Concord Writers

In September of 1837, as criticism of his Temple School grew, Transcendentalist philosopher and educator Amos Bronson Alcott received a lifeline: a lengthy correspondence from an English admirer. Having learned of Bronson’s grand experiment through the reading of Record of a School (written by Bronson’s assistant, Elizabeth Peabody), James Pierrepont Greaves had created his own Temple School, naming it Alcott House. Following the closure of his Temple School in 1841, Bronson  traveled to London in 1842 to visit Alcott House, returning six months later with a partnership and a vision. While in England, Alcott met Charles Lane, an English Transcendentalist, disciple of James Pierrepont Greaves, and admirer of Bronson Alcott. Together, the two men founded their utopian community in America, beginning in Concord in October 1842. Nine months later, the group moved to the Wyman Farm in Harvard, purchased by Lane. Alcott, his wife and four girls along with Lane and his son, joined a handful of followers at Fruitlands on June 1, 1843.

Winters in New England can be harsh and unforgiving with days, or even weeks, of below-freezing temperatures and with snowfalls that are often measured in feet. It’s a season when all but the heartiest of New Englanders hunker down, put on a few extra layers of flannel, crank the thermostat, and stay cozy and warm at home. 

One Concordian who enjoyed the winter, though, was Henry David Thoreau. He would happily go on his daily walk “in all seasons” and a wintery landscape held just as much promise for an exciting excursion as did the fields and forests in July. 

Concord, Massachusetts can claim many famous sons and daughters, including writers, philosophers, revolutionaries, and educators. Among that august group stands Gregory Maguire – author, educator, philanthropist, and champion for literacy and literature education.

He is best known as the author of more than 40 children’s books, short stories, novels for adults, and non-fiction works. From the international best-seller and Broadway hit Wicked, to Egg and Spoon, Gregory’s works have captured the imagination of readers around the world.

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents, grumbled Jo . . .” The irony — the beautiful irony — of Louisa May Alcott’s opening words in Little Women is striking, as the ultimate message of the book is quite the opposite of its iconic opening line. Readers of Little Women simply begin a journey that leads to a boldly empowering expansion of the heart. We follow along with the March sisters as they learn to care for others, even while struggling with their own desires and disappointments, and we identify with their experiences. Whether enacting a play for an audience in their parlor, or preparing to give their Christmas breakfast feast to a needy family, our mind’s eye envisions the girls’ widening realization that caring for something other than self and sharing what gifts they possess are far more fulfilling than receiving presents.

If you were asked to supply a few words describing the American gothic fiction author Nathaniel Hawthorne, it’s probably safe to assume ‘funny’ would not be among them.

Known for his dark romances full of guilt, torment, suffering, and sin, with nary a happy ending to be found, it seems quite improbable that anything even remotely humorous could emerge from this brooding cobbler of words.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was not the originator of the romantic ideals known as Transcendentalism. Nor was his premier essay, Nature (1836), the first publication to set forth the philosophy. Emerson was, rather, the most successful public voice of New England Transcendentalism in the nineteenth century. Dissatisfied with his traditional ministry, Emerson embarked on an untried profession as a lecturer, essayist, and poet; gaining an international reputation. His eloquent and provocative prose resonated with a young American republic yearning to define itself against the time-honored past. Emerson turned his personal search for meaning into a national paean for a self-actualized identity. Nature was closely followed by his controversial “American Scholar,” “Divinity School Address,” and iconic “Self-Reliance.” 

On September 6, 1847, Henry Thoreau left his small house at Walden Pond and moved back into the town of Concord. Having lived at Waldon Pond for over two years, he was, he would write, “a sojourner in civilized life again.” 

In the early 1960’s a high school freshman watched a quiz show, “College Bowl.” Little did he know how that random act would change his life. Many years later, he tells the story: “The moderator asked what noted book began with the following words. Before he had said fifteen words, one of the college whiz kids  gave the correct answer — Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Then the moderator read the complete sentence, which captivated me” 

 It was the first line in Thoreau’s iconic work: “When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I have built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.” 

Henry’s sunflowers greeted me as I walked the path to the old farmhouse. This is a peaceful place – this house where Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817. He lived here only eight months. The cold summer caused all the crops to fail and his family had to abandon the farm and move to Concord center where his father ran a store. It was difficult making ends meet in those days.  Life was hard. The family moved around, to Chelmsford then on to Boston before returning to Concord for good when little Henry was five. So Henry David Thoreau grew up in Concord, though not on this farm where he was born.  

In the mid-1830’s, a new word entered the American lexicon; Transcendentalism. It was a word that was vague and confusing, a word that seemed mystical, spiritual, and possibly even blasphemous. Even today, 170 years later, Transcendentalism is still misunderstood, and many people have a hard time explaining what it was and what it means. 

Lexico.com defines Transcendentalism as “an idealistic philosophical and social movement which developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures.” Simply put, it is the idea that God is present in all things, that we are surrounded by divinity. All of nature is divine, and therefore, since man is a part of nature, we have the capability to be divine as well.