Vision

Maintaining and broadening access to our award-winning tours, programs, and events is of paramount importance, as Orchard House has been a pilgrimage site for visitors from across the country and around the world for over 150 years. The Alcotts' visionary, compassionate, and inclusive approach to life inspires and nurtures visitors, while the life lessons reflected in Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel, Little Women, have been aspirational for generations of readers. Continuing to offer glimpses into the Alcotts' life, work, and social reform activities to present and future visitors not only enhances appreciation for the vital sense of place that Orchard House conveys, but also encourages each person who crosses the threshold to commit themselves, as the Alcotts did, to bettering society and the environment, engaging in lifelong learning, participating in responsible, sustainable living, and being mindful of a common conscience.

Goals

1. 1.Guided tours, educational programs, and living history events will be enhanced to focus on four centuries of courage, determination, and empathy embodied in Orchard House, its residents, and grounds.
2. 2.Thoughtful, strategic efforts to preserve and protect our site, structures, and irreplaceable material culture must continue in order for our interpretive programming to succeed.
3. 3.Without responsible fiscal growth, our capacity to maintain and enhance innovative educational programming and undertake necessary yet very costly historic preservation projects would be impossible.