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On May 23, 1860, the thirtieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Alcott, eldest daughter Anna married John Bridge Pratt beneath an arbor in this room. Years later, Louisa recalled this first family wedding and described it in Little Women as the marriage of "Meg March" and "John Brooke." Located in Concord, Massachusetts (within an hour of Boston) the house opened its doors to the public in 1911, some twenty-three years after the deaths of Louisa May and her father, the noted philosopher and educator Amos Bronson Alcott. Though Little Women may be the primary draw to Orchard House, the property also showcases Bronson’s work as a transcendentalist and education reformer. Any money the Alcott family did have went to fund Bronson’s private schools, which Turnquist says were about a century ahead of their time.
Early life
With her often turbulent emotions, active imagination, and serious pre-occupation with her family's financial welfare, a haven into which she could escape to find the solitude and freedom to write was indispensable. When the family first moved into Orchard House, Louisa's father not only built a bookcase cupboard for her, but the half-moon writing desk between the two front windows as well. It was at this desk in 1868 that Louisa wrote Little Women -- a book that would change the course of American literature as well as the Alcotts' lives.
In popular culture
Among these are A Long Fatal Love Chase and Pauline's Passion and Punishment.[28] The protagonists of these books, like those of Collins and Braddon (who also included feminist characters in their writings), are strong, smart, and determined. She also wrote stories for children and she did not return to writing for adults after her children’s stories became popular. Alcott also wrote the novelette A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), which was published anonymously and then believed to be the work of Julian Hawthorne,[29] and the semi-autobiographical novel Work (1873). The Alcotts remained in Orchard House until 1877, when Bronson sold it to William Torrey Harris, a fellow philosopher, educator, and co-founder of the Concord School of Philosophy.
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Literary Ladies Guide
Rather, she says they were “genteel poor,” meaning that although the family didn’t have money themselves, they did have wealthy relatives who could give them hand-me-downs and access to other resources. For fans of any adaptation of Little Women, a visit to Orchard House is almost like coming home or checking in on an old friend. Though she did not move into Orchard House until she was in her 20s, Alcott spent a great deal of time in her bedchamber, particularly after she returned to Concord in 1862, seriously ill after serving as a nurse in the Civil War.
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Poverty made it necessary for Alcott to go to work at an early age as a teacher, seamstress, governess, domestic helper, and writer. Her sisters also supported the family, working as seamstresses, while their mother took on social work among the Irish immigrants. Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. In 1868, when Louisa was 35 years old, her publisher, Thomas Niles, asked her to write "a girls' story." The 492 pages of Little Women, Part I were dashed off within three months at the desk Louisa's father built for her in her Orchard House bedchamber.
A look inside Orchard House
We then wind through the dining room and modest parlor, where the March family entertained their esteemed neighbors, including Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was an important mentor for Louisa) and Henry David Thoreau, and where Anna’s wedding to John Pratt took place. Mr. March, the family patriarch, isn’t quite the dreamer as was Amos Bronson Alcott. His ideas were lofty and social views incredibly progressive, but he struggled to make a living for the family. Restless, quick-tempered, and tomboyish, Jo is an aspiring writer and the family’s creative ringleader, much as Louisa was. Roadtrippers helps you find the most epic destinations and detours—from roadside attractions to natural wonders and beyond.
Definitely a 5 stars Facility and Staff, everyone from the Administrative Office, Social Worker, Nurses, LVNs, CNAs are very professional, friendly and caring towards not only their patients but as well to the visiting family members. I would like to specially thank Everyone that took great and compassionate care of our mother while staying there. Alcott Rehabilitation Hospital recognizes the unique needs of our patients and provides a secure environment to meet both their social and clinical needs while still promoting independence. Alcott Rehabilitation Hospital is a skilled nursing facility located in the heart of Los Angeles, California. A dedicated team of professionals is ready to provide an array of rehabilitation services to help our residents regain their independence and return to their homes.
Orchard House Tour
Timed-Entry Admission takes less than five minutes to reserve, and all tickets are transferrable to a future date should your plans change. The visit experience lasts approximately 45 minutes, and is currently comprised of a closed-captioned informational video followed by a guided tour. Orchard House is only shown by guided tour as the rooms and artifacts take on enhanced significance through your personal interactions with our Staff and other visitors.
Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House is seeing an influx in visitors—but there’s more to the home than ‘Little Women’
Due to the inability to predict how animals will react to strangers, especially within the small spaces of our rooms, and given the fragile nature of our collection, we do not allow pets inside our historic buildings (exceptions are made for service animals). As a private, not-for-profit historic site dedicated to sharing the significant legacy of the Alcott family with the public, admission is charged to fund the work of caring for the irreplaceable collection of Alcott artifacts and preserving Orchard House to the highest possible standards. A brief listing of our admission rates can be found here, while a detailed listing is available on our Timed-Entry Admission site. (We do offer a wide range of discounts to make Orchard House affordable to families, active duty military and veterans, teachers, nurses, and members of "Friends of the Alcotts.") Our gardens and grounds, as well as our Museum Store, are always free and open to all.
The Alcott Center is a non-profit organization that has provided community mental health services since 1979, offering mental health and supportive housing services to adults with low & no income across LA County. We remove barriers to access mental health services, including support for a variety of interconnected challenges for those that are not able to afford them. Unlike other historic house tours where rooms, especially bedrooms, are roped off, all the rooms can be entered, which gives a greater sense of intimacy. To help support her family, Louisa began her writing career by gothic thrillers (then called “blood and thunder tales”) under various pseudonyms.
On the ground floor, visitors are guided through May’s painting studio, where the original cast of her foot is on display. Next to the family’s modest kitchen is a dining room that doubles as a gallery for many of May’s paintings, including one that was exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon in 1877. Though Louisa’s sister Lizzie died shortly before the Alcotts moved into Orchard House, her presence looms large in the home; her melodeon still sits in the dining room next to the back staircase.
Other original features include the soapstone sink that was purchased by Louisa, a variety of kitchen implements and cooking tools, and the hutch table. The Alcotts were also fortunate to have running water installed in the mid-1870s, but their well is still visible via a trap door in the Kitchen floor. May Alcott even commandeered her mother's bread board to practice the art of pyrography on it. She was cared for by Anna Alcott Pratt, then reunited with her father in Europe and lived abroad until her death in 1976. Little Women was well-received, with critics and audiences finding it to be a fresh, natural representation of daily life suitable for many age groups.
From April 1st through October 31st, we are open weekdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 11 am to 5 pm. We also provide essential information, manage requests and concerns, help in care planning and discharge planning for each patient. If you have some extra time and energy, Louisa May Alcott is buried in the Alcott family plot at nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in a section called Authors’ Ridge.
Here, Mr. Alcott could also sit and gaze upon a beautiful portrait of his youngest daughter May, who spent her last years in Europe. In 1879, the Concord Summer School of Philosophy, an adult education series created by Mr. Alcott, first met in this room until a larger building adjacent to Orchard House was constructed the next year. A bust of Mr. Alcott in the niche of this room was carved by noted American sculptor Daniel Chester French, who was one of May's early art students. Louisa’s career as an author began at the age of eight with poetry, and later short stories that appeared in popular magazines. A major critical milestone along her literary path was Hospital Sketches (1863), a truthful and poignant account of her service as a Civil War nurse in Washington, DC inspired by the letters she wrote home to her family in Concord.
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