The family returned in 1845 and purchased a house named "Hillside,"[6] but left again in 1852, selling to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who renamed it The Wayside.

[8] "'Tis a pretty retreat," Bronson Alcott wrote soon after moving in, "and ours; a family mansion to take pride in, rescued as it is from deformity and disgrace.

It seems as if the spirit of some old architect had brought it from the Middle Ages and dropped it down in Concord...The whole house leaves a general impression of harmony, of a medieval sort.

"[10] Orchard House is adjacent to The Wayside on the historic "American Mile" roadway toward Lexington, and is less than a half-mile from Bush, the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson,[11] where Henry David Thoreau and the Alcotts were frequent visitors.

[13] The parlor was a formal room with arched niches built by Bronson to display busts of his favorite philosophers, Socrates and Plato.

In 1868, Louisa May Alcott wrote her beloved classic novel, Little Women, in her room on a special "shelf desk" built by her father.

Also written in the house were Bronson Alcott's Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865; published 1882), Tablets (1868), Concord Days (1872), and Table Talk (1877).

[5] On the grounds to the west of the house is a structure designed and built by Bronson Alcott originally known as "Hillside Chapel," and later as "The Concord School of Philosophy."

[14] Abigail May's bread board, mortar and pestle, tin spice chest, and wooden bowls are displayed on the hutch table in the kitchen.

[22] Other original kitchen features include a laundry drying rack designed by Bronson and a soapstone sink bought by Louisa.

[24] Orchard House has continued the tradition of Mr. Alcott's Concord School of Philosophy by hosting "The Summer Conversational Series" since 1977, and has recently added a "Teacher Institute" component.