Word: thoreau
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...must have been something in the air. Why else would little Concord, Mass., have had such a concentration of famous writers and social reformers in the 19th century, from Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Alcotts to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau--all deep-breathing worshippers of New England's gentle beauty? Thanks to massive efforts by preservation and environmental groups, today's Concord retains not only the homes of its noted sons and daughters but also its own natural charms. Visitors can pace the floors, walk the trails and canoe the water lanes once frequented by their literary idols...
...Concord Museum, a natural first stop, provides a cram course in transcendentalism--the belief that the beauty of the natural world is a manifestation of divinity--as well as exhibits about transcendentalist writers Emerson, Thoreau and Bronson Alcott. They were all friends and neighbors, and the galleries reflect their coziness. A room replicating Emerson's study contains his circular writing table and books often borrowed by Louisa May Alcott. Next door is the Thoreau gallery, with the desk, bed and chair from that famous rustic cabin Thoreau built on Emerson's land at Walden Pond, as well as Thoreau...
...steps from the museum, across Cambridge Turnpike, is the house where Emerson lived from 1835 until his death in 1882. Here he entertained the Alcotts, the Hawthornes and Thoreau, who was so frequent a visitor that Emerson's children regarded him as a member of the family. On view in the nursery are the children's 18th century rocking horse and a dollhouse with the original handmade furnishings. Articles of Emerson's clothing--his tall beaver hat, the "Gaberlunzie" robe he probably wore when he got up early and his wife Lydian slept late--hang in other rooms...
...Manse. On windows throughout the house, Sophia used her diamond wedding ring to etch words of joy about her marriage and the beauty that surrounded her, including the ice-draped trees outside that she described as "glass chandeliers." The vegetable garden in the back was planted by Thoreau as a wedding gift...
...cabin Thoreau built in 1845 and lived in for two years on Walden Pond, south of town, was sold during his lifetime and disassembled to patch a barn and roof a pig sty. But the site is marked by a cairn of rocks, started by Bronson Alcott after Thoreau died in 1862 and supplemented over the years by reverent visitors. Nearby, a facsimile of Thoreau's tiny, spartan home reflects his belief that freedom lay in simplicity. "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself," he wrote, "than be crowded on a velvet cushion...