Orchard House is a little smaller and not quite as perfect as the house in the movie, which I believe was a home in Sturbridge Village. Still, I had trouble picturing Louisa May Alcott here with her mother, instead of Winona Ryder with Susan Sarandon. Which sister was it did the artwork? It's there! Remember Dad, who was away at battle in the Civil War? That was really Louisa, who volunteered as a nurse. And, actually, Louisa was in her twenties when the family moved into this house, where she wrote her novels, but picturing her childhood here was an artistic choice--perhaps she thought the house was just so perfect she wanted to remember her whole life with her family as though it had happened here.
The house definitely has its charm! The curtains, linens, pictures, all are displayed and arranged with historical accuracy. The sister's drawings on the walls, all there. Even Bronson Alcott's "school" he built and taught in there in the back yard. This was the highlight of "The Literary Trail" for most of the guests, though I had to vote for Longfellow's house. This cultural site somehow communicates the great love and admiration American has for Louisa May Alcott.