American Literary Epicentre: Concord, Massachusetts

There is no satisfactory account for why between the years 1830 and 1880, within fifty miles of Boston, “American literature became both American and literature” (Corbett, 1993: 58). Of particular note is the town of Concord, Massachusetts. Bradbury (1996: 111) has drawn attention to Concord for the way in which it housed New England intellectuals and drove a “literary, reformist spirit”. The legacy is such that no other settlement of similar size in the United States has such a literary history (Corbett, 1993) and, indeed, this is manifest in more literary sites and authors’ homes open to the public than anywhere else in the country. As Corbett (1993) emphasises, what the visitor to the town’s information centre will not find is why such a volume of literary activity occurred in such a small settlement. The town is, of course, distinctive for links with the Revolution; however, what makes it unusual is that Nathaniel Hawthorne could look at the settlement where Henry David Thoreau lived, where Ralph Waldo Emerson lived, and where Louisa May Alcott lived – and whose presence attracted others to come and stay. The area was appealing to literary and other figures (Butler, 1986). The motivations of visitors varied.

This dictionary entry reviews the diversity of literary talent encompassed by Concord in ‘The Golden Age’ in relation to the concept of literary tourism. Concord, Massachusetts has two claims to fame: the links with the Revolution and, some decades later, as home to a remarkable array of literary personalities. In reviewing the impact of such personalities on leisure pursuits, Butler (1986) and Busby & Klug (2001) have presented six forms of literary tourism (Table 1). The first form is clearly very pertinent in the context of Concord, from Thoreau’s Walden Pond to Hawthorne’s Old Manse or Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, the influences for the authors are still extant today; arguably, this is for the masses. As Butler (1986) observes this is more of a pseudo-pilgrimage, citing a location associated with T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Butler, (1986: 115) considers that, for many, the element of homage visitation “appeals more to the masses” and “the ‘backcloth’ to those few who have actually read one of his works”.

Places of significance in the work of fiction represent the second form of literary tourism. The names of real locations may be utilised or real locations may be given fictional names, cf. Thomas Hardy’s representation of Dorchester, England, as Casterbridge or the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion in Massachusetts, immortalised by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the novel The House of the Seven Gables. With Concord, of course, the phenomenon of literary tourism may not relate to fiction. Walden Pond State Reservation, maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, attracts around half a million visitors a year; the foundations of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin can be viewed after a short walk, and a replica can be seen near the car park. However, the motivations of visitors will vary. This may be less so at the houses of Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson; the former has been open to the public for more than a century and, as the website (www.louisamayalcott.org) indicates, the visitor can see the room where Little Women was written, with most of the furnishings being original to the house.

In fact, with Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, the visitor can engage at several levels; pre-visit engagement can occur with the website, creating a greater sense of engagement. In 2024, Orchard House attracted 93,649 visitors and comments in the Visitors Book indicate a serious level of engagement. The Administrator (2025) states: “particularly impactful are the many anecdotes visitors share about how influential Little Women has been in their lives and families. Nearly every day, we are privileged to hear heartfelt (and occasionally heart-wrenching) stories about how the book Miss Alcott never imagined would be interesting has continued to resonate with and inspire readers for nearly 160 years, transcending time, distance, and culture (the book has been translated into over 50 languages). And then there are the Alcotts themselves – flawed, yet formidable, and intent upon making the world, or at least their little corner of it, better for all. Learning about the actual family… leaves visitors feeling astonished and empowered by the example of their lives, another source of quiet pride for us)”.

Butler’s third form considers “the appeal of areas because they were appealing to literary (and other) figures” (Butler, 1986: 118). Whilst it can be argued that this is a more specialist form, there are guidebooks for the literary tourist; New England has a rich history of such works and includes Corbett’s (1993) Literary New England – A History and Guide, published by Faber and Faber. Corbett (1993: 110) diverges from his usual approach in his work; “since Concord is unique, its entry here will be organized in a unique way in this book… the guide will proceed from site to site, exactly as the visitor who tours Concord will”.

With the fourth form of literary tourism, the work of the writer is so popular that the entire area becomes a tourist destination per se. A classic English example is Charles Kingsley’s Westward Ho! published in 1854, which gave rise to the development of the upmarket seaside resort of this name in North Devon (Busby & Hambly, 2000). Concord’s link with the Revolution prevents it from being considered as, first and foremost, a literary shrine. However, clearly associations with quite so many literary personalities must act as a powerful draw. A literary topography has been constructed. To illustrate just how many are linked to the town, Corbett (1993) identifies Thoreau (1817-1862), Hawthorne (1804-1864), Emerson (1803-1882), Alcott (1832-1888), Channing (1818-1900), Sanborn (1831-1917), and Fuller (1810-1850). A fifteen-minute walk from the centre of town leads to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Authors Ridge, comprising the graves of Thoreau, Emerson, Alcotts, and Hawthorne.

The fifth form identifies how travel writing can influence tourism decision-making. As Busby & Klug (2001) suggest, it is a broad genre that ranges from guidebooks to semi-fictionalised descriptive accounts – literature, nonetheless. Significantly, visitors to literary locations possess a range of motives; Herbert (2001) highlights the need for a reappraisal of the representation of the literary pilgrim as being the image of a dedicated scholar; “literary places are no longer accidents of history, sites of a writer’s birth or death; they are also social constructions, created, amplified, and promoted to attract visitors” (Herbert, 2001: 313). It is because of this, that most visitors certainly have multiple motivations. A brief internet search will illustrate a range of travel blogs which suggest Concord is worth visiting.

Busby & Laviolette (2006: 148) argue that a sixth form of literary tourism exists, “predicated by film-induced tourism, whereby the visitor has read the author’s works after viewing what may well have been changed by the screenplay”. This is not a recent phenomenon; in his study of popular reading between 1914 and 1950, McAleer (1992: 87) observes that “selection of fiction was influenced by the cinema” – the novel becomes a souvenir, a permanent reminder of having seen the film (Busby & Laviolette, 2006). Of value here is the Mass-Observation research of 1944 in Britain, which suggested that the most frequently purchased works of fiction “are definitely those which have been filmed” (McAleer, 1992: 87); this is probably as true today. Louis May Alcott’s Little Women has been adapted for the screen several times and, along with the influence of YouTube, needs to be considered as a motivation for reading the works of the Concord authors.

This takes us full circle, for the point here is that recognition of any given location with a literary personality depends on either the level of marketing invested in the area or translation to the mass media, the small screen frequently being as effective as the large. In other words, the large or small screen can be said to influence the first form of literary tourism.

Table 1. Forms of Literary Tourism

Source: Busby & Laviolette (2006) adapted from Butler (1986) and Busby & Klug (2001).

How to cite this entry: Busby, G. (2025). American Literary Epicentre: Concord, Massachusetts. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.). E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia.