour companies that host walking tours of historic Beacon Hill ( Boston By Foot being perhaps the most well-known).

If you don’t mind a little travel, check out this tour from Boston to Concord that takes you on a private tour of local literary history !

Brattle Book Shop and Bookstalls

The Brattle Book Shop outside bookstalls, surrounded by murals of authors and book covers, are easily one of the most Instagrammed literary sites in Boston.

The store, which specializes in used and antiquarian books, maps, prints, and ephemera, began back in 1825, originally located a few blocks away where the present Government Center complex is. The store has been in the Gloss family since 1949 when the current owner’s father bought the store.

After a 1980 fire burned the store to the ground, the people of Boston donated books to keep the store open. Today, the store is still going strong with three floors of books in which to get lost, and an outdoor sale lot with carts selling books for $1, $3, $5.

Take some time to look at the author murals upon the walls above the bookstalls. Curious to learn more about antiquarian books and their market? The owner Ken Gloss hosts a podcast called Brattlecast. 

Omni Parker House

The oldest continuously operating hotel in the country (and one of the top places to stay in Boston!) the Omni Parker House is the place where the original Boston Cream Pie was invented. Enjoy a slice inside knowing that this hotel was once the meeting place of a group of 19th-century writers called the Saturday Club. You can find a blown-up framed sketch of the authors’ table placement in the lobby (note Emerson, Longfellow, Hawthorne…).

The Atlantic Monthly was created at one of their meetings as well. Charles Dickens also read A Christmas Carol for the Saturday Club group before premiering it for Boston audiences; a frequenter of the hotel, you can find the “Dickens Door” in the lower level, which was preserved from the room he used to book when in town (look for the annual reading of A Christmas Carol here).

Malcolm X was once a busboy here, Mark Twain and Willa Cather spent time here, and even Edith Wharton set a scene of The Age of Innocence here.

Today, the hotel’s literary tradition lives on in the School Street Sessions, a take on the old Saturday Club, that meets for public lectures and discussions once a month.

Head to the corner of Charles and Boylston Streets, and you’ll be in the vicinity of the boarding house where Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809. Though Poe was mostly known for being a Baltimore writer and not a Boston one, he spent some time in the city, including publishing his first poems there, including “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Yet Poe had a contentious (to say the least) relationship with Boston and its writers, famously sparring with Longfellow in print and calling the Boston writers “Frog Pondians.”

Still, since he was born here, on the bicentennial of his birth in 2009, Poe Square was dedicated. A statue of the author was unveiled in 2014. The area is a rather literary one as well, with Emerson College and GrubStreet writing center located on the same block.

Boston Athenaeum

Founded in 1807, this private library located behind a set of bright red doors is one of the oldest independent libraries in America. Once a literary hub frequented by Emerson, Hawthorne, Alcott, and others, the Athenaeum is still a vibrant community of patrons and researchers.

It is a member-only library and visitors only have access to the first floor, but here’s the work around: time your visit to their annual Fall Open House, where you can browse the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on the library’s five floors, climb metal spiral stairs to the catwalks, sit in lounge chairs and read while overlooking the Granary Burial Ground and Park Street Church, browse the art collections, visit part of George Washington’s library, and view their rare books collection.

Members enjoy research privileges, book groups, space access, and more, yet most author talks and literary events are open to the public.

The Printing Office of Edes & Gill

Back in Colonial Boston, the Printing Offices of Edes & Gill were the printers of the Boston Gazette, a newspaper that fueled the American Revolution, and Benjamin Edes himself was one of the Sons of Liberty. Edes & Gill was resurrected in 2010 by Gary Gregory, who bought a Colonial printing press and set up a living history printing shop.

Once located next to the Old North Church, Edes & Gill recently relocated to historic Faneuil Hall, where Gregory and his team of living history reenactors give demonstrations on how the printing press works, how to set type, what printing presses were functioning in 18th century America, and the role they played in the Colonies and the Revolution. They will even press out a fresh copy of the Declaration of Independence that you can purchase for $17.76 (get it?).

It’s a must visit while walking the Freedom Trail !

Boston Book Festival

Every October, Copley Square is taken over by the Boston Book Festival , a one-day gathering of authors and readers. The Boston Book Festival provides a full menu of programming, including author talks and panels on things like historical fiction and memoir, keynote speakers, writing workshops, business and craft sessions, literary games and contests, children’s authors and activities, and more.

They also promote One City One Story, where a story is chosen and copies are distributed around Boston, with the intention that the entire city will read a short story together; the author is then invited to a discussion at the Festival.

Additionally, there are dozens of local literary vendors set up in Copley Square – publishing houses, literary magazines, literacy centers – and one can browse while listening to live music from Berklee College musicians and snacking on items from the many food trucks. This massive event is free and open to the public.

Boston is home to so many fantastic historic sites, and if you’re a lover of literary history… Boston literary sites call to you!

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The American Tour: New England’s Lush Literary Landscape

Bookstr’s American tour takes a gander at New England this week! Join us as we explore contemporary and classic reads from this versatile region.

New England has long nurtured the creative spirit and produced some of the most innovative and imaginative literary talents. From bustling college towns to the serenity of Walden Pond, New England holds countless literary destinations and sets the stage for numerous bestsellers. Today, we’ll dive into just 10 notable reads from New England’s premier authors. Whether you’re looking for horror classics, stirring dramas, or coming-of-age, this region truly has a little something for everyone.

If you missed our first destination in the American Tour series, click here to learn more about stories from the Great Plains, and stay tuned for more stops on Bookstr’s literary expedition!

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Our first read immerses us in a chilly New England winter through the eyes of Eileen, a reclusive and obsessive daydreamer living with her alcoholic father. Eileen is a secretary at a juvenile detention center. One day, the enigmatic Rebecca Saint John arrives and turns her cramped, small-town life upside down.

