Alcott, Louisa May - Concord, MA

Louisa May Alcott

Concord, MA

N 42° 27.886 W 071° 20.535

On top of Author's Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is the family plot and grave of Louisa May Alcott. She is buried near the graves of of Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorn, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. She is buried in a large family plot which includes her father, Bronson Alcott, mother, and sisters. In addition to the family headstone there is a small standing headstone inscribed:

L.M.A.

1832 -1888

and a ground level plaque that is inscribed:

LOUISA M. AlCOTT.

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, PA on November 29, 1832 to Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott. She was the second of four daughters. The family moved to Boston in 1838. As a child she lived at 20 Pinckney Street in Boston, MA with her parents and her three sisters: Anna Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Abigail May Alcott. Her family was part of the Boston literary scene with such friends as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.

In 1860, Louisa May began writing for the Atlantic Monthly and later she wrote novels under the pen name A. M. Barnard. In 1868, while living at the Orchard House in Concord, MA, she published her most famous work, Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868), a semi-autobiographical book about her childhood with her sisters.

Alcott died at age 55, in Boston, MA, of a stroke on March 6, 1888 and is buried on Author's Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA.

Author's Ridge contains the graves of the four elite members of the Boston literary world of the 19th century. In sequential order you will find the family plots, including the graves, of these four famous contemporary authors: Henry David Thoreau ( July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862), Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864), Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882). The Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott graves are clustered together while a sign points to the grave of Emerson a short distance east along the ridge.

Setting

Writings by Louisa May Alcott:

The Little Women trilogy:

Little Women or Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy (1868)
Good Wives (1869)
Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871)

Other Novels:

The Inheritance (1849, unpublished until 1997)
Moods (1865, revised 1882)
The Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867)
An Old Fashioned Girl (1870)
Will's Wonder Book (1870)
Work: A Story of Experience (1873)
Beginning Again, Being a Continuation of Work (1875)
Eight Cousins or The Aunt-Hill (1875)
Rose in Bloom: A Sequel to Eight Cousins (1876)
Under the Lilacs (1878)
Jack and Jill: A Village Story (1880)
Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out: A Sequel to "Little Men" (1886)