QUESTIONS

1. Match the opening lines from works by Louisa May Alcott to their correct titles. Which opening line is from each of the following: Hospital Sketches, Little Men, Little Women, A Modern Mephistopheles, and Under the Lilacs?
A.  The elm-tree avenue was all overgrown, the great gate was never unlocked, and the old house had been shut up for several years.
B.  Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents . . .
C.  Please, sir, is this Plumfield?
D.  I want something to do.
E.  Without, a midwinter twilight, where wandering snowflakes eddied in the bitter wind between a leaden sky and frost-bound earth.
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Answer: A. is from Under the Lilacs; B. is from Little Women; C. is from Little Men; D. is from Hospital Sketches; and E. is from A Modern Mephistopheles.


2. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson both wrote numerous essays that are still read widely. Which author wrote each of the following?
A.    “Nature”
B.    “Walking”
C.    “Transcendentalizing”
D.    “Life Without Principle”
E.    “Self-Reliance”
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Answer: Henry David Thoreau wrote B. “Walking” and D. “Life Without Principle,” and Emerson wrote A. “Nature” and E. “Self-Reliance.” While both men thought and wrote about Transcendentalism, neither wrote C. “Transcendentalizing.” Maybe an essay on the topic can be your summer project!

3. Which of the following parent–child duos represent two generations of published authors?
A.    Bronson Alcott and Louisa May Alcott
B.    Bronson Alcott and May Alcott
C.     Ralph Waldo Emerson and Edward Emerson
D.     Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rose Hawthorne
E.     Nathaniel Hawthorne and Julian Hawthorne
F.     Harriett Lothrop (pen name Margaret Sidney) and Margaret Lothrop
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Answer: All of them! A. and B.: While Louisa May Alcott is the best-known author of the Alcott sisters, the younger May published a travel guide titled Studying Abroad, and How to Do It Cheaply (under her married name May Alcott Nieriker). C.: Edward Emerson’s works included memoirs and biographies of his father’s peers, such as Henry Thoreau as Remembered by a Young Friend (1917). D. and E.: Hawthorne’s younger daughter, Rose, wrote about her father in Memories of Hawthorne and published a collection of poems in Along the Shore before she founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and took the name Mary Alphonsa; Julian was a prolific writer, producing novels, mysteries, short stories, and nonfiction, including Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife: A Biography. F.: Margaret Lothrop wrote a biography of her childhood home and its famous residents titled The Wayside: Home of Authors.


4. If you wanted to travel from Boston to Concord by train, what was the first year that was possible?
A.    1837
B.    1840
C.    1844
D.    1850
E.    1858
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Answer: C. 1844


5. If you were visiting Concord in 1858, you would have choices for entertainment. If you wanted to watch a play, which theatrical troupe might you see?
A.    Dribble and Drama Dramatics
B.    Concord Players
C.    The Concordian Cavorters
D.    Concord Dramatic Union
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Answer: D. You might be able to see a play by the new Concord Dramatic Union. This group, whose founding members included Anna Alcott and Louisa May Alcott, was the precursor to today’s Concord Players, who put on a production of Little Women every ten years.


6. Suppose someone in your party went to a meeting hosted by the Concord Lyceum. Which type of event were they likely attending?
A.    Charades
B.    A lecture
C.    A cooking class
D.    A Soap Makers Union meeting
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Answer: B. The Concord Lyceum typically hosted lectures, debates, and sometimes, musical performances. Events were originally free to all town residents, but admission fees were implemented in 1856. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the most frequent speaker at the Lyceum.


7. Louisa May Alcott enjoyed performing in amateur theatricals and often did so as part of fundraisers or benefits for different causes, including which of the following organizations?
A.    The Concord Lyceum
B.    Preserve Walden Woods
C.    The Concord Ladies’ Antislavery Society
D.    The Apple Slump Repair Initiative
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Answer: A. and C. Read more about the Concord Ladies’ Antislavery Society in the Discover Concord Magazine Archives with this article by Nancy Snyder: 

Discoverconcordma.com/articles/311-the-concord-female-anti-slavery-society. 
8. The official printing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, was quickly followed by other printings. The version deposited with the Concord town clerk was issued by the Massachusetts Governor’s Council and printed by Ezekiel Russell in Salem on July 18, 1776. Where is this document now stored in Concord?
A.    The town hall
B.    The post office
C.    The Concord Museum
D.    The Concord Library
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Answer: The Ezekiel Russell version of the Declaration of Independence is part of the Munroe Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library and will be on special display July 18, 2026. You can also see one of the 1823 facsimiles of the Declaration as part of the Concord Museum’s Revolutionary Legacies exhibition, on view through September 7, 2026.


9. In early 1776, Concord’s population had grown nearly 25 percent since the prior year. What was the reason for this growth?
A.     A recent influx of immigrants from England who wanted to support the rumblings for independence
B.     An influx of people moving out of the Boston area away from the growing tension and number of King’s troops
C.     A larger than normal number of weddings the year before
D.     An increase in the number of twins born to local women that no one could explain
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Answer: B. Communities like Concord were directed by the Provincial Congress to provide housing to the “Boston poor”—residents who were leaving the city to avoid the standoff between the provincial forces and the King’s troops that left Boston under siege. In addition, Concord housed students from Harvard during parts of 1775 and 1776 while the school’s campus was occupied by provincial troops. Read more about Harvard’s Year of Exile in this article from Discover Concord: DiscoverConcordma.com/ articles/745-harvards-year-of-exile.

10. Solve the riddle! Forever in the famous Concord fray of April 19, 1775—we are there but not there. The muskets crack, men shout, and the horse whinnies, but you cannot hear them. We look straight ahead; you must look up to see us. Where are we? And what are we?


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Answer: We are the men depicted in the Battle at the Bridge mural on the upper wall of the United States Post Office lobby on Walden Street in Concord Center. Part of a New Deal project, we were painted by Charles Anton Kaeselau and completed in 1941.


Contact Barrow Bookstore for a list of sources. Barrowbookstore@gmail.com.

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For more than 50 years, Barrow Bookstore has been a favorite of residents and visitors alike, specializing in Concord authors and history, children’s books and literature. The shop also provides a wide array of gently read and rare titles ranging from paperbacks to first editions and original manuscripts. Staff members have all worked as tour guides and reenactors in Concord and are happy to share their knowledge about the town and its history. Discover more at barrowbookstore.com.