Today was a busy day, with the Concord Museum, Emerson’s house and the Fruitlands – the utopian society the Alcotts and a few others attempted to create. It’s very hard to choose what to talk about, because all three were really interesting. The thing that stands out most is our tour through Emerson’s house, because our tour guide made it feel much less like walking through a museum and more like simply visiting the Emerson’s and finding them out. First, she ushered us into his study, which has been recreated because the furniture is now in the Concord museum on display. She told us it was fine to sit in the chairs, and we all did, assuming it was furniture that meant nothing. Then we found out it was similar furniture that had been moved from other parts of the house and all of it had actually belonged to Emerson and his family. We were sitting on chairs that he and other famous authors and thinkers who would have visited had likely also sat on! I couldn’t believe we were allowed to sit on it because all the other homes we were forbidden to even lean on the walls. She let us feel right at home.

In addition to that, while up in the master bedroom, she took out the robe that he used to give lecures on the lecture circuit and the robe he put on in the morning when it was chilly in the house. The robes were beautiful. The one he gave lectures in had cuffs at the wrist and then billows of fabric that hung over his hands. His morning robes were made by his wife and had lovely pieces of velvet on the cuffs and at the front. She told us she didn’t usually take them out to let visitors see because no one usually cares about such things and she was therefore giving us a special tour. I just couldn’t believe she was touching them and showing them off to us. I felt right at home, as if Emerson would just walk through the door and greet us. It was a wonderful visit.