... this is where I spent my Saturday. Beautiful Fall weather with a beautiful view...
On a pretty ridge of land about thirty miles outside of Boston, Bronson Alcott and a group of mid-19th century intellectuals tried to establish a Utopian community called Fruitlands. They were going to try to create a 'heaven on Earth', living off the land, exploiting no animals or slave labour, teaching their children to work for an honest existence and strive for spiritual purity, and intellectual fulfillment. Their high ideals succeeded, but the community was a bust. Subsistence farming and the reality of the hard work it takes to make a farming community thrive was beyond these 19th century intellectuals. They lasted all of six months, but their ideals served to fuel the abolitionist movement, early vegetarian concepts of nutrition, enlightened education theory for school children, and fodder for Louisa May Alcott's various novels.
Years later, the property was purchased by a rich Brahmin society woman and turned into a museum ... today, there are walking trails, a sculpture garden, the original Alcott farmhouse and three other buildings that house Native American historical artifacts, Shaker artifacts, and a small art gallery that has a nice collection of Hudson River School artists' works and also a lovely collection of American primitive portraits.
... the Alcott communal farmhouse originally called Fruitlands ...
... Bronson Alcott's study ... killer desk, huh? ...
... my fave painting in the Hudson River School collection - a picture of Lake George in New York state ...
... my fave piece of Shaker furniture in the new exhibit on Shakers that opened today ...
... a view up the hill to a small Shaker farmhouse that was moved to the Fruitlands site ...
This post is shared with others at Melinda's blog West Metro Mommy Reads for this week's Saturday Snapshot photo share ... check out what others have posted.
Combining beautiful weather, great scenery, and literary history. What more could you ask for? Here's Mine
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shots! I love all things Alcott...and Shaker.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.
I bet that's a wonderful place to visit. I love to go to places like that and think about all the people who were there before me.
ReplyDeleteI would love to come visit and tag along with you on your outings. One day....
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating, and beautiful, place to visit. I've never heard of Fruitlands before, it looks great, I'm not sure if I'll ever get the opportunity to make a visit, but I really enjoyed your photos today.
ReplyDeleteA really lovely spot on earth. I have another blogging buddy who has often visited Fruitlands. You and she give much different views of the home, but perfectly complementary. Her name is Karen at A Scrapbook of Inspiration if you ever have the chance to look her up.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days I'm going to take an author tour of the US. I will go there.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Saturday Snapshot!