
For bookworms, there’s a sense of awe in seeing first-hand the spot where favorite books were created, or where literary heroes thought, wrote, and worked. New England has more than its fair share of such meccas, all a day trip or overnight from Boston. All spots are open now, or soon to open for the spring season — so you’ve got some time to gather your book club, round up your old English major pals, and map out your ultimate readers’ road trip.
Visit a Connecticut Yankee’s court at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. Samuel Clemens, his wife, and three daughters lived in the 25-room mansion for 17 years. During that period, he wrote some of his most famous works, including “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,’’ “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’’ and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.’’
Twain’s court is a gem of Gilded Age Gothic architecture — from the glass conservatory with fountain to the third-floor billiard room where he’d often retreat to write. 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford. 860-247-0998. Adults $19, seniors $16, kids 6-16 $11, under 6 free. www.marktwainhouse.org
Then pop into Twain’s neighbor’s house — that’d be Harriet Beecher Stowe. The “Uncle Tom’s Cabin’’ author and her husband lived in the 14-room gothic-revival style home, now the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, from 1873 until her death in 1896. Several of Stowe’s later works were written while she lived here. 77 Forest St., Hartford. 860-522-9258. Adults $14; seniors and students $12; kids $8, under 5 free. www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org
Marvel at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s majestic estate in Lenox. The Pulitzer Prize-winner and New York-born socialite wrote “The House of Mirth’’ in the bedroom of the stunning 1902 mansion. The co-author of “The Decoration of Houses’’ had a hand in designing her estate, and rich details are straight from, well, an Edith Wharton novel. Grounds open through April; guided house and garden tours start May 14. 2 Plunkett St., Lenox. 413-551-5111. Adults $18; students $13. Under 18 free. www.edith wharton.org
Henry David Thoreau devotees, make the pilgrimage to the 250-acre Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord to experience the pond and woods that inspired the transcendentalist to live deliberately. See a replica of Thoreau’s cabin, add a rock to the cairn at the site of his original cabin, then hike, picnic, canoe, rowboat, cross-country ski or snowshoe in the woods Thoreau so enjoyed. Winter hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 915 Walden St., Concord. Mass. residents, $8; nonresidents, $10. 978-369-3254.
Concord was a 19th century hotbed of literary and philosophical thought, thus its Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is the final resting place of Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. 34 Bedford St., Concord.
During the gang’s livelier days, The Old Manse was a gathering spot. Transcendentalist figurehead Emerson wrote his first draft of “Nature’’ in the study of the circa-1770 Georgian clapboard. “The Scarlet Letter’’ author Hawthorne and his blushing bride arrived at the house on their wedding day in 1842 — you can still see the poems they wrote to each other etched on the window panes. House tours are available now on weekends, and starting daily in mid-April. Adults, $10; children 6-12, $5, kids 5 and under, free. 269 Monument St., Concord. 978-369-3909. www.thetrustees.org
Louisa May Alcott wrote “Little Women’’ at The Orchard House, where the little Alcott women, mom, and philosopher dad, Bronson, lived from 1858 to 1877. (Adults $10, students and seniors $8, ages 6 to 17 $5, under 6 free. 399 Lexington Road, Concord. 978-369-4118. www.louisamayalcott.org) Stop nearby at the Ralph Waldo Emerson House to see the author’s first permanent home in Concord, and the spot where he wrote “Self Reliance.’’ Opens mid-April. 28 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord. 978-369-2236.
The Nathan and Polly Johnson House in New Bedford was Frederick Douglass’s first residence after his escape from slavery in 1838. (Tours by appointment, $5. Call 48 hours in advance. 17-19 and 21 Seventh St., New Bedford. 508-979-8828.) Nearby, see the pew where Herman Melville prayed before embarking on the whaling odyssey that would inspire “Moby-Dick’’ at Seaman’s Bethel. Open mid-June. Admission by donation. 15 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford. 508-992-3295. seamensbethel.org
Head to Pittsfield to see where Melville wrote his whale tale — at his farm, Arrowhead. Grounds and trail open daily. House tours Mondays, by appointment, daily starting Memorial Day. Adults $15, seniors $13, students $10, kids $8. 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield. 413-442-1793. berkshirehistory.org
Whose farm this is? We think we know. It’s Robert Frost’s. The white clapboard farmhouse, sitting on some 30-acres of pasture and woodland with apple trees, birches, and sugar maples, is as iconically New England as Frost’s poetry — much of it inspired by the farm itself. Tours start in May. $5 adults; youths 6 to 17, $3; 5 and under free. 122 Rockingham Road, Derry, N.H. 603-432-3091. robertfrostfarm.org
Sleep in Rudyard Kipling’s house; read in Kipling’s study; soak and Kipling’s bath, and hike, ski, sled and snowshoe on Kipling’s grounds at his Vermont estate, Naulakha. And bring your book club — it sleeps eight. 707 Kipling Road, Dummerston, Vt. 802-254-6868. landmark trustusa.org.
Sleep in former home of Maxwell Perkins, editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, is now The Snap Dragon Inn, a bed and breakfast in Windsor, Vt. The library, with cozy wood stove, is stocked with books. 26 Main St., Windsor, Vt. 802-227-0008, www.snapdragoninn.com
Looking for something a bit more permanent? J.D. Salinger’s Cornish, N.H., home is back on the market.
By Lauren Daley | Globe correspondent
Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com.