"Fruitlands", Fruitlands Museum, Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, Worcester County, MA

Significance: Fruitlands, an early 18th century farmhouse, served as the site of Amos Bronson Alcott's "new Eden," an experiment in communal living modeled on the ideas of this leading educational reformer, Transecendenalist and social philosopher. The experiment represents "one of the more characteristic chapters in the history of American Utopianism." The farmhouse overlooks the Nashua Valley in central Massachusetts and commands a view of Mount Wachusett, some 15 miles to the west, and Mount Monadnock, some 45 miles to the north. Fruitlands was designated a Massachusetts Historic Landmark in 1966 and a National Historic Landmark in 1974.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-348

Survey number: HABS MA-1005

Building/structure dates: 1843 Initial Construction

National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 74001761

farmhouses historic house museums utopias communal living harvard mass fruitlands museum fruitlands museum prospect prospect hill road harvard worcester worcester county massachusetts historic american buildings survey photo 18th century building plans architectural diagrams library of congress national register of historic places

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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