As Ottessa’s debut novel, Eileen is a haunting introduction to the author’s unique and thought-provoking style, now popularly known for showcasing unhinged or unpredictable female leads. This Boston-born and-raised writer received her MFA at Brown University and has since won multiple awards for her novels, including a Pen/Hemingway Award for Eileen and a Believer Book Award for McGlue .

It by Stephen King

Perhaps the most famous contemporary New England writer is Stephen King, who has been pumping out classics from his Maine residence since the 1970s. One of the King of Horror’s most revered works, IT , has been traumatizing readers for decades.

The twisted two-part horror saga following seven youngsters in Derry, Maine (based on the town of Bangor), is a staple on any horror-lovers shelf. And, once you read one King novel, you surely have to read another (and another). Some of his other top bestsellers over the years include The Shining , Carrie , and Misery .

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Set in a Massachusetts town, this spellbinding read brings some witchy history to our New England roundup. Sally and Gillian, raised by their eccentric aunts, grow up as outsiders due to whispers of witchery. As adults, the sisters take two very different paths to escape this cloud over their childhood. Yet, together, they find the power to confront their past and unravel the curse that haunts their family.

Alice Hoffman has penned over 30 novels during her award-winning career. Though raised in Long Island, she now resides in Boston. Aside from the Practical Magic series, Hoffman has written YA books like Aquamarine as well as stirring historical fiction like The Dovekeepers . Her latest release, The Invisible Hour , tells the story of an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts — with inspirational ties to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Born in Vietnam and raised in Connecticut, Ocean Vuong’s stunning, visceral poetry and prose have brought tears to many readers’ eyes. Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize and the New England Book Award, among many other accolades, Vuong is one of the top young writers working today. He currently resides in Northampton, Massachusetts.

In his most recent collection, Time Is a Mother , Vuong grapples with themes of grief, survival, and love after his mother’s death. Much like his 2019 novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous , Vuong vividly and tenderly examines the aftershocks of tragedy without losing sight of the present moment.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

This wholesome classic, published in 1868, whisks us into the world of the March sisters (Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth) for one touching coming-of-age journey. Framed by the American Civil War, this timeless tale highlights the unbreakable bond of sisterhood, the joys and sorrows of romance, and the challenge of Victorian-era gender roles.

Raised in New England by transcendentalist parents, Alcott grew up in the company of many well-known literary voices of the era (ex. Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson). The Alcott residence, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, serves as the backdrop for Little Women and is a popular tourist attraction to this day.

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Set in the late ’90s in Boston, this charming read follows Casey, a thirty-one-year-old aspiring novelist. Navigating life after a breakup and the loss of her mother, Casey’s vulnerable and relatable narration dives into grief, love, identity, creativity, and the writing profession. In her tangle of uncertainty arises a love triangle between an older author named Oscar and a kind-hearted teacher named Silas.

Lily King grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Portland, Maine. Her five novels have garnered widespread recognition, including the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award, and the Maine Fiction Award. Her most recent release is Five Tuesdays in Winter — a short story collection showcasing her compelling and heartwarming prose.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

This hallmark piece of nature writing from Henry David Thoreau, named after the famous Walden Pond in Concord, MA, has been transforming readers for decades. The call to live simply, “deliberately,” and in accordance with nature has profoundly endured since its release in the mid-1800s.

Though Thoreau lived and died in Concord, Massachusetts, he made many notable travels throughout New England — including multiple trips to Cape Cod and up to Maine. His moving reflections on a self-fulfilling existence chronicled from his famous small cabin by Walden Pond have influenced generations of environmental activists, philosophers, and all-around nature lovers.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller, one of New England’s most renowned playwrights, cemented his literary prowess with The Crucible — a commanding drama set during the infamous Salem witch trials. Amidst a frenzy of accusations and suspicion, John Proctor, a respected farmer, finds himself torn between saving himself by admitting to false charges or refusing to incriminate others out of personal integrity.

Though born in Harlem, New York, Miller spent his later years settled in Roxbury, Connecticut. His influential career came with many prestigious recognitions, including the National Medal of Arts, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Some additional lauded works by Miller include Death of a Salesman , All My Sons , and After the Fall .

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault

This gripping debut thriller delves into the lives of siblings Lydia and Lucas, who reside in their family home on Wolf Island. One day, their reality is turned upside down when a man named Cole Anthony arrives. Lydia is immediately connected to the charming stranger, while Lucas becomes convinced he is the reincarnation of their lost triplet brother, Colin.

Author Miciah Bay Gault grew up on Sanibel Island, Cape Cod, and now teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Previously, she was the editor of Hunger Mountain , a literary journal. Goodnight Stranger debuted to much acclaim — including being nominated for the Shirley Jackson Prize and longlisted for the Center of Fiction’s First Novel Prize.

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Strout’s resilient protagonist of the Amgash series, Lucy Barton, returns for a story set in the early days of the pandemic. As uncertainty abounds during the lockdown, Lucy finds herself uprooted from Manhattan and tucked away in a small Maine town with her ex-husband, William. The pair have remained on-and-off friends and now revisit their past in seaside solitude.

Elizabeth Strout was born in Portland, Maine, and raised in small towns in Maine and Durham, New Hampshire. Lucy by the Sea can be read as a standalone novel, but it is the fourth installment in Lucy Barton’s journey as a character. Strout has penned many bestselling novels, including Olive Kittridge , which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

For more featured authors, click here .

Browse these books and more on our  Bookshop American Tour  bookshelf.

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A Literary Tour of Concord, Massachusetts

Always books. Never boring.

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Kate Scott blogs about books at ParchmentGirl.com and is a reviewer for The Vessel Project . Follow her on Twitter @ParchmentGirl37.

There are a lot of great bookish destinations all over the world, but the single greatest literary vacation spot of all time happens to be right next door to my hometown (not that I’m biased or anything). So, where can you find five famous author homes, a bevy of author graves, plus a rockin’ indie bookstore and gorgeous public library all within minutes of a beautiful national park? Concord, MA of course!

