Thanks for a wonderful tale. I, too, am sorry that it had to end. I would love to have had you describe more places and adventures! Go again soon!

Thanks everyone for reading along and for forgiving my problem with names!

Latedaytraveler, I am thinking of a New England authors trip next- Alcott, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson, maybe even Peal Buck. Are you in?!

I loved reading this account of your trip; what wonderful sights you saw, and what a good writer you are! And I am so impressed that your book club could carry this off. Mine has difficulty selecting a book and a date to meet here in the 'Burgh! :)

Livetoroam – I absolutely loved your report. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us!

Livetoroam -- Loved reading your account of Bronte Country. I visited the Bronte parsonage, as well as the walk across the moors to Top Withins, thought to be the inspiration for Wuthering Heights (Ponden Hall, where we had lunch, was thought to be the inspiration for Thrushcross Grange). PH is now for sale: http://www.pondenhall.moonfruit.net.

On a different day, we visited Hathersage, where Charlotte caught wind of a story of a man who kept his mad wife in an attic room. I had forgotten about Charlotte's tiny dress. Your report is awaking so many memories of the area. I will never forget the sign that read "Emily died on this sofa." The place and the surroundings certainly brings the literature to life.

So sorry you missed Haddon Hall -- one of my favorites. You saw some amazingly beautiful places with wonderful literary value.

Hi again Lovetoroam,

“I am thinking of a New England authors trip next- Alcott, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Emerson…” That is an excellent suggestion. I actually live in Lynnfield, about 10 miles north of Boston and within a half hour of Concord down Route 128. Check it out:

http://concordchamberofcommerce.org/...r-information/

The town is so rich in literary/historic traditions. You can’t separate the history “where it all began.” Of course, you would want to see Cambridge (Longfellow House among others), Harvard, Boston including Beacon Hill and the waterfront. You might take a tour of the Boston Athenaeum, the inner temple of the Boston Brahmins in the 19th century. A trip to Salem where Hawthorne wrote THE SCARLET LETTER and the Custom House in which he found it are great sites – not to forget the Witch Trials accurately delineated in Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE. The Whittier Homestead is up the road in Haverhill, MA.

You might then go to western Massachusetts to the beautiful Berkshires to THE MOUNT, lovely estate of Edith Wharton and also the nearby homestead of Emily Dickinson. There’s a great Norman Rockwell museum in the area too. Let’s not forget the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses in Hartford, Connecticut.

The problem would be limiting your choices to what is doable, but after reading you club’s adventures in England, I am sure that you would work it out. Let me know if I can help. Please come in good weather…

While you are in the Berkshires, don't forget Herman Melville's home Arrowhead. William Cullen Bryant also has many Berkshire Associations, his homestead in Cummington, Monument Mountain in Great Barrington, etc. Just North of the Berkshires in southern Vermont, there are connections with Robert Frost.

And of course in the nearby Hudson Valley (not New England, but close) is Washington Irving's house in Tarrytown.

Irishface, good suggestions about the western part of Massacusetts. I have always wanted to visit Tarrytown too. Who wants to organize the tour? :)

Wow, this information is fantastic! I am ready to go! I will start the planning and dreaming now. books and travel, it doesn't get any better....

Count me in for the New England literary tour.

Thanks so much for a great report which brought back many memories and sparked some new objectives, particularly in Hardy country.

My first trip to Haworth 40 years ago was magical, the kind of day, windswept, rainy, cold that evoked the novels and the consumptive lives in the village and parsonage. Loved the museum which was fairly new then. We stayed at the Old Silent Inn just outside the village, flannel sheets and wind whistling around the dormers.

I'll never forget talking to the locals in the pub at the inn, we were star-struck from a glimpse of the queen in London. One local said, "If the queen were standing next to me and caught fire, I wouldn't p___ on her to put it out." Ah, the north-south divide.

We went back four years ago and "progress" meant for some unhappy changes--gone were the local butcher and cheese shops. A sunny Sunday afternoon meant the smokers had taken over the front steps of the church by the pub. Fag ends, empty bottles and cans. Sad. Still, we were able to walk the moor but possibly a half mile or so.

Hope you get to the Lake District next time but you certainly covered quite a bit of ground on your trip. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting to read of the stark contrast between 40 years ago and now, Cathinjoetown. I plan to return after about 26 years, in 2014. I've been forewarned; it may seem different, but I just recall being enchanted by the whole setting -- the girls bedrooms facing that eerie graveyard with crooked tombstones. No wonder they were inspired to write Gothic literature. I loved that walk to Top Withins and hope to do it again.

Retracing some steps of the literary tour I was on, I hope also to return to Hathersage: such gorgeous countryside there.

I also hope to make it to Hardy country for the first time.

Susan,

The parsonage, the museum, the church and graveyard, etc were very much the same and wonderful. The street had just changed so much. My husband's father used to joke that in any village find the church and close by you'll find a pub.

Well, the Bull ? is hard by the church and the spill-over to the church steps was unpleasant. But, as you may remember, the church entrance is to the side. The changed and closed shops sadly are all over, not just Haworth.

The church steps were free and clear of people and debris when we were there. Interesting to read everyone's different experiences over the years.

Thanks for reading along and for all of your comments and nice words. I am already dreaming of a New England trip,maybe in 2015. I will be asking a million planning questions for that one too, no doubt.

<<A sunny Sunday afternoon meant the smokers had taken over the front steps of the church by the pub>>

The smoking ban inside has made eating in pubs much more pleasant, but the downside is glorious sunny evenings in pub gardens ruined by clouds of noxious fumes. Swings and roundabouts.

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