Ever since she visited 19th-century American author Willa Cather’s house as a young girl, history teacher Dr. Andrea Hamilton has been fixated on visiting the houses of her favorite authors and important historical figures.
Hamilton was starting middle school when she first proposed to her parents that they make a trip to see Cather’s house, as she was studying her literature in school. It was just a simple road trip in her home state of Nebraska, but it ignited a passion within her, an interest that has brought her across the Oregon Trail, into presidential residences and through the moors of West Yorkshire.
Out of all the houses she has visited, Hamilton has three favorites, each one with their own quirks: Beatrix Potter’s, the Brontë sisters’ and Louisa May Alcott’s.
Potter’s house is in the Lake District of Northern England. A quintessential countryside cottage, the grey estate sits on top of a hill and is overrun with wild gardens that engulf the rugged stone walls and slowly spread across the moss-colored window panes.
Hamilton’s tip for visiting the house is to stay overnight nearby to beat out the crowds during the day and experience the house at its quietest, simply lounging in the nature and history of the landmark. Louisa May Alcott’s house, on the other hand, sits in the suburbs of Concord, Mass.. On the outside, it looks like just another colonial-era building, but after walking past its wooden exterior and walking into the charming, cozy bedrooms and the impressive yet humble dining areas.
Hamilton’s favorite note on the house is that, if you look closely, you can see the creative drawings of the Alcott children right on the walls and see the very desk where Louisa Alcott wrote her famous novel “Little Women.”
And, in contrast to Potter’s house, a visit to Alcott’s house can also include a visit to other famous writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo Emerson, offering a more expansive opportunity than rural houses like Alcott’s or the Brontës’.
The last of her favorites, the Brontë house, sits on the edge of Yorkshire, an industrialized county north of London. A grey, gritty house, it offers a glimpse into the life of the family, as the nearby graveyard and the notorious moors mentioned in the sisters’ writings bring visitors back into 19th-century England.
Hamilton has traveled across the United States and England to see these houses and more, taking treks to the Ozarks and trains across England. For her, the experience of seeing where a historical figure lived brings color to their character, offering up information about them that no textbook or online article can offer.
Athough she has already seen many of her favorite authors and historical figures already on trips with her family, she looks forward to what experiences the future holds, and she particularly has her eye on Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West, Fla..