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Henry James called Concord, Massachusetts “the biggest little place in America.”* Concord was home to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott and his daughter Louisa May. Walden Pond is in the neighborhood. (More recently, according to Wikipedia, contemporary authors gather there as well, including Patricia Cornwell, Gregory Maguire, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and the late Robert B. Parker.) In other words, there is no shortage of literary sites to visit while I’m here. These may include…

the Concord Museum, filled with artifacts relating to the American Revolutionary War and the Transcendentalists

the Emerson House

the Orchard House, home to the Alcott family, and presumed setting of Little Women.

And without question, I will be visiting Walden Pond

and the cabin there.

(this is a replica.)

In truth, there are enough places to see in Concord that I may not fit them all in. It’s a delicate balance, while on vacation, to do all the things you want to do and still relax a bit – so as to not need a vacation when you get home!

*Henry James: Collected Travel Writings, “The American Scene: Concord and Salem,” 1907

Filed under: miscellaneous | Tagged: personal, travel |