Here’s an itinerary that covers the full breadth of Concord’s rich literary history:

The Orchard House – Tour the home of Louisa May Alcott from 1858 to 1877 and the place where she wrote Little Women . Also check out the Concord School of Philosophy right next door, founded by Amos Bronson Alcott in 1879.

The Ralph Waldo Emerson House – Still owned by the Emerson family, the house operates as a seasonal museum. The interior remains much the same as it was in Emerson’s time, but the furniture and books from his study have been moved across the street to the Concord Museum, so be sure to visit there as well.

The Wayside – Officially a part of Minuteman National Park, this stately house was home to three famous literary figures–Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Sidney, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who named it.

The Old Manse – This simple home neighboring the Old North Bridge was occupied by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne at different times. It currently operates as a seasonal museum and bookstore.

Walden Pond – The site of Thoreau’s back-to-the-land escapades, Walden Pond is open to swimmers in the summer months (though, frankly, with the sheer number of people flocking to its beaches, I find swimming in it rather disgusting). On the north shore is the site where Thoreau’s one-room cabin once stood and nearby is a replica that visitors can view.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery – Sleepy Hollow is the final resting place of the entire Alcott family, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau, among other notables. Leave a stone or writing implement on Thoreau’s tombstone and take a walk in the crisp New England air.

The Concord Bookshop – A charming indie bookstore in the town center, The Concord Bookshop is the perfect place to pick up the works of all the authors whose homes you are visiting while in town.

The Concord Free Public Library – Having been born and raised in the area I may be a bit biased, but I truly believe the Minuteman Library Network is one of the best group of libraries in the country. Even if you are visiting and can’t check out books, the architecturally beautiful Concord Library and all the libraries in the surrounding towns are worth visiting for pure pleasure.

While touring the area, stay at Concord’s Colonial Inn, located conveniently in the town center overlooking Monument Square. Or, if you’re on a budget, stay at the Bedford Motel, located in my hometown and only a few minutes drive to all of the above destinations. (With all that historical goodness happening in Concord, Bedford is usually overlooked, but we have excellent accommodation rates!) Concord is also the site of much Revolutionary War history, so be sure to take advantage of that, and consider renting or bringing a bike to ride the Minuteman Bikeway. The best time to visit is late summer to early autumn when all the museums are open and the weather is still reasonably warm.

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Concord, Massachusetts: A Literature Lover’s Paradise

Located 20 miles west of Boston, Massachusetts, Concord is a charming New England town full of rich history, gorgeous architecture, and lovely literary landmarks. No matter if you’re coming to escape the city life or just looking for a cool summer getaway, Concord is the perfect place for you with so many wonderful things to do! Locals and tourists alike love the historical importance of our amazing town. Steeping in literary history, Concord is truly a literature lover’s paradise, as we are home to many current and former famous authors. Start your literary journey at Concord’s Colonial Inn , a longstanding travel destination and town staple since 1716. To help you on your literary tour of Concord, MA, follow our guide of things to do below: 

The Top Bookish Destination

Some of the most legendary literary icons called Concord, Massachusetts, home. The past comes alive here! Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthrone, and Louisa May Alcott all found a home in Concord. You will find five author homes, many authors’ graves, awesome bookstores, and so much more here. Any book lover will feel at home among these great literary relics and other bookish things to do in Concord, MA. There is so much to do that we cannot cover in one sitting, so make sure to check out Concord’s Colonial Inn’s “Things To Do” web page . For a brief overview of the amazing relics, keep reading; 

• Concord Public Library : Architecturally beautiful, our public library is a great place to retreat and cool down during the summer months 
• Orchard House : Louisa May Alcott’s home between 1858 to 1877. The house is temporarily closed until August 2021, but the lush gardens and grounds remain free and available to all. 
• Ralph Waldo Emerson House : Owned by Emerson’s family, this famed home serves as a seasonal museum. The house will be open soon, so check their website for updates. 
• Sleepy Hollow Cemetery : Pay homage to literary greats at the final resting place of the entire Alcott family, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau, among other notables.
• The Concord Bookshop : Local indie bookstore located in Concord’s town center. Established in 1940, you can find some classic reads for all ages.  
• The Old Manse : Built on the banks of the Concord River in 1770, this Georgian clapboard was home to both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 19th century. The grounds are open to the public. 
• The Wayside, Home of Authors :  Home to several notable literary families, from Alcott to Hawthrone, it’s a part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom and the Minute Man National Historical Park . 
• Thoreau Farm : Currently closed until further notice, but the staff is hoping to open up Thoreau’s birthplace sometime in 2021. 
• Walden Pond : Visit the slice of nature that inspired Henry David Thoreau’s renowned book Walden . Take a swim, go on a walk, and visit the replica of Thoreau’s single-room cabin. 

Colonial Charm Meets Modern Comfort

Now that you know all the great literary stops and things to do in Concord, MA, we welcome you to stay in a landmark historic hotel, Concord’s Colonial Inn ! From our spacious guest rooms to our modern amenities, you and yours will have a fantastic time at our inn, full of gracious service from our staff. Book your stay online now !

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A literary road trip through New England

Summer is the perfect time for road trips, so why not take one that's educational at the same time new england overflows with literary history, and also happens to be small enough to see multiple locations per day. visit the homes and museums of famous american literary figures like longfellow, alcott, and twain, and take in the beautiful scenes and summer breeze as you drive through connecticut , massachusetts , and new hampshire . check out the route here, 1. the mark twain house and museum.

Aug. 02, 2012, 3:34 p.m. ET

• By Josephine Massey Christian Science Monitor

Where better to begin your journey with than the home of the author celebrated by William Faulkner as the "father of American literature?" Although Mark Twain is known for his Missouri roots, he moved to Hartford, Conn. , in 1874 and built an extravagant Victorian home for his family, which included his wife Olivia and their three daughters. Much like Twain, the house is known for its unpredictable characteristics. Intricate designs pattern both interior and exterior, and features appearing to be pairs turn out to have subtle differences. During his time in the house Twain penned some of his most famous works, including " Huckleberry Finn ," " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ," "Life on the Mississippi ," and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Although Twain ran into financial troubles and had to sell the house in 1891, it was preserved by neighbors and others who admired Twain.

