Be aware if you are visiting Concord: The Wayside, once known as Hillside to the Alcotts, will be closed for renovations for the next two years. Minuteman National Park which maintains the home has acquired the much-needed funds to effect repairs. Neighborhood walking tours will be given for free by the Wayside tour guides as the work continues.
Here’s a portion of the article by the National Park Service, courtesy of the Concord Patch:
The Wayside, Home of Authors, Closed for Repairs
While the house is closed, NPS rangers will give free neighborhood walking tours.
The following information was provided by Minute Man National Historical Park.
Do you know what site with literary associations was the first to be preserved by the National Park Service? Do you know where Louisa May Alcott wrote her first published work? Do you know the location of the only home ever owned by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
If you answered The Wayside on Lexington Road in Concord, you would be correct. As part of Minute Man National Historical Park since 1965, it has welcomed visitors for five decades. Now, it will be closed for two years while undergoing much-needed repairs.
Work will include replacing all of the cedar roof shingles, repairing the metal roof on “Hawthorne’s Tower” and replacing the metal roof on the piazza (porch), replacing gutters and downspouts, repointing the stone foundation, repairing the chimneys, restoring ceilings and walls, and replacement of historic wallpaper and carpet.
Click here for the rest of the article.
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This home and the Alcott one plus Walden Pond is charming to visit. My then late elementary girls and I learned new information about America’s favorite authors and families. Dad did too.
I love The Wayside but it needs climate control and other things to make it functioning. I was there several years ago when they had only reopened after losing funding. Maybe they’ll need a librarian when they reopen…They have lots of Margaret Sidney stories in magazines they don’t have cataloged.
Hmmmm, sounds like an opportunity … 🙂
In two years, I will have just finished my master’s in library science. Here’s hoping there’s a librarian position available! 🙂 Ha!
Hmmm, looks like we’ll have folks fighting over that job! 🙂