Literary Inspiration in Concord

“I went to the woods,” Thoreau wrote,”In order to live life more deliberately.”

Recently I suggested to my husband that we move to New England ASAP. He said I only felt that way because it feels like autumn, because I love autumn, and because I equate autumn with New England in my mind. But I had so much more than that.

We recently designed a new theme tour for students, and it’s a beauty. You’ll need to be willing to don a meditative mood, though, because the attractions on this tour are all art and culture and inspiration. At least, they are historical sites from an era when those things faced an all out revolution.

Technically our Concord literary tours are for fans of the great literature of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickinson. But on a larger scale, this tour takes you to the seat of a cultural revolution, when thoughtful men and women discussed philosophy and spiritual insight that affected everything from the arts to social reform.

In the study at Orchard House and the rooms of the Old Manse, you’ll imagine the friendly, philosophical discussions between the great literary legends and philosophers who lived and worked together in Concord. Louisa May Alcott’s father, Bronson, was a noted philosopher of his time. Ralph Waldo Emerson traveled throughout the United States and Europe lecturing on spiritual insights, social reform, and arts and sciences. Plus, we have his many essays as proof of his thought life and perhaps of the discussions he joined.

Walden Pond is a beautiful State Reserve, still largely untamed. You can find a replica of the one-room cabin where Thoreau wrote Walden, which has been called the birth of the conservation movement.

The men and women who lived and worked in the homes on this Concord literary tour were as revolutionary as the minutemen  who shot the first few shots of the Revolutionary War at the Old North Bridge nearby. The revolution of these authors and philosophers affected the arts and sciences more than government, but its waves certainly had political and social influence. You’re sure to be moved as you learn about these amazing thinkers. And hopefully you’ll be inspired to live life more deliberately yourself.

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