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My New England Author Home Tour: Common Lives, Uncommon Minds

Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott wrote “Little Women.”

On August 10 this year, I set out with my husband to do something I have dreamed of for a long time: take a driving tour around New England. The goal: to visit as many great authors’ homes as we could manage in our eight-day tour of southern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.

We basked in the ever-changing views of the beautiful New England countryside, passing by rolling hills, pine-covered green mountains, marsh, forest, and rocky shoreline, stopping often to visit the old homes and sites where authors wrote some of the most treasured literature in America’s history.

This trip was a lovely and thought-provoking experience. Many of us revere our favorite geniuses, whether writers, artists, athletes, actors, or directors, for the intellectual thrills, pleasure, and meaning they bring to our lives through their excellent productions.

Sitting Room of the home where Longfellow grew up.

But I know for me, this reverence makes it difficult to regard my most admired authors exactly as fellow humans. After seeing where they lived and wrote, where they made their homes, a bit about how they lived, often in humble circumstances, my perspective is changed .

Treading the beautiful old wooden floors we found in almost every home, the very boards my favorite writers trod back and forth when stuck for a word or a phrase, reminded me of something.

These writers were indeed geniuses, but they were also just people–humans a lot like me. They had to figure out where to live, what to eat, what to wear, when and where to write.

They had family, friends, enemies, and fellow townspeople. They had other passions besides writing—perhaps a garden, a fondness for hiking, a favorite grandchild, a well-loved chair, a treasured view. Their homes were decorated with pretty wallpaper and draperies, bright paint colors, beloved art, and above all, books, books, books!

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The minds of the great authors whose homes we visited might tower above most of ours, but they lived their lives on a human scale. Experiencing that humanness viscerally gives me even more affection for their works. It’s so much clearer that these writers speak to me, and to all their readers, not as gods issuing proclamations from the clouds, but as fellows sharing their thoughts at our elbow, as friends writing us letters from their desks, just down the street.

Not that these writers were just like average folk in every respect. Seeing their homes all together in this way made it plain that there are certain things they had more in common with each other than with the non-writing public. In a moment, I’ll talk about what these great writers seemed to have in common, and how knowing about these similarities enhances how I read their literature.

First, though, here’s the Author Home Tour Itinerary!

Among other historical sites and beauty spots, here are the homes we visited, in the order we saw them. Our actual journey took longer than the days listed because we stopped to see other sights, but with no other stops, it would be possible to tour these homes in five days. (Links are provided to house museum websites):

Day 1: Robert Frost’s Stone House in Shaftsbury, VT

Day 2: Robert Longfellow’s Boyhood Home in Portland, ME

Day 3: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house in Concord, MA Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, Concord M A The Old Manse, where Hawthorne lived with his new wife Sophia for three years,  Concord, MA A replica of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond, Concord, MA

Day 4: Emily Dickinson’s Homestead and her brother’s home next door, The Evergreens, in Amherst, MA

Day 5: Herman Melville’s Arrowhead farmhouse in Pittsfield, MA Edith Wharton’s The Mount in Lenox, MA

New England Authors at Home

Frost’s floors: a good place for a writer to pace.

As I think back over all the homes on our Author Home Tour, what I remember first are the floors. Almost all the homes had splendid, old wood floors, returned where possible to their original condition by loving museum curators. It’s so easy to think of each writer pacing back and forth and hearing their feet tap and creak on the wood. Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic guide at Dickinson’s house pointed out that there was a ridge worn into the floor making a trail between Dickinson’s bed and desk, perhaps worn by the poet herself as she paced the room pondering the next phrase.

Thanks to dedicated curators who have been working to remake or preserve these homes as they were in their writers’ day, we can see exactly how most of them looked when the writers lived there. Most were very pretty, homey houses with bright décor. Dickinson and Alcott both had pink flowered wallpaper in their own rooms, with windows to let in much light. Longfellow’s boyhood home was decorated throughout with brightly figured, striking wallpaper and window hangings.

Art and Favorite Things

1930s B & W photo documents the sitting room of the Old Manse, showing the stuffed owl Hawthorne recovered from the attic. It’s still there!

All the homes contained art that seemed personally meaningful. Alcott’s sister May, a European trained painter, had painted a beautifully detailed picture of an owl, Louisa’s favorite animal. On Emily Dickinson’s wall were hung engraved prints of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), successful and intellectual women writers whom she admired and found inspirational. In Longfellow’s sitting room was an engraving of a portrait of George Washington, who was a friend of Longfellow’s maternal grandfather, from the time both fought together in the Revolutionary War.

Emerson’s study and sitting room had a copy of a painting of the Three Fates that he was much taken with when visiting Rome after his first wife’s death. Though Hawthorne was a renter in the Old Manse, he joyfully rummaged its attic for interesting art objects, and proudly and humorously brought out a large stuffed owl to display in the sitting room. Though not strictly décor, his wife Sophia also added her long-lasting mark on the house by scratching several messages into the study windowpanes with her diamond wedding ring, still visible today. One commemorates a snowy day when her toddler daughter looked out the window with awe at the frost and ice. Another suggests that she knew her husband would be famous, recording for posterity: “Nathaniel Hawthorne: His Study.”

Close-up of window at the Old Manse shows the writing Sophia Hawthorne scratched into the window: “Nathaniel Hawthorne: His Study.”

Melville had an old whale harpoon made into a poker to rearrange his logs in his study at Arrowhead Farmhouse. When the family moved into the ramshackle old house, his wife disliked the large, rough, inelegant stone fireplace and wanted to remodel. Melville, however, loved the age and warmth of this structure and wouldn’t let her change it, going on to write a long semi-humorous essay about his attachment to it, called “I and My Chimney.” ( Read “I and My Chimney” here. )

As a wealthy woman, Wharton could design and build her entire home as a work of art that expressed her exquisite taste and design theories. She defied then-current late Victorian taste for dark and heavy-looking interiors, instead creating symmetrical, balanced open spaces decorated with pastel colors, white friezes, and lots of natural light. After designing and building The Mount, she became known not only as a celebrated author but also as the writer of the first published book of American interior design.

