For twenty-five years, Orchard House was the home of Amos Bronson Alcott and his family, including daughter Louisa May Alcott, who wrote part of Little Women while living there.

An author, educator, and transcendental philosopher, Alcott established one of the first adult summer schools in the eastern United Stated, the Concord Summer School of Philosophy and Literature, which met in the building constructed for it near his home.

Louisa May Alcott is well known for her children’s books including Little Women, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Little Men, and Eight Cousins. She is also known for her social activism and as the first woman in Concord, Massachusetts to cast a vote in an election.

While the earliest portion of Orchard House was constructed during the 18th century, the building owes much of its present appearance to alterations and additions made after 1857 when it was purchased by the Alcott Family. Located on a 2.1-acre parcel of land at the northwest corner of Lexington Road and Alcott Road in Concord, the grounds include the Little Women Garden, featuring an accessible pathway that wends its way through the historic landscape.

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, it is owned and operated as a museum by Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, Inc.