Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Concord Center

We love visiting beautiful Concord, MA, especially in the autumn.

Amanda was home for a couple of days in mid-October so on a particularly sunny afternoon we decided to visit Concord for a few hours of fun.

That almost always includes a visit to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (click here for last October's Sleepy Hollow post, much more in-depth!).

A closeup of gifts that visitors have left on top of Emerson's grave.

... and in front of Thoreau's grave.


Louisa May Alcott's grave.

And one of the black squirrels that make their home in the cemetery. All of the Sammy Squirrels in our yard are gray (with an occasional red squirrel), so I was quite excited to see this little fellow and his friends as I have never seen a black squirrel before!

After the cemetery we visited Concord Center.

Here is the beautiful (and reportedly haunted) Colonial Inn...

... that I blogged about here last year, including photos from inside the 'haunted' room!

Old church spires against blue autumn skies... gorgeous!

And the old graveyard right next to the church.

Concord Center is just so picturesque. We were a couple of weeks early for the peak fall foliage, but you can click here for my post from last year, Colors of Concord , to see how this exact spot turns spectacularly GOLDEN at the height of its autumn splendor!

Red Lamp Lady is still the mascot for the Concord Lamp & Shade shop. I think she'd look fantastic in our little cottage, but since we don't have any extra room or money these days, I'm afraid she won't be moving in with us...

The colors of autumn were everywhere...

...especially at one of Cafe Chatelaine's favorite shops, Nesting on Main!

They are geniuses with vignettes and arrangements...

I always want to bring a little bit of everything home with me!

There is eye candy around every nook, cranny, and corner.

Be still my heart.. I soooooooooooooooo would love this for our little cottage! Maybe some day!

So Happy 375th birthday, Concord!!! It is always SUCH a pleasure to visit you!

Donna

Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House...

...located in Concord, MA, is where Louisa May Alcott penned "Little Women," and what a magical place to visit! Her bedroom is on the second floor, right, front side of the house. In between the two front windows is a small, half-moon shaped desk that her father built for her, and that is where history was made. Shivers run down my spine every time I've taken the tour, standing right next to the desk where this classic was written.

(click any photos to enlarge)

In June of 1857, a then 24-year old Louisa May wrote in her journal:

"Read Charlotte Bronte's life. A very interesting, but sad one. So full of talent; and after working long, just as success, love, and happiness come, she dies. Wonder if I shall ever be famous enough for people to care to read my story and struggles. I can't be a C.B., but I may do a little something yet."

A little something? Oh my goodness! She did so much, but she is probably best known for the beloved, "Little Women," first published in 1869 (twelve years after that journal entry). As you can see, I have a small collection of Little Women books..


... as well as some other books about Louisa May Alcott's life. So let me show you a bit of Orchard House (dubbed Apple Slump by Louisa May Alcott).


Unfortunately, photos are not allowed to be taken inside the house, but I'll provide a link below where you can take a virtual tour through the house on-line. And I highly recommend taking the tour in person if you are ever in the Concord area! Don't you just love the door knocker on the front of Orchard House? (It reminds me of the door knocker that morphs into Marley's ghost in "A Christms Carol"!)

Now here is a photo that I took just a couple of weeks ago....

...and here is an 1874 photograph of the house from the exact same angle, with Mr. & Mrs. Alcott in the front yard...

A plaque by the back door of the house that now leads into the gift shop.

Flowers growing outside the study window...

This is Bronson Alcott's School of Philosophy, constructed in 1879, just behind Orchard House. (Bronson is Louisa May's father.)

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I posted about Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, where all of the Alcotts are buried... (Here's Amanda at Louisa May Alcott's grave)..

Back in 1879, Louisa May wrote the following journal entry:

"October 8th Dear Marmee's birthday. Never forgotten. Lovely day....

(Alcott family plot)

...Go to Sleepy Hollow with flowers. Her grave is green, black berry vines with red leaves trail over it. A little white stone with her initials is at the head, & among the tall grass over her breast a little bird had made a nest....

Bird's nest on LMA's grave a couple of weeks ago

... Empty now, but a pretty symbol of the refuge that tender bosom always was for all feeble & sweet things. Her favorite asters bloomed all about, & the pines sang overhead. So she & dear Beth lie quietly asleep in God's Acre, & we remember them more tenderly with each year that brings us nearer them & home."

It was quite profound reading that journal entry after having just been at their graves a couple of weeks ago...

Right next door to Orchard House is The Wayside (you can read a bit more about it below). It was called Hillside when Louisa May Alcott lived there in her younger years, and she drew upon the many adventures she and her sisters had while living there when writing Little Women. She wrote of this house:

"I have at last got the little room I have wanted so long, and am very happy about it. It does me good to be alone, and Mother has made it very pretty and neat for me. My work-basket and desk are by the window and my closet is full of dired herbs that smell very nice."

(written by Louisa May Alcott, age 13,

in her journal, May, 1846)

Information regarding Hillside/The Wayside:

Click here to take a virtual tour of Orchard House

Click here for the official Orchard House/Louisa May Alcott website

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Orchard House!!!!

Donna

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery...

...in historic Concord, Massachusetts. A perfect place to visit on a crisp October afternoon.

(click any photos to enlarge)

(Am I the only one who sees irony in the "One Way" stone marker above?)


Come along as we head up to Authors Ridge ....


Here we are at the top of Authors Ridge, facing the Alcott family plot...


...where Amanda stopped at Louisa May Alcott's grave.


The monument marking the Alcott family plot is intricately carved...


...but the individual markers are very simple.

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."

(Louisa May Alcott)

Here is the Thoreau family plot...


...where Henry David Thoreau's simple headstone is adorned with gifts left by visitors...

"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

Henry David Thoreau

The Emerson family plot....


Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke at the dedication ceremony for Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1855.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Hawthorne family plot...

...where, again, visitors have left gifts for Nathaniel Hawthorne.

"Our Creator would never have made such lovely days, and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy them, above and beyond all thought, unless we were meant to be immortal."

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Miles family plot...

And a beautiful marker for Lucy R. Davis...

SLEEPY HOLLOW by William Ellery Channing

(which he read at the Sleepy Hollow dedication ceremony in 1855)

No abbey's gloom, nor dark cathedral stoops,

No winding torches paint the midnight air;

Here the green pines delight, the aspen droops

Along the modest pathways, and those fair

Pale asters of the season spread their plumes

Around this field, fit garden for our tombs.

And shalt thou pause to hear some funeral bell

Slow stealing o'er thy heart in this calm place,

Not with a throb of pain, a feverish knell,

But in its kind and supplicating grace,

It says, Go, pilgrim, on thy march, be more

Friend to the friendless than thou wast before;

Learn from the loved one's rest serenity;

To-morrow that soft bell for thee shall sound,

And thou repose beneath the whispering tree,

One tribute more to this submissive ground;—

Prison thy soul from malice, bar out pride,

Nor these pale flowers nor this still field deride:

Rather to those ascents of being turn,

Where a ne'er-setting sun illumes the year

Eternal, and the incessant watchfires burn

Of unspent holiness and goodness clear,—

Forget man's littleness, deserve the best,

God's mercy in thy thought and life confest.

I highly recommend a visit to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery if you find yourself in the Concord area. In my next post I'll share some other photos from our little day trip to Concord, including The Colonial Inn (haunted?) and Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women...




Donna