THE ALCOTTS’S HILLSIDE, THE HAWTHORNES’S WAYSIDE “There ain’t anything that is so interesting to look at as a place that a book has talked about.” — Mark Twain, TOM SAWYER ABROAD NOTE: Orchard House (commonly referred to as “The Alcott House”) is the brown one with parking area in front, on the left side of Alcott Road as you face the house. Its address is 399 Lexington Road. Here it is as a doll house, and in a dilapidated condition: The Wayside is at 455 Lexington Road a bit farther down the road, on the left, the beautiful house with the large porch. That's the home of the Alcotts and then the Hawthornes and later Margaret Sidney. Here it is in the 1860 survey, and as boarded up in 1890: (It’s confusing due to the fact that the Alcott family lived in both houses.) “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Hillside/Wayside HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1666 In Concord, Timothy Wheeler was again deputy and representative to the General Court. The bridge across the Concord River at Concord that had washed away in the previous year, the one below Joseph Barrett’s, Esq. that went to Lee’s hill, was replaced by another where the South Bridge would later stand. In Concord, Nathaniel Ball, Sr. recorded ownership of a “house lott” of 13 acres. (This property eventually would become the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside.”) OLD HOUSES NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT Hillside/Wayside “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1686 The Red-Horse Tavern was opened in Sudbury, on the main road west from Boston. This would become the locale of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” Just take the 128 freeway to near Waltham, get off at the Route 20 exit heading West, drive something like ten miles past Weston and through Wayland and through South Sudbury, and start looking on the right. If you get to Marlborough, you’ve passed it. You can’t miss the place. Although it’s not the same building now, they’ve changed the name from Red- Horse Tavern to Wayside Inn in order to make certain that the tourists get the drift. Ask for a Harvey Wallbanger and mention that it was Hank Longfellow’s favorite libation. (BEFORE) First deed to the Hillside/Wayside property in Concord; a houselot granted to Nathaniel Ball on his upcoming marriage. The original farmhouse was most likely built shortly after that date.1 OLD HOUSES 1. Other than a similarity in names there is no connection between the Wayside Inn in Sudbury and The Wayside in Concord. HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1688 In Concord, John Flint continued to be the Town Clerk. In Concord, Nathaniel Ball, Sr. deeded to his son, Nathaniel Ball, Jr., the unimproved half of a “house lott,” the other half to go to Nathaniel, Jr. on the death of the father. (This property eventually would become the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside.”) NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Hillside/Wayside HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1716 In Concord, Joseph Dakin, William Wilson, Benjamin Whittemore, John Flint, and Daniel Brooks were Selectmen. Ordinarily, Concord’s five selectmen acted as Overseers of the Poor and as Assessors, but in this period there was in addition a board of five Overseers of the Poor. In Concord, William Wilson continued as Town Clerk. In Concord, Samuel Jones continued as Town Treasurer. Boston Light, the 1st lighthouse built in the US and the last to remain currently staffed, was built on Little Brewster Island in Boston HarborBOSTON HARBOR . This 1st stone lighthouse was financed by a tax of a penny a ton on all vessels entering and leaving the harbor. The first keeper, George Worthylake, was paid £50 a year. He made additional money by acting as a harbor pilot for incoming vessels, and kept a flock of sheep on Great Brewster Island. In a 1717 storm his sheep would be out on the long sand spit off Great Brewster when the tide came in, and would be drowned. In 1718 Worthylake and his family would be out in a boat when an accident would happen and they would drown.2 Boston Light in 1789 Captain James Minot deeded the home that eventually would become the east wing of Concord’s Colonial Inn HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE to his son James Minot, Jr. During this year and the following one, what we know as “The Wayside” was being constructed on a granite foundation as a two-story side gable Georgian house. It is also known as the “Samuel Whitney” house because during the fighting in 1775 it would be the home of the Reverend Samuel Whitney. The present front bay would be added, by the Alcotts, during the 1845-1887 alterations. The East and West additions have romantic detailing while the west porch, which would be tacked on circa 1900, has late Victorian details. This would be the home not only of the Alcott family but also of the Hawthorne family, and finally of Daniel and Harriet 1 Lothrop (Harriet was known by her pen name “Margaret Sidney”). Between 1716 and 1778 a 1 /2-story side gable barn with a shed attached to its north wall would be associated with this structure, but the barn would be moving around. It would be moved to the west side of the house by Bronson Alcott, by 1845, and then finally Nathaniel Hawthorne would have it moved to the east side of the house, in 1860. OLD HOUSES 2. Boston having been during the colonial era the maritime center of America, there had been other beacons before this Boston Light. There had been, for instance, a beacon on nearby Point Allerton in Hull as early as 1673, and the town of Hull had already built a lighthouse on the northern bluff as of 1681. So what is meant when people say that this is our 1st lighthouse is merely that the structure on Little Brewster, rebuilt after the Brits destroyed it during the revolution, happens to be the most antique still in existence. HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE Concord had in the previous year kept a grammar school for but one quarter, in different parts of the town, and the total expense for education had been £40. In this year, however, it raised £50 for its schools, £35 for the grammar school at the town center and £5 for each of the grammar schools of the other three divisions of the town. LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Hillside/Wayside HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1717 In Concord, Caleb Ball, son of Nathaniel Ball, Jr., sold his house and barn with 3 3/4 acres, plus other farming land, to Samuel Fletcher, a “glazer.” (This property would be owned and occupied by Samuel Fletcher, Jr., Nathaniel Colburn, and John Breede until 1769, but eventually it would become first the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and then the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside.”) OLD HOUSES THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Hillside/Wayside HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1769 Since 1717, the house that eventually would become the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside” in Concord had been owned and occupied by Samuel Fletcher, Jr., Nathaniel Colburn, and John Breede. From this year into 1776, it would be owned and occupied by Samuel Whitney (who would be the Muster Master for the Concord Minutemen at the start of the American Revolution). OLD HOUSES THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Hillside/Wayside HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1775 April 19, Wednesday: What would eventually be known as “The Wayside” was at this point a 4-room colonial farmhouse dating to the late 17th Century. It was home not only to the Muster Master of the Concord Minutemen, Samuel Whitney, and his wife and their dozen children, but also to at least two black slaves. During the nine months that Concord hosted Harvard College, this house would be occupied by the eminent natural philosopher John Winthrop. WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF Hillside/Wayside “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1776 Samuel Whitney was no longer occupying the house that eventually would become the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside.” During the nine months that Concord hosted Harvard College, it was occupied by the eminent natural philosopher John Winthrop. The house would in 1778 be purchased as their residence by Daniel Hoar, Sr. and his son, Daniel, Jr. OLD HOUSES CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT Hillside/Wayside “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE HILLSIDE/WAYSIDE 1778 The Concord house that eventually would become the Alcott family’s “Hillside” and the Hawthorne family’s “The Wayside” would be owned and occupied by Daniel Hoar, Sr.