Part of The Big Four-O Tour Blog Series

My friend Hannah and I celebrated our long-awaited 40th birthdays by traveling around coastal Massachusetts and nerding out over our favorite books and stories. By the way, if you’re having any misgivings over turning 40 (or any other age), here’s the trick: schedule something you’ve always wanted to do for that birthday, and then you’ll look forward to it!

We landed in Boston but pretty much only slept there — during the day, we rented a car and visited Concord for a Louisa May Alcott pilgrimage, Salem for witch trials history, and Yarmouth for the Edward Gorey House. Here were the highlights! (If you want to know every nitty-gritty detail, especially transportation logistics, an annotated itinerary is forthcoming 🚗)

Concord

45 mins to 1 hr from Boston

Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House

We couldn’t possibly fly into Boston and miss seeing Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott was living when she wrote Little Women. Because I’ve read the book and watched the 1994 movie innumerable times (and maybe even cowrote a themed cookbook), it was totally surreal to drive into Concord and see it on the side of the road. My online friend Jennie works there, and she gave us a tour. We connected years ago through a Louisa May Alcott Facebook group, but it was our first time meeting each other in person! Jennie, I promise I’ll be making that Laurie paper doll for Christmas this year!

Possibly my favorite thing at Orchard House: they have a garden for each March sister, as they’re described in the book:

Meg’s had roses and heliotrope, myrtle, and a little orange tree in it. Jo’s bed was never alike two seasons, for she was always trying experiments. This year it was to be a plantation of sun flowers, the seeds of which cheerful land aspiring plant were to feed Aunt Cockle-top and her family of chicks. Beth had old-fashioned fragrant flowers in her garden, sweet peas and mignonette, larkspur, pinks, pansies, and southernwood, with chickweed for the birds and catnip for the pussies. Amy had a bower in hers, rather small and earwiggy, but very pretty to look at, with honeysuckle and morning-glories hanging their colored horns and bells in graceful wreaths all over it, tall white lilies, delicate ferns, and as many brilliant, picturesque plants as would consent to blossom there. (Alcott 99)

[Admission: Museum entry is $15/person. Make sure you book a tour time on their website!]

Concord Free Public Library

The Concord Free Public Library is everything a library ought to be. It is beautiful. The reference room is like a smaller, green version of the Beast’s library. The children’s area is light, airy, and colorful, with a separate storytime room, a patio, and an amazing makerspace. During open hours, you can go downstairs to Special Collections without an appointment and see pages of the original manuscript of Little Women, written in Louisa May Alcott’s own hand. Many thanks to the library staff who were so kind and enthusiastic about showing us around!

[Admission: Free, of course! It’s a public library, and here it’s even in the name.]

Author’s Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

It might sound a little weird to say that I’d love to spend a day hiking around a cemetery, but it’s a beautiful place. Louisa May Alcott’s grave is at Authors Ridge, where you can also pay your respects to Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau.

[Admission: Free]

Notes for Concord Next Time:

I thought a couple hours would be plenty here because there aren’t as many attractions to hit, but Concord is a charming town, and I wish we’d had given ourselves at least a full day to linger and explore. (We packed Concord and Salem into one day. If I could do it again, I’d do a day and a night in Concord and a day in Salem.) As I mentioned, I wanted more time in the cemetery, but it would also be nice to stay at a bed & breakfast, relax and read outside, and soak in the New England greenery, especially as a San Diegan relishing the change in scenery. We also didn’t get a chance to visit Barrow Bookstore, of which I’ve read rave reviews. They specialize in Concord authors and have rare editions for collectors.

Salem

45 mins to 1 hr 15 mins from Concord or Boston

Jolie Tea Company

Hannah and I adore an afternoon tea. And Jolie Tea Company was a lovely place to take a break. This tea menu included three tea sandwiches (cucumber, ham and brie, and salmon gougère), a lemon scone (with jam and cream), two French macarons, a madeleine, a pot of tea, and a complimentary crème brulée tisane. For your pot of tea, we highly recommend the Witch’s Brew blend, not just because it feels appropriate for Salem, but also because it has a very pleasant fall flavor.

[High Tea: $36/person. It would be at least $50 in San Diego! ]

Salem Witch House

This is the only extant building in Salem from the witch trials era. (A witch never actually lived there, but a judge in the trials did.) The rooms are set up with artifacts and furniture from the period. The stuff is fascinating, and this place is worth a visit. A head’s up though that the museum displays are kinda poorly printed, with pixelated images and grammar errors; there was one where some lines were whited out. It pained us, especially Hannah, who has archival and museum training.

[Admission: Museum entry is $12/person, but there’s a combo discount if you add Witch Dungeon Museum and New England Pirate Museum.]

