The latest adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel, Little Women, has hit cinema screens, and Massachusetts is taking centre stage in the classic tale of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March. If you'd like to check out Greta Gerwig's movie's filming locations in real life, we've compiled this guide to point you in the right direction.
Orchard House
Orchard House in Concord (c. 1650) is where Louisa May Alcott wrote and set Little Women. She lived in the house with her sisters and parents, and the noble home also has a rich history stretching back two centuries before that. As it's now a major visitor attraction, most of the film's interior shots took place in a replica house.
Fruitlands Museum
Fruitlands Museum was founded in 1914 by Clara Endicott Sears, and takes its name from a short-lived experiment in communal living led by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane that took place on the site in 1843. The Shaker Museum is housed in an historic building, and as well as a being a real Alcott family site, it portrays Meg and John’s newlywed home in the movie. The red farmhouse where the Alcott family lived is seen in one of the exterior scenes.
Crane Beach
The March sisters were played by Emma Watson as Meg, Saoirse Ronan as Jo, Eliza Scanlen as Beth and Florence Pugh as Amy, and in the film, they take a trip to the beach, complete with blankets and picnic baskets. These scenes were filmed on Crane Beach, a 1234-acre conservation and recreation property located in Ipswich, immediately north of Cape Ann. It consists of a four-mile-long sandy beachfront, dunes and a maritime pitch pine forest.
William Hickling Prescott House
The William Hickling Prescott House on Boston’s Beacon Hill was the setting for the Moffat house in the film, where Meg had her society debut. It is operated by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, an organisation of women who actively promote and conserve their national heritage. Their activities are focused on historic preservation, patriotic service and educational projects, and Prescott House is open to the public from May to November and at other times by special arrangement.
Emerson Colonial Theatre
You can take a guided historical tour of Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston, which was featured in a scene where Jo enjoyed a show in New York City. It opened in 1900 and is the oldest continually-operating theatre in the city.
Other filming locations include the Arnold Arboretum, which was used to shoot a scene set in a 19th-century Parisian park. The ballroom of the Fairmont Copley Plaza was transformed into a party scene featuring Amy March and Laurie. The Gibson House Museum was the location for Jo's New York City apartment, and Plumfield, Aunt March's grand estate, was Bradley Estate in Canton.
Finally, those who enjoyed the ballroom scene where Jo and Laurie dance on the veranda to hide her burned dress can visit Lyman Estate in Waltham.
