So! Memorial Day Weekend happened and it was grand.
{I hope yours was great, too.}
As you know my parents were in town and every day was better than the one before. I can’t wait to show you bits and pieces. It was perfection. First I’m going to share some pics from our Saturday in Concord, Mass. We mainly went to visit Orchard House {Louisa May Alcott’s home, and the setting of Little Women}, but we ended up spending some time in the town also. One word: ADORABLE. Seriously. Every single time I take a trip to anywhere in Massachusetts I am always like, I want to live here! This is precious! That house! And that one! This place is amazingggg.
Not even kidding, Massachusetts, you the BEST.
It was a rainy day, but we made it work.
“Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.” -LMA
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Here are the highlights…
My mom was crazy over this cheese shop. Said it reminded her of one back in her hometown of Greenwich. Also, because CHEESE. I mean, who doesn’t go crazy over a cheese shop. Any cheese shop, really. This one was particularly wonderful, though.
Speaking of cheese, what’s your favorite kind?
Mine’s goat cheese. Oh yes.
Also cheddar and gruyere and fontina and JARLSBERG. OMG. I love it all.
This market was DELICIOUS. We ate lunch there per Bridget’s recommendation and just YES. My mom and I split this CRAZY GOOD New England Clam Corn Chowder creation. Loved it. They also have the kind of french fries that I dream of at night. Not too thin, not too thick, extra crispy. Perfect for dipping in ketchup and thanking the heavens that you were born. And the corn bread they serve? I could have eaten that stuff all dang day.
So basically, if you’re ever in Concord, try this spot. I think you’ll love it.
After lunch we walked around the town popping in and out of gift shops, clothing boutiques, and book stores, dodging the rain and the puddles and the cold. I also discovered this lovely home goods store called Jack and Toba with beautiful vintage + contemporary pieces, a really fun owner that made me smile, and an interior that was seriously every pinterest lovers dream.
Then we drove to our main destination: Orchard House!
I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to make the voyage here, and how excited I was when I finally got to experience it in person. Little Women is for me, as I’m sure it is for you, one of the best pieces of my childhood. I feel like those March sisters could be MY sisters, that their hopes and dreams could just as well be my hopes and dreams, and that inside that little brown house lives the history and the imagination of one of the greatest stories of all time.
It was so nice to be able to peak around {no cameras!}, to learn about the true life of Louisa May Alcott {the tour is perfect}, and how the real Alcott girls had similarities and differences to the characters from Little Women we all know and love.
We got to see the piano that Lizzie {Beth} loved to play on, hear of her untimely death at the age of twenty-two {she really did have scarlet fever that weakened her heart}, we saw the eldest sister’s Anna’s wedding gown {which she wore on a spring afternoon in May}, and also! Lousia’s desk where she sat and wrote her stories is right there in her old room and it is really just the most amazing thing to see.
Sigh.
I loved it all.
And now, if you don’t mind me, I’m off to watch the movie! Because after writing this post I just can’t help myself.
Also, because it is one of my absolute forever favorites. For always.
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“Oh, my girls, however long you may live,
I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!”
-Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Your adventures make me want to go on adventures!!! I’m so jelly. These photos are amazing.
We just need to go on one together that’s all. :-D
Your weekend in Concord sounds so perfect! I love all of your pictures – it looks like such a fun little town to visit! And I’m so jealous you visited Orchard House! Now I’M wanting to watch Little Women! Every time we’re in a mood to watch a movie but don’t feel like going and getting a new one, I suggest Little Women. And my husband says no every. single. time. I need a sick day/girls day to just watch it on my own and relive all that’s wonderful about it.
Seriously. I always like to watch it alone so I can really cry it out good and true.
It’s the best.
Oh YAY. You visited all of the places I would have recommended (especially the Cheese Shop!)
Isn’t Orchard House the best? Little Men was always my favorite Louisa May Alcott book growing up- I read it at least once every summer for years. Getting to see the place where she wrote all of those stories was always magical.
Oh, I haven’t read that one! Good rec.
Anna,
I found a link to your blog a few months ago and have been reading ever since…thank you so much for this post!
Concord is actually my hometown. I’m currently working far away as a teacher in rural China. But I used to work at Orchard House as a guide in high school and college!! Even though it’s a museum, it just feels…so homey! So glad you had a good experience there.
My parents are also (and rightfully so) obsessed with the cheese shop, and Main Street is a favorite place for lunch with friends.
Thanks for giving me a little slice of home!!
:) Caitlin
I want to live in this post!!! I have been to Concord many times, but it’s always been for work, so I’ve never been able to explore these lovely places. Want to SO BADLY!!
Also, Brie and Camenbert and Dubliner. Try all if you haven’t. Camenbert, imo, is best breaded and baked, then served warm with strawberry jelly and toast.
love this!! i want to go back now. (and town/LMA aside… the houses in concord, amazing right?)
That just looks so fantastic. Your pictures make me want to go wherever you go! I love that you went to Orchard House… I would love to do that someday! Little Women is an all time favorite movie. I’m glad you say that the tour was really good. I think that can really make or break the experience. Concord just seems like a great place to be!
Anna!
What a wonderful post. I know you mentioned that you love goat cheese. A few months ago, Trader Joe’s had a blue goat cheese (that I spotted only that one time) that was soooo yummy if you like a really sharp cheese.
Now I want to go there! Specially because of that cheese shop! ;) Love your photos!
OH THAT CHEESE SHOP!!! I have some pretty good cheese shops in my mental list but this one seems so very picturesque! I think I may just have to plan some sort of cheese shop road trip in conjunction with James deepest road trip desire to see all of the best baseball stadiums in the US by train! You know..cheese, trains, baseball or something like it. Also..I somehow didn’t realize that the LMA sisters had so many comparisons to her real-life sisters! How lovely that must have been!
What an amazing little town..
And just because some other people did it, my favorites are GOAT, MANCHEGO, Pt Reyes BLEU, Jarsberg, Dubliner and Appenzeller!!!
Oh, my sister and I always watch that movie around Christmas!! Lovelovelove it! I’m already planning a trip like this with my boyfriend in a weekend soon.
FRIEND do you know my Mom lives in Concord!?!!! Next time I’m home you can come have a slumber party one night and we can wonder the town and pretend we live there permanently ! LOVE YOU xxxxxxxxxx
oh little women. such a rite of passage. love so many things about this wonderful day -finding great fries are such a little joy that life gives us every now and again, no?
I wish you had seen Susan Sarandon wandering around in a hoopskirt.