“That’s all I claim for Boston – that it is the thinking center of the continent, and therefore of the planet.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

The state of Massachusetts, where I lived for a good chunk of my life, has a rich literary history. The state is dotted with museums, monuments, and places commemorating iconic Bay State authors.

Out west, in the town of Lenox in the Berkshire Mountains, lies The Mount, the historic home of Gilded Age author Edith Wharton. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her novel The Age of Innocence. The Mount is now a museum, cultural center, and bookstore.

Address: 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.edithwharton.org

 

Amherst, in the center of the state contains two noteworthy literary stops. The Emily Dickinson Museum comprises two historic houses in the center of town associated with the nineteenth-century poet Emily Dickinson and members of her family. The Homestead was the birthplace and home of the poet. The Evergreens, next door, was home to her brother Austin and his family.

Address: 280 Main Street, Amherst Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org

 

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is an institution that invites kids and grown-ups to get creative, with workshops about drawing, screen printing, and more. One gallery in this playful museum is dedicated to writer and illustrator Eric Carle’s own work, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The museum also hosts rotating shows featuring the work of Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, and all other mainstays on a kid’s bookshelf.

Address: 125 W Bay Rd, Amherst, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.carlemuseum.org

 

Just south of Amherst in Springfield is another gem— The Dr. Seuss Museum dedicated to the work of Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Next door, is The Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden where the Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, and a bunch of other characters hang out in a park. Each member of the bronze brigade was made by sculptor Lark Grey Diamond-Cates, who paid tribute to her stepfather, Ted Geisel—better known as Dr. Seuss—in his hometown.

Address: 21 Edwards St, Springfield, Massachusetts

For more information: https://springfieldmuseums.org/about/dr-seuss-museum/

 

Further east, the town of Concord has lots of literary places to check out., starting with The Orchard House. Before she penned Little Women, which centers on life at home with a slew of sisters, Louisa May Alcott shared the colonial on 12 acres of land with three sisters of her own. Alcott’s father, Bronson, purchased the home in 1857. It was affectionately known as the Orchard House because more than three dozen trees were heavy with apples. Alcott’s novel enchanted readers when it was published in 1868. Contemporary visitors can wander the handsome house—fashioned into a museum that includes art by Louisa’s sister, May, the inspiration for the novel’s Amy—and learn about the young ladies who once called it home.

Address: 399 Lexington Rd, Concord, Massachusetts

For more information: https://louisamayalcott.org

 

Over the years, several literary luminaries roamed a clapboard house in Concord called The Old Manse. It’s now run by the National Park Service and the house and grounds are open to the public. Ralph Waldo Emerson jotted down many thoughts in the home, which was built for his grandfather in 1770. It’s where Emerson wrote the influential essay “Nature,” and other Transcendentalists eventually flocked to the premises, too. Thoreau paid a visit; the Old Manse isn’t far from Walden Pond. And when Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia, settled into the home as newlyweds in 1842, Thoreau gifted them a vegetable garden just outside their door. Nathaniel and Sophia etched poems into the window panes, and their scribbles are still visible today.

Address: 269 Monument St, Concord, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.nps.gov/places/the-old-manse.htm

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s own home in Concord, which he and his family named “Bush,” is now The Ralph Waldo Emerson House, a museum and National Historic Landmark. Emerson was a nineteenth-century transcendentalist, essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet. 

Address: 18 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.ralphwaldoemersonhouse.org

 

Walden Pond in Concord has a statue of Henry David Thoreau, mid-stride, and a recreated version of his humble cabin next to the parking lot. It’s maintained by the National Park Service. Thoreau, a nineteenth-century transcendentalist, essayist, naturalist, poet, and philosopher, is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay “Civil Disobedience” (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument in favor of peaceful disobedience against an unjust state.

Address: 915 Walden St, Concord, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.nps.gov/places/walden-pond-in-the-walden-pond-state-reservation.htm

 

As you get closer to Boston and the coast, you’ll find the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Cambridge. Longfellow was a nineteenth-century American poet and educator. His original works include the poems "Paul Revere's Ride", "The Song of Hiawatha", and "Evangeline". He was the first American to completely translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was known as one of the fireside poets from New England. The house was also George Washington’s first long-term headquarters of the American Revolution (60 yrs. before Longfellow). Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters is a National Historic Site that preserves a remarkable Georgian house and magnificent gardens. It is run by the National Park Service.

Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.nps.gov/long/index.htm

 

Across the river in Boston, the author Edgar Allen Poe was born in 1809. The house no longer exists, but in 2009, Boston renamed a nearby plaza after Poe to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth. A plaque installed decades ago has recently been joined by a statue. It shows Poe striding down the street, jacket flapping. Unsurprisingly, he's flanked by a companion raven—and, of course, a heap of books. 

Address: Boylston St & Charles St, Boston, Massachusetts 

North of Boston in Salem is The House of the Seven Gables. Nathaniel Hawthorne, novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, and his famous 1851 novel, The House of the Seven Gables, was based on the gloomy-looking structure that still stands nearby. Also called the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, the sprawling home was built in 1688. The home is now packed with information about Hawthorne’s life and work. Ticketed tours of the gardens and grounds are available.

Address: 115 Derby St, Salem, Masachusetts

For more information: https://7gables.org

 

Northwest of Boston is Lowell, the birthplace of author Jack Kerouac.  His grave is located there and Kerouac’s final resting place in the town where he grew up, is a popular pilgrimage site for his legions of readers. Snippets of Keroauc's work are also emblazoned onto granite markers in nearby Jack Kerouac Park.

Grave Address: 1375 Gorham St, Lowell, Massachusetts

Park Address: 75 Bridge Street, Lowell, Massachusetts

 

South of Boston on Cape Cod in Yarmouth Port, is the Edward Gorey House. Gorey was an author, illustrator, playwright, set and costume designer. He was noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers.  His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings. By the time the eccentric author died in 2000, the floors of his 200-year-old Yarmouth home were heavy with 25,000 books, assorted collections of eclectic flea market finds, and 75 unpublished manuscripts. Gorey, a devoted balletomane with a flair for raccoon-fur coats, was deeply committed to his cats, too: He had several at a time, and a claw-tattered divan is one of the many curios on display in his home, which is now a museum about his work. Visitors can make an appointment to drop in and check out ephemera including etchings and hand-scribbled lists.

Address: 8 Strawberry Lane, Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org

Massachusetts is home to many living authors too. Southwest of Boston in Plainville, Jeff Kinney, author and cartoonist best known for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid  series, runs "An Unlikely Story," a local bookstore and café.

Address: 111 South Street, Plainville, Massachusetts

For more information: https://www.anunlikelystory.com/store-hours-directions

Andre Dubus III lives on the North Shore and teaches at U.Mass Lowell, and you never know which literary luminaries you’ll see while strolling through Boston.