Down the road from Orchard House in Concord, is the Alcott’s first home, pictured above. This is actually the home where much of the basis for stories of Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women unfolded during the sisters’ childhood. The home was later sold to Nathaniel Hawthorne by Bronson Alcott as the first purchased home for Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia Peabody (when first married they rented at The Old Manse). To say it is a house with character is an understatement. Both Alcott and Hawthorne put there personal touches on it with expansion and updates. The most ambitious may have been Hawthorne’s attempt to have a tower built at the center peak to gain a view of famed, Walden Pond. The Wayside abuts a steep incline, providing a dramatic backdrop for its architectural flourishes.