Literary Travel… Worth Every Penny!

Let me just tell you how much fun it is to visit somewhere you have only read about in books. SO MUCH FUN.

Salem was incredible! One of my new favorite places on the map. Anyone who has read anything about Salem including The Crucible, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, The Heretic’s Daughter, The House of Seven Gables, The Lace Reader, and others, will be enchanted by this adorable town. There is much history in this place, as it was one of the first English settled cities (founded in 1626) in what would become the United States of America. Some would say the Witch Trials of 1692 are exploited here, others would say they are honored. The city does a collectively good job at honoring history in general, and the Witch Trials are no exception. There are many avenues set up to educate the public about what happened and why it possibly might have occurred. Modern witches and what the differences are between our perception of witches and the reality of witches (of which they are knowledgeable… there are between 1,500 to 2,000 followers of the Wicca religion in Salem’s population of roughly 41,000) is discussed at The Salem Witch Museum.

If you are a fan of literature, this small city is steeped in it, and was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose birth-house is still standing in the town. In fact, we stayed about 20 feet away from his birth-house, and it, like so many incredible artifacts that they have in the town, are incredibly accessible to the public. It is hard to walk through Salem and not only be in awe of all that has happened there, but also inspired by the stories that haunt the streets. My traveling companion was reading The Lace Reader, which is a current New York Times Bestseller about Salem; taking place in mostly modern times. I couldn’t help myself, I ended up buying the book on my Kindle the second day we were in town. I was so in love with this town that I wanted to be immersed in it… while we were still there! I am really enjoying this book, no doubt that it’s even more captivating because I have just walked the streets and visited the locations being presented on the pages. I am half way done with this novel, review to follow!

From Salem we went to Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott (among others like Thoreau, Emerson, and Hawthorne, who was born and wrote in Salem as well) lived and wrote. Concord is the address of Orchard House, which was made famous by Little Women. Not only is Orchard House (where the March family resided in the novel) real, it is the actual house where Alcott lived with her family and penned Little Women. In fact, we stood in the very room where the built in desk (made by her father), on which Louisa wrote the short story later to become full length novel, “Little Women Part I”, still stands. For those of you who have seen the 1994 version of Little Women starring Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon, the Orchard House in the movie is very similar to the actual Orchard House, with a few embellishments. Though we weren’t supposed to touch anything I couldn’t help “accidentally” (but carefully, of course) knocking into a couch that Louisa used to lie on, a quilt that Marmee made for her (that was still lying on her bed), and standing way too close to her writing desk. Little Women is one of my favorite stories of all time, and has been since I was a little girl… I’m sure Louisa would forgive me for my “bumping” of her belongings, and if not, well, she can’t really say anything about it now, can she?

I highly recommend taking a literary trip of your own. Have a favorite classic or bestseller? Find out where the author wrote it or where it takes place. Research the town (or towns) on the Internet, ask questions of hoteliers, or call tourism centers in the city to ask for inside local information. Then plan your trip. You might be wondering why you should spend vacation time learning; there is something incredibly fulfilling about taking a story (or stories) that you have made a part of your life by reading them, and making them real.

Need inspiration? Check Literary Traveler and see if you can find something to get you started.

(Note: If you are a history buff, Orchard House would not only be interesting to you because of Louisa May Alcott. Her family was influential in many ways and her father, mother, and sister May, were particularly influential in history).