Books Books Books!

Above all, these houses were full of books, books, books! There were so many shelves crammed in to so many rooms, upstairs and downstairs, even in the back hall. In our current era, when so many are urging and celebrating a massive downsizing of our possessions and collections, I have felt rather apologetic about all the bookshelves deployed around my house. But no longer! My numerous groaning bookshelves give me a direct human link with the very authors whose works help to fill them.

Wealthy Edith Wharton’s collection, of course, far outpaces me, and all these other authors too. Her wealth allowed her to indulge her bookish tastes by owning 5,000 books, many of which have just been re-purchased by the Edith Wharton Restoration trust to be housed once again on their original shelves.

My fellow tourists gaze at Edith Wharton’s huge library at The Mount. She was not the only author whose home showed a love of books.

The only exception to homes with large libraries, naturally enough, was Thoreau’s small cabin on Walden Pond. The original cabin does not exist, but we know what it looked like and what it contained from the replica near the original site, and from Thoreau’s own descriptions in Walden, or Life in the Woods . As the original dweller in the first self-constructed American Tiny Home, who urged on his fellows “Simplicity! Simplicity! Simplicity!” he could not have had a huge library there, though we know for sure he retained a precious copy of Homer’s Iliad :

“I kept Homer’s Iliad on my table through the summer, though I looked at his page only now and then. Incessant labor with my hands, at first, for I had my house to finish and my beans to hoe at the same time, made more study impossible. Yet I sustained myself by the prospect of such reading in future. I read one or two shallow books of travel in the intervals of my work, till that employment made me ashamed of myself, and I asked where it was then that I lived.” (Thoreau, Walden , Chapter 3, “Reading”)

Nature Just Out the Door

Though most of these homes were located in small towns, all of them offered views of nature right outside their doors. Now, as I close my eyes to recall our chain of visits to these homes, the view in my mind’s eye is greeny, piney, and tree-ish. Indeed, all of these authors loved Nature. They wrote of drawing inspiration from walking through natural settings or simply sitting still in contemplation of nature’s wonders.

Numerous poems document Emily Dickinson’s love of her garden, which provided her spacious mind a microcosm of the entire created universe. Robert Frost loved to hike; he lived many years in his Vermont Stone House, which included a beautiful forest on the property. Longfellow was raised in a house on the last street in Portland, Maine. The front door opened on a town, but the back door opened on country, since the family owned a farm that stretched a good way out from their back door.

Indeed, if not for the woods, orchards, and waterways near Concord for Louisa May Alcott to run through, or for Emerson to pace while pondering life’s meaning, or for Thoreau to surround himself by, or for Hawthorne to go boating and fishing along, we may never have seen Little Women or “Nature” or Walden or “Young Goodman Brown” come to be. For these authors, nature was the source of serenity, spirituality, and inspiration.

Mt. Greylock in the Berkshires–Melville’s view as he wrote “Moby-Dick.”

Where and How They Wrote

For me, the highlight of every author’s house tour was seeing where these authors made their magic: the rooms they wrote in, the desks they used, the very views they saw when they lifted a pen to ponder a word choice. Given their mutual love of nature, it’s not surprising that most authors had desks that faced out a window, with views of trees, ponds, or gardens.

Melville, famously, had one of the grandest views, staring out at beautiful Mt. Greylock in the Berkshire Mountains while drafting the great Moby-Dick and his next novel, Pierre, or the Ambiguities . The mountain’s humpy shape reminded him of whales. Though he dedicated Moby-Dick to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, he dedicated the strange and tormented Pierre to the mountain itself! Read more about that in this NY Times article .

The room where Frost wrote “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Both Emerson and Frost wrote on tables centered in spacious windowed rooms. Frost faced greenery out the window; Emerson faced his books. Interestingly, Emerson was enamored of rocking chairs, which were scattered throughout the house, his favorite one pulled up to the table as a desk chair.

Edith Wharton, exceptional here as in other ways, did not write at a table or desk but in her bed each morning, relaxing in her dressing gown free from corsets and other restrictions, dropping her pages to the floor as she finished them. However, she was not exceptional in one way: her bedroom had a beautiful natural view, in this case of her lovely manicured gardens and the Berkshire mountains beyond.

Thoreau’s sturdy desk was one of the larger pieces of furniture in his tiny Walden Pond cabin. Alcott, Dickinson, and Hawthorne, on the other hand, wrote on tiny desks that were no more than large shelves projecting from the wall. Alcott’s and Dickinson’s desks faced outward, but Hawthorne’s was tucked next to the cozy study fireplace with his back to the window. He was often dissatisfied with his level of productivity, so perhaps he faced the wall to avoid distractions.

Hawthorne describes his study in his charming introduction to the story collection “Mosses from an Old Manse,” reminding us that Emerson had also written great works in this home during the year he lived with his step-grandfather in this old Emerson family property:

“. . . . [T]here was in the rear of the house the most delightful little nook of a study that ever afforded its snug seclusion to a scholar. It was here that Emerson wrote Nature; for he was then an inhabitant of the Manse, and used to watch the Assyrian dawn and Paphian sunset and moonrise from the summit of our eastern hill. When I first saw the room, its walls were blackened with the smoke of unnumbered years, and made still blacker by the grim prints of Puritan ministers that hung around. . . . They had all vanished now; a cheerful coat of paint and golden-tinted paper-hangings lighted up the small apartment; while the shadow of a willow-tree that swept against the overhanging eaves atempered the cheery western sunshine. In place of the grim prints there was the sweet and lovely head of one of Raphael’s Madonnas, and two pleasant little pictures of the Lake of Como. The only other decorations were a purple vase of flowers, always fresh, and a bronze one containing graceful ferns. My books (few, and by no means choice; for they were chiefly such waifs as chance had thrown in my way) stood in order about the room, seldom to be disturbed.” Hawthorne, “The Old Manse”

You can read the whole essay here. 

