“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents”. So begins ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott.

In this special seasonal film, History Hit explores the extraordinary literary heritage of Concord, Massachusetts - a town that nurtured so many great American writers and thinkers, particularly in the 19th century, including Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott - writers who engaged with everything from female independence to civil liberties and harmony with nature - writers who can still inspire today.

Dan Snow begins at Concord’s fascinating Orchard House, the home of the Alcotts, sitting at the simple desk where Louisa wrote her compelling story about the March sisters. The original objects and paintings in her room give revealing insights into the life of the writer and the motivation she received from Concord and its remarkable people.

Travelling across town, Dan encounters the story of another remarkable woman, nourished and shaped by Concord. Ellen Garrison was an African American who grew up in the town, made her name as an educator, particularly of freedpeople, and courageously fought against segregation in the 1860s, nearly a century before Rosa Parks.

The film ends in beautiful Walden Woods, just outside Concord - Dan discovers how Henry David Thoreau came here to build his famous cabin ‘to live deliberately’ and write his masterpiece about engaging with the natural world.

"I don't believe I will ever marry. I'm happy as I am, and love my liberty too well to be in any hurry to give it up." Jo March, Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

“I have found out one thing about these people. If they attack you, be careful to stand your ground and they will leave you, but if you run they will follow.” Ellen Garrison

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau “Walden: or, Life in the Woods”
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To find out more about the writers featured and the fascinating places Dan visits in this film, these websites are very useful.

Louisa May Alcott and Orchard House
https://louisamayalcott.org/

Ellen Garrison and the Robbins House Museum
https://www.robbinshouse.org/story/ellen-garrison-jackson/

Henry David Thoreau and Walden Pond
https://www.walden.org/
https://www.mass.gov/doc/walden-pond-park-brochure/download