For much of the 19th Century, Concord, Massachusetts was the cultural capital of the United States, home to literary luminaries such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa Alcott, all members of the Transcendentalist movement. They, and many other famous figures of that period are buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, about 25 miles northwest of Boston.

It was a cold, blustery day, slippery underfoot—no day to be exploring this sprawling, 19th Century, garden cemetery. Particularly hazardous was the icy walkway up to Authors’ Ridge, where the aforementioned worthies were laid to rest. But curiosity drove us. We had come to see historical sites, and this was a big one.

I took photos as long as I had feeling in my fingers, which limited what I have to show here. The pencils on Louisa Alcott’s grave were put there by visitors as a tribute to her, and her writing craft.