Hours and Hours of Writing

Hawthorne’s description of his years at The Old Manse conveys plainly how sensitive writers can be to their environments, and how carefully they arrange them. As each stop on our author home tour made clear, where these writers wrote was only one factor in their success. One of the biggest contributing factors to their achievements must be, simply, how much they wrote. Indeed, most of these writers wrote and wrote and wrote.

Herman Melville*

Melville would lock himself in his study for hours. Alcott trained herself to write with both hands, so when her right hand was too tired to go on, she could simply switch to her left. This amazing trick enabled her to put in 14-hour writing sessions, after which she might collapse for days before recovering to go on. I don’t think it’s known exactly how many hours a day Dickinson devoted to her poems, but in the course of 36 years or so, she wrote almost 1800 of them, which has to tally up to many hours each week spent writing. Scholars think she wrote almost a poem a day during her most productive periods.

Meetings of the Minds

Henry David Thoreau

Even though these writers spent much time alone, writing or contemplating nature, they were far from isolated from stimulating human minds and relationships. All of them were very well educated and well-read in the latest thinking: science, news, ideas, and literary trends. Most of their homes were full of the latest periodicals and leading publications. Emily Dickinson, who is so often said to have been reclusive and isolated, read extensively among all the latest publications her father brought into their home, in part because he wanted his daughters to be informed.

Besides keeping in touch with contemporary minds through reading, most authors shared and discussed their thoughts, ideas, and lives with each other. Emerson, as founder of the Transcendental school of philosophy, drew truth-seekers from all over the country to visit and confer with him. He was also a kind neighbor and supporter of his intellectual neighbors, providing Thoreau with work and land to build his cabin, living next door to Hawthorne, and inviting a young Louisa May Alcott into his study to talk about his favorite books.

Louisa May Alcott

Thoreau amused and talked with Alcott as they took nature walks through the Concord woods. Hawthorne had roomed with Longfellow at Bowdoin College and remained friends with him; it was Hawthorne who gave Longfellow the idea to write about the plight of the Cajuns, which eventually became Longfellow’s poem Evangeline . While living at Arrowhead, Melville met Hawthorne, who was then a fairly close neighbor. For a time the men were good friends who had a world view in common; Hawthorne would often ride on horseback several miles over to Melville’s farm and spend the night in Melville’s small guest room.

Edith Wharton was a very close friend of one of America’s greatest writers, Henry James, and also entertained many writers and thinkers at her small round dining table at The Mount. Robert Frost also sought support among fellow writers; at first unsuccessful at publishing most of his poems in America, he moved his family to London to meet the famous Ezra Pound and his circle. They welcomed and encouraged him, helping him get his first book of poems, A Boy’s Will , published. From that book he went on to publish four American Pulitzer Prize winning books of poetry.

Dickinson the Recluse? Not Exactly. . .

The Homestead, home of Emily Dickinson and her family. One of eight authors’ homes I visited.

Even Emily Dickinson, though she rarely left her home after 1860, was not truly isolated. Before becoming reclusive, she lived an active life with many friends, who found her witty, informed, and charming. Her brother Austin married one of her best friends, Sue Gilbert; the couple lived right next door. Austin and Sue’s home became the intellectual salon of Amherst. To their sitting room, the couple invited university professors and students from Amherst College, the town’s most intellectual people, and famous visitors to Amherst, such as Emerson. Through her 20s, Dickinson was frequently in their home, conversing and entertaining guests with her piano playing. After she retired behind the closed doors of The Homestead, she kept in close touch with intellectual friends through writing many letters back and forth.

Sources of Genius

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrait by Charles Osgood

Like everyday people, and yet not exactly like them, these authors were set apart by certain things they had in common with each other that not everyone could say they share.

Like me, they lived in their homes, decorating them with objects personally meaningful, worrying about money or familial problems, and enjoying their friends and their families. Also like me, and no doubt some of my readers, they had a deep and abiding love for books, reading and collecting many.

Less like me, and perhaps less like today’s average person, they had a truly intense love, even a personal relationship, with the natural world, looking to nature for peace, solitude, inspiration, and spiritual meaning. They also had an advantage most of us don’t have: each other. Of the writers who lived near one another within the same generation, they conversed, shared, and challenged, giving each other ideas as well as ideas to react against. They also had a staggering devotion to writing, many with a near-obsessive need to write.

The Essence of their Achievements

But I think the overriding quality that all these writers shared is so rare, that it is truly the essence of their great achievements. Unlike most of us, these writers pondered the significance of everything, no matter how slight, trying to look at the experiences and material of life as if no one had ever seen it before.

The smallest object or impression could be meaningful. The most familiar experience could be approached in an entirely original way. While living their lives on a human scale in these pretty homes, these writers’ minds were anything but small. They devoted themselves to search for unique significances, and then to finding the most powerful or winsome ways to communicate their vision to others.

To that dedication we owe thanks for hundreds of literary works we rightly treasure to this day, prized for their beauty and for the ideas both grand and uniquely simple that have become woven into the history of our common mind.

Thanks to my whirlwind tour of their once-intimate spaces, I can now regard these authors less as gods and more as friends speaking at my elbow. Yet paradoxically, I revere their large and uncommon minds no less. Perhaps, though not gods, they have after all partaken a little more of godly nectar than is common, making us all the gainers.

Stone House in Shaftsbury, Vermont, where Robert Frost wrote “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Photo Credits:

Orchard House. Daderot at the English language Wikipedia [ CC BY-SA 3.0 ].

Emerson sketch.  Samuel W. Rowse [Public domain].

Melville Arrowhead Sign . By Midnightdreary [Public domain].

Sitting Room of Old Manse .  See page for author [Public domain]

Mt. Greylock. John Phelan [ CC BY 3.0 ].

