Summer is prime season for road trips. In the next few months, thousands of families and individuals will explore the highways and byways of North America, many of them setting out to complete trips through national parks or along coastlines. But as incredible as these classic journeys are, you don’t have to confine yourself to a traditional road trip. Why not let your imagination run wild? With so many amazing sights and so many miles of roads meandering across the continent, the possibilities are endless for crafting journeys to fit almost any imaginable interest.

For instance, do you have a passion for literature? Then why not plan a trip that takes you past the homes of some famous North American authors? To get your creative travel juices flowing, I’ve outlined here a literary road trip through New England that would bring you to the towns of Concord, MA, Hartford, CT, and Amherst, MA.

All of these sites are within a few hours of each other, but you’ll probably want to allow at least four days for this trip in order to fully experience the stops along the way. At the bottom of the article is a link to a Google Map with driving directions.

Let’s get started.

The Hartford of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe

We’re going to begin this particular journey in Hartford, Connecticut, about two hours northeast of New York City. Hartford today may be known as the “Insurance City,” but in the late 1800’s it was home to two of America’s most beloved authors.

Mark Twain spent his childhood on the banks of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri, but he penned some of his most famous works while living in Connecticut. The Mark Twain House and Museum is in a 19-room manor that was home to Twain and his family from 1874 to 1891. It was here that he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi and other works. In addition to house tours, the museum offers exhibitions and frequent lectures and performances.

Around the corner from Twain’s house is the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, in the home where she lived from 1873 to 1896. Stowe wrote 30 books, but she is most famous for the 1852 publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the anti-slavery novel that became an international bestseller. Visitors will learn not only about her life, but also about issues relating to African-American and women’s history.

Emily Dickinson’s Amherst

From Hartford, drive an hour north on I-91 to the college town of Amherst, Massachusetts, where you can sample the educational vibe as well as the life of one of the country’s greatest poets.

Emily Dickinson was a supremely talented but reclusive poet who rarely left home. Although she wrote nearly 1,800 poems, her work was virtually unknown before her death in 1886. The Emily Dickinson Museum comprises the Homestead home where she lived for much of her life, as well as The Evergreens house next door that was occupied by her brother and sister-in-law. You can visit both sites as you explore her poetry.

The Literati of Concord – Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott, Hawthorne

From Amherst, you’ll head to Concord, Massachusetts, which is a one-and-a-half hour trip along scenic Route 2. There, you’ll find one of the world’s most surprising literary hot spots.

It’s sometimes difficult to believe that so many famous authors once walked the streets of this small and quintessentially New England town – and all at the same time in history.

Start with the Old Manse on Monument Street.  Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather built this two story house around 1770.  It is located next to the North Bridge where the Colonials first engaged the British in the first battle of the American Revolution.  The young Emerson spent some of his youth here and wrote the essay “Nature” and the “Concord Hymn” in the study of the home.  Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife lived here from 1842 to 1845 and penned several of his most famous works during his time at the house.

Head down the Cambridge Turnpike to the Emerson Memorial House, built in 1829 and purchased by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1835.  He lived here until his death in 1882 and displayed around the home are many of his personal effects in an environment preserved since the 19^th century.

The Alcott-Orchard House is located on Lexington Road.  Louisa May Alcott used the setting of her family home for her famous semi-autobiographical novel “Little Women”, written in 1868.  The house has been preserved in its original state and visitors can see period furniture and the Alcott family possessions.

Walden Pond is one of the most famous nature preservations in the country and is located along Route 126 in Concord.  The pond located in the 411-acre preserve was immortalized by Henry David Thoreau in his writings on nature and society.  Visitors can see a replica of the cabin that Thoreau built on the lake in 1845 or hike and bike the nature trails.  Thorough is well known for his belief in environmental awareness and socially responsible government.

And last, but not least, make a stop at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, to pay tribute to the sheer brilliance of the local literati.  The cemetery contains the graves of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thorough, Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Alcott family.