Witch Dungeon Museum

After an intro by the guide, two actors do an onstage reenactment of the trial of Elizabeth Proctor, of Crucible fame, using real historical transcripts and creepy mannequin extras.

Then the guide ushers you down to the basement, where they’ve reconstructed a model dungeon where the accused would have been imprisoned, complete with even creepier mannequins.

Their gift shop, which you visit at the beginning, before the show, has pretty cute stuff! The whole thing takes maybe a half-hour, and there are lots of shows on the schedule.

[Admission: Museum entry is $13/person, but note the combo discount.]

Count Orlock’s Nightmare Gallery

An impressive display of horror movie models and memorabilia, commissioned and collected by a really intense enthusiast. I walked into a room and nearly jumped out of my skin because I found myself unexpectedly face-to-face with a life-size Regan from The Exorcist. You’re not allowed to take any pictures inside though!

[Admission: Museum entry is $15/person.]

Black Veil Shoppe

If you need some spooky souvenirs, this shop is owned by local tattoo artist brothers and had the coolest stuff of the stores we looked at. I got a bunch of stickers of their original art.

Recitations from The Crucible at the Old Town Hall

Nope, this isn’t a ticketed event or a tourist attraction. This is just Hannah and me deciding months ahead, “Hey, if we’re in Salem, we should perform monologues from The Crucible to each other while we’re there.” Even though we’re not actors. Well, we were right by the town square, waiting for a tour to begin, and it felt like an appropriate place to, you know, declaim or whatever. Enjoy our impassioned video … or skip ahead if you can’t handle the secondhand embarrassment 💀

[Admission: Free! You’re welcome, random passersby.]

History and Hauntings of Salem Guided Walking Tour

This tour has fantastic reviews on Expedia and TripAdvisor, but it was probably, unfortunately, our biggest miss of the trip. It was a good opportunity to walk all over town, and we hadn’t gone yet to the Salem Witch Trials Memorial or Charter Street Cemetery (aka Old Burying Point). But the guide we had just didn’t hit the right note for us. She was very perky and flippant, and we wanted someone who would take on a more serious, spooky tone – one that would scare the bejeezus out of us, preferably, or at the very least pack in a ton of historical knowledge. The tours start every 15 minutes and follow the same path, so we did catch very short snippets from two other guides as we wandered about. From the bits we overheard, we wished we had been assigned to Hilary (with one “l”).

[Price: $32.94/person through Expedia]

Notes for Salem Next Time:

We weren’t as into Salem as a town as we expected, although we’re still glad we visited. It would have been silly of us to expect the place to look like time stopped in the 1600s, of course, but Salem is more suburban than we pictured, especially compared to Concord. (At least we weren’t there in October, which is apparently bananas.) If we were going to go full-on tourist trap, Hannah and I’d hoped for a witchy, old-fashioned tavern with potions on the menu, but no such luck.

But we only had the chance to pack the most obvious attractions into this half-day. We heard from locals that we were missing some of the best stuff; they highly recommended The House of the Seven Gables and The Rebecca Nurse Homestead. And we’d want to go to the Peabody Essex next time too. (I also wish we’d had a chance to go to the Pirate Museum, even if it’s cheesy and silly.)

Cape Cod

1 hr 20 mins to 1 hr 40 mins from Boston to Yarmouth

Edward Gorey House

Hannah is a big fan of Edward Gorey, and she asked if we could make a stop at the Edward Gorey House while we were so near. I’d barely read through The Gashlycrumb Tinies, but I still enjoy a random museum. And, y’all, it was the best museum of the trip. This place is an absolute gem. It’s small, but the exhibits are beautifully, creatively, and humorously put together. The gift shop was tempting, even for me. If you’re an Edward Gorey fan, you need to put this place on your bucket list.

Gregory Hischak, the curator, is hilarious and a genius. His is some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in museum displays. He pointed out the beginning of the optional scavenger hunt activity they offer: they’ve placed references to The Gashlycrumb Tinies all over the house for visitors to find. And there is a prize if you find them all. (It took both of us and much longer than anyone else stayed, but we did find all 26 kids!)

By the way, if you’re here already, there is a neat used bookstore down the street called Parnassus Book Services. We ducked in for a few minutes on the way to coffee.

[Admission: $10/person. We did make a reservation for a time slot. Plenty of visitors walked in, but it was a quiet weekday.]

Notes for Yarmouth Next Time:

This museum gets 10/10, no notes. I’d be curious to get local input on the best fish and chips nearby!

Endnote

Man, coastal Massachusetts. What a destination for nerds and book lovers. We’d love to know if you’ve been — what did we miss? What would you recommend?