Concord, Massachusetts

The next day, I headed out to explore Concord. The first stop was Minute Man National Historical Park Headquarters. I watched a video and saw some displays.

I also had my picture taken with one of the Regulars. They were snappy dressers! I wonder how they could fight in such splendid clothes? Since they lost the continent, it kind of makes one wonder if there would have been a different outcome if they had worn more practical uniforms.

My next stop was The Wayside, which was a famous home. It was the childhood home of Louisa May Alcott and her family, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Sidney.

Louisa May Alcott?
Check!
Nathaniel Hawthorne?
Check!
Margaret Sidney?
“Who?” I hear you ask.

Margaret Sidney was a children’s author who wrote the “Five Little Peppers” series of books.

Actually, “Margaret Sidney” was a pen name. Her real name was Harriett Mulford Stone Lothrop. There were twelve books in her series, written from 1881 – 1916. If you would like to read some of them, they are available via Project Gutenberg.

Quite a lovely house, isn’t it? I am partial to houses with porches. Hard to believe this large house started out in 1717 as a saltbox-style house.

Here are the additions and when they were added to the house.

Here’s a view of the back of the house. You can really see all the different additions from this point of view.

Now, I didn’t go inside the house. Although it was part of the Minute Man National Historic Park AND I bought the America the Beautiful pass that gives me access to all of the national parks, this one chooses to charge an extra fee for a tour. I figured that I didn’t really need to take the tour, but I did examine the displays in the museum that was in the space where Louisa May Alcott used to put on plays as a child.

The attendant graciously agreed to take a photo of me with the statue of Louisa.

After taking in the displays, I headed down the street to Orchard House, which is where Louisa May Alcott actually wrote “Little Women” which was published in 1868.

The dry, brown lawn shows the effects of the drought that has afflicted New England this summer. Orchard House isn’t part of Minute Man National Historical Park, so I had no expectation that I might be able to tour it for free. I did tour the gift shop, though. As might be expected, there were a lot of books for sale, as well as things printed with quotes.

I particularly liked this apron.

They also had boxed water for sale. That’s one way to cut down on all those plastic water bottles. I wonder if boxed water has the same élan as boxed wine?

My next stop was to meet up with my friend Konstantin to visit his beloved Walden Pond.

Konstantin and I had already met up once when I was in New Hampshire. When I was planning my trip to Massachusetts, it looked like he was going to be out of town. However, his plans changed and we managed to get together again. This photo is of us when we were in New Hampshire.

We met up in the center of Concord and he drove us over to Walden Pond.

Our first stop was a model of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin.

There was also a statue of Thoreau. You can see a stone in his hand. It is tradition to place different things in his hand. Had I been thinking, maybe I would have found something funnier for a photo op.

We took a walk around the Pond, which is a kettle hole that formed during that last ice age.

The water level is low here, too.

Konstantin told me that in normal years, this post is completely beneath the surface of the pond.

Konstantin documented my visit. Here you can see me with the walking stick he gifted me. Now I have a real walking stick and real hiking shoes!

We walked up a trail away from the pond to the site of Thoreau’s cabin. This pile of stones is a tribute from visitors to where he carried out his experiment in simple living. He built his cabin in 1845 on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. After he left the woods, the cabin was removed from the land. At first it was used to store grain. Eventually, it was dismantled for scrap lumber and the roof was put on a pig sty.

In 1945, which was the centennial of Thoreau’s move to Walden Pond, amateur archeologist Roland Wells Robbins searched for three months before he found the foundations of the cabin.

Here is the plaque that marks the location of the heath.

We continued our walk around the pond. Konstantin kept his eyes peeled for a treat he wanted to share with me. Finally, he found some.

Real concord grapes from Concord! They were quite tasty.

We finally made it all the way around and then it was time to say goodbye to Walden Pond.

Back to the campground for one last night. Next stop: Cape Cod.