Melville portrait . By Joseph O. Eaton and an unknown etcher (Library of Congress) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Thoreau photograph. D. Maxham [Public domain].

Alcott photograph . George Kendall Warren (d. 1884); restored by Adam Cuerden [Public domain].

Hawthorne portrait . By Charles Osgood – [Public Domain], via Wikipedia Commons.

All other photos by MJ Booklover.

Mary Jane is a longtime literature lover who lived in the Cincinnati area for many years, then in central Louisiana for three years (what a treat!), teaching literature classes at universities in both locations. Now back in the Cincinnati area, she pampers her grandchildren, experiments with cooking, and visits art museums as often as possible.

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Authors' Homes Edith Wharton Emerson Great Authors great writers Hawthorne Longfellow Louisa May Alcott Melville Moby Dick Nature as Inspiration New England Authors Pierre Writing Process

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My Great New England Train Adventure

• November 18, 2021
• No comments
• 5 minute read

By Zeenath Khan

Friends and family met my decision to travel to Vermont from Manhattan with various degrees of incredulity. 

‘How can you stand the idea of being in a train for 9 hours?’

‘Do you know that driving only takes five hours?’

Eighteen months of life in pandemic conditions had stirred a wanderlust within me. I’d always fantasized about seeing the barren landscape of the Silk Route through a train window. For now, I had to make due with traveling through mundane New England. For inspiration, I downloaded Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar on my Kindle. Theroux is one of the twentieth century’s most prolific travel writers. In 1973, the year of my birth, he set out by train across all of Europe and Asia. The last time I traveled by train long-distance was thirty years ago. Those days, I wasn’t into rolling landscapes. But after being cooped up in an apartment for months, my eyes thirsted for new sights. So, I trundled off with two rolling suitcases to New York City’s spanking new Moynihan Hall. I boarded The Vermonter (my train’s name) and settled into a plush seat. In his novel, Paul Theroux is quick to compare the merits of different modes of transport. ‘Nothing is expected of the train passenger,’ he says. ‘While planes condemn travelers to hours in a tight seat; ships require high spirits and sociability; cars and buses are unspeakable. The sleeping car is the most painless form of travel.’

My train left New York City and entered a long tunnel. Paul Theroux begins his book as he is leaving London. The brick terraces, coal yards and narrow back gardens of South London he describes are probably as dull as the office parks and nondescript housing of Connecticut’s commuter neighborhoods. In Paris, he steps on the Orient Express. It will halt in Lausanne, Milan, Trieste, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Sofia. At this early juncture, Ceylon’s rosy heat is Theroux’s motivating factor. Mine would be Vermont’s crisp mountain air and freshly churned ice-cream. Theroux’s first impression of the Turkish Steppes leaves him nonplussed—he mentions packs of stray dogs and dusty, brown hills. I passed the first attractive scenery of my journey—the Stamford Harbor and its pristine sailboats. Meanwhile, Theroux has reached Istanbul and is admiring caiques on the Bosporus. 

Unlike Theroux, who befriended many interesting characters on his journey, my socially-distanced compartment allowed for no interaction with other human beings. Among his fellow travelers are an Englishman formerly with the Indian Army, gags of Japanese, Germanic tribes, and hippies on their way to India. Most of the latter are teenage girls fleeing their parents; their photographs, Theroux is sure plastered on the walls of American consulates between London and Delhi. Every generation deals with its own issues, parents fleeing children, children fleeing their parents. Theroux’s journey itself is one of self-indulgence—one of travel for its own sake. Stamford’s next offering to me is an ugly power grid. Theroux dismisses Turkey’s mountains as brown and parched like an over-baked pie crust. 

The Vermonter slows down at Bridgeport and remains suspended over a body of greenish-brown water. My first glimpse of wildlife—bobbing ducks. Theroux has learned the word baksheesh—in the three thousand miles from Turkey to India (it means ‘a tip’). His fellow passenger, a Turk, foresees the end of the hippie movement. Their shortcoming being tightfistedness and being unable to understand baksheesh. My train gathers speed, passing woods, an office building with a shiny front, and a white-spire church. Theroux is on the Night Mail bound for the holy city of Meshed. It is full of pilgrims who spend their journey in various postures of devotion. As the pressure of prayer builds, the train’s carriages vibrate with its passenger’s zeal. Guilt overcomes me at missing my own prayers—the thought of performing them on a moving train hasn’t occurred to me. I am still doing better than Theroux, who hasn’t showered for five days. 

Theroux nears Afghanistan. Its king, Zahir Shah, has been deposed while enjoying a holiday in Italy. Now Theroux’s compartment is sans electricity and water. I am in New Haven where the Vermonter switches engines—sans electricity. Touché Paul. In 1973, when Theroux embarked on this journey, cross-continental travel was not for the faint of heart. Other than the physical hardships of erratic food supply and questionable sanitation; credit cards, mobile phones, and GPS did not exist. After a hot and stifling half hour, The Vermonter moves again. The scenery remains lackluster—industrial waste, then a marsh housing the occasional brown duck. Theroux’s journey has brightened. He is on the Khyber Mail bound for Peshawar. His compartment has a toilet sink, drop-leaf table, well-upholstered seat, mirror, and ashtray. I do hope he took the time to bathe. I am in the town of Meridien. It has a large lake with pretty waterfront homes. The trees are homogenous. Theroux is on the Kalka Mail . Its meat-grinder cogs have lulled him to sleep. Hippies have found their way to Simla in their droves. A persistent ashram owner attempts to induct Theroux by saying, ‘If you believed in yoga, you would not have to worry about catching trains.’

To which Theroux replies. ‘That is why I do not believe in yoga.’

It has taken me three and a half hours to reach open farmland. I pass Springfield, Massachusetts. Theroux is on the Grand Trunk Express. When he tells people of his dream to travel to Ceylon by train, they laugh. The Vermonter stops at an old-fashioned Railway Crossing. The kind where cars stop behind a white fence to allow a train to pass. At long last. I spot a bubbling stream, wild daisies, rolling hills and dense woods. Theroux travels the Palk Straits by steamer. Obviously, no train tracks link India to Ceylon. In Galle, Theroux admires a sunset that patterns the sky in a rufous gold. 

