Where Classics Were Written

One of the things I loved most about growing up in New England was being around so much history. I lived pretty close to Concord, Mass., which is most famous for being the site of The Shot Heard ’Round the World ON MY BIRTHDAY (that last part is crucial to its fame) that, along with Paul Revere’s ride, marked the start of the Revolutionary War. If you’re allowed to have a favorite war—which of course is really twisted and no one in their right mind would ever, ever do—I’d pick the Revolutionary War.

Anyhow, my mom and I would go into Concord and do all of these home tours of famous authors. It became even more fun after I read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Clearly Teen Tracey was a giant nerd.

Yesterday I was passing through town and took some photos for you guys because I’m betting that if anyone will find old authors’ homes interesting it’ll be you.

My first love: Louisa May Alcott’s home. The first time I visited I was amazed that the floor wasn’t perfectly level inside. Because—hello—that’s how houses are supposed to be.

The coolest part of Hawthorne’s house is the small room at the very top of the house (you can see it there, higher than the rest) where he wrote his novels standing up.

Obviously Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was buddies with Louisa May Alcott’s dad, another trancendentalist) was the rich guy on the block. The number of chimneys in a house is directly proportional to your wealth.

You should know that I did not walk all the way to Walden Pond to snap a shot of Henry David Thoreau’s shack. I did, however, get a photo of his favorite hangout because HE WALKED INTO TOWN REGULARLY, yet one more reason I dislike Walden. Living alone in the woods does not count when civilization is a couple miles away and you hit the tavern for a drink.

What author’s home would you like to tour. And yes, J.K. Rowling does count.*

*As long as you make it past security. But for a go at that Hogwarts tree house it’d be worth it.