Visit Massachusetts Home Of ‘Little Women’ Author Louisa May Alcott

Famed author Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, on November 29, 1832, but spent much of her life in Massachusetts.

Alcott was a novelist, poet and writer of short stories, best known for the novel Little Women, written in 1868, and its sequels, Good Wives, Little Men and Jo's Boys.

An abolitionist and feminist, the never-married Alcott kept company with intellectuals such as Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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Upon moving to Massachusetts, the Alcott family lived in Boston, Harvard, Scituate, Dedham and Concord. Alcott began writing at an early age, often to help support her family.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Alcott was thwarted in her attempt to join the Union Army because she was a woman. Instead, Alcott sewed the uniforms of Union soldiers, then worked at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., for a year.

READ MORE: Prominent Civil War General Died at Nonquitt in Dartmouth

From 1845 to 1852, the Alcotts owned The Wayside, a home in Concord they renamed Hillside. But Alcott was not the only famous writer who lived at the Wayside.

The National Parks Service (NPS) says, "During the 19th century, a succession of authors called this house home; most notably Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

But the history of the Wayside didn't begin there.

The National Park Service says, "Early occupants of the Wayside included Samuel Whitney, member of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in 1775 and muster master for Concord's minute man companies."

Louisa May Alcott died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888. Her final resting place is Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

The Wayside: Home of Authors has limited hours for tours.