When The Vermonter leaves Massachusetts to enter Vermont, the landscape is striking all at once. I switch off my Kindle and pack it in my handbag. My train is traveling parallel to lakes surrounded by mountains on three sides. The water reflects the mountains, clouds, and trees as clearly as a looking glass. Between lakes are chestnut-colored horses galloping within enclosures. A week before my arrival, on the 19 th of July, Amtrak started its service to Vermont for the first time since March 2020. Celebrations took place at train stations throughout the state. Locals gathered to cheer the train in. Local restaurant owners handed out free coffees and donuts. I returned to The Great Railway Bazar on my return journey. Theroux returns to India and proceeds to Burma, Singapore, and Japan before heading back to London via Russia. On the platform of Essex Junction, my brother, his wife, and my canine nephews are waiting to greet me. The first thing my brother says to me is: You certainly can’t travel light. 

Zeenath Khan lives in Mumbai, India. She is a freelance writer and aspiring historical novelist. Over the pandemic, she pursued a novel-writing course and discovered the joy of reading books written by renowned twentieth-century authors. Alongside working on her novel, she writes articles on history, culture, religion, and topics of social interest. Travel writing is a new foray for her. But it’s an area she would like to pursue as countries open their borders once again.

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Sorry, New England: 2024′s best fall foliage will be in NY, forecast predicts

• Published: Sep. 10, 2024, 1:31 p.m.

Fall foliage is just visible at the top of Glenora Falls, a hidden treasure along South Glenora Road in the Yates County town of Dundee, N.Y., Oct. 24, 2019. Lauren Long | [email protected] Lauren Long | [email protected]

• Samantha House | [email protected]

Old Forge, N.Y. — Move over, New England: A new fall foliage king is set to be crowned this year in the Northeast.

New York — particularly Upstate New York — is expected to host some of the Northeast’s “best displays” of stunning fall leaves during the 2024 season, AccuWeather reported in its yearly fall foliage forecast . Upstate is part of the relatively small swath of the continental United States slated to have “vibrant” fall foliage this year.

New England is historically a fall foliage hot spot. But thanks to an early autumn that is forecasted to feel more like a second summer, the region is expected to have a less impressive, “typical” season, AccuWeather said.

“New York state, I think it’s going to be a beautiful fall foliage site — reds and oranges, really bright, as we dry out here in September,” lead long-range meteorologist Paul Paselok said.

What’s the recipe for bright red and orange fall foliage?

The weather during summer and early fall has a big impact on the vibrancy of changing autumnal leaves, AccuWeather said. Drought creates dull color palates and stressed-out trees that drop leaves early, while a deluge of rain can lead to moldy leaves and insect invasions.

Read more: 2024 fall foliage: When will leaves change, peak in Upstate NY?

By the end of July, Central New York had logged the hottest summer on record . The mid-summer month was also marked by strong storms that battered Upstate with 16 tornadoes in just seven days — the most since official records began in 1950.

August, the last month of meteorological summer, ended with several rainy, 70-degree days.

Leaf peepers should cross their fingers for sunny September days capped off by cool (but not frosty) nights — a weather pair that speeds up the breakdown of chlorophyll in leaves, leading to jewel-worthy autumn shades, AccuWeather said.

Fall foliage reach near peak at Otisco Lake in Central New York on Friday, October 14, 2022. N. Scott Trimble | [email protected] N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

The Great Lakes region and parts of the Midwest are in line to have the most vibrant fall, AccuWeather said. In Upstate New York, the best leaf-peeping shows are expected to be found in the:

• Finger Lakes
• Western New York
• Southern Tier
• North Country
• Most of the Adirondacks
• Central New York

The Catskills, Capital Region and Hudson Valley are forecasted to have

AccuWeather’s meteorologists aren’t the only experts who have dubbed the Empire State a great place to see fall foliage in 2024. Travel + Leisure has dubbed Upstate’s Catskills regions the top place for couples to go leaf peeping and one of the best places (overall) to drink in beautiful fall colors.

Plan now and catch the riot of colors before leaf-peeping season ends: New York experienced its snowfall of the season Sunday morning at the top of Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks.

Fall colors at Buttermilk Falls in New York's Central Adirondacks, September 30, 2019. Michael Greenlar | [email protected] Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syr

More in Upstate NY travel

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England drops Lawrence and calls up uncapped Carse and Cox for Pakistan cricket test tour

Britain cricket england sri lanka.

LONDON (AP) — England dropped batter Dan Lawrence and called up uncapped seam bowler Brydon Carse, weeks after he completed a ban for breaching betting violations, for the three-match test tour of Pakistan in October.

England's 17-man squad was announced on Tuesday and included opener Zak Crawley and captain Ben Stokes, who both missed the recent series against Sri Lanka because of finger and hamstring injuries, respectively.

Lawrence played as a makeshift opener against the Sri Lankans in Crawley's absence but failed to impress, with his highest score being 35. Jordan Cox, who is uncapped at test level and will play for England for the first time in the upcoming white-ball matches against Australia, replaced Lawrence.

Carse is the other uncapped player summoned after serving a three-month ban for historical breaches of betting rules. The South Africa-born pacer was banned for 16 months, but 13 of them were suspended and he was free to resume playing on Aug. 28.

England will take three spinners to the subcontinent in Shoaib Bashir, Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach, the latter two having been overlooked for this summer's test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Josh Hull, the 20-year-old left-armer who made his debut in the third test against Sri Lanka and is seen as the future of England's pace attack, was one of seven seamers in the squad. Among them is Chris Woakes, who was selected for an overseas test series for the first time since 2022.

The venues for the three-match series are yet to be confirmed. The England and Wales Cricket Board said an announcement is expected from the Pakistan Cricket Board this week.

England: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

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