Answer: D. Amy. The youngest of the four fictional March sisters, Amy was based on Louisa’s real life youngest sister May, who was an aspiring artist. While living at Orchard House in Concord, May illustrated the first edition of her older sister’s Little Women, Part First and, eventually, became a fine artist.

Answer: Sort of. A replica of Michelangelo’s “La Pieta” statue sits in Concord Center. Recently moved from behind the Catholic rectory, the statue now sits outside Monument Hall (near the Colonial Inn and Masonic Temple). Described by Concord author Nathaniel Hawthorne in his Italian Notebooks, the statue depicts “a representation of the dead Christ, in his mother’s lap.” The original was made by Michelangelo out of a single block of marble and resides in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, where Hawthorne visited it in 1858.

Answer: B. Abigail May Alcott. Youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott, Abigail May Alcott (usually called “May”), gave art lessons to a young Daniel Chester French and taught him the basics of sculpting. French’s famed works include the Minute Man Farmer statue at the North Bridge, and the seated Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. Visit the Concord Library to see more of his statues.

Answer: D. Paul Revere. Learn more about Concord’s Corinthian Lodge by visiting their website at concordmasons.org/history

Answer: B. His widow. Derived from the Latin relinquere, meaning “what is left,” relict referred to the spouse of the deceased. Keep your eye on gravestones in Concord’s old burial grounds and you may see this word.

Answer: A. Started a fire that took off and burned over 100 acres in Concord. Oops. As later described by Thoreau in an 1850 journal entry, he was cooking fish on a dry riverbank when the fire accidentally spread through arid ground. Thoreau tried to extinguish the fire and then ran for help when the flames were out of his control. Suggesting it wasn’t their problem, some townspeople were not very responsive to his pleas for help until the fire got so large that all hands—and buckets— were needed!  

Answer: B: To work as a journalist. Margaret Fuller was hired by Horace Greeley to write for The New York Tribune. She became the first paid female American war correspondent, reporting from Rome during the 1848 Revolution in the Italian states. Although she did not use a matchmaker, during her time in Italy, Margaret did meet and marry Count Giovanni Ossoli.

Answer: A: Melons. Melons were acceptable fare at the utopian community, and the residents planted about an acre of them. But the community followed what was similar to a vegan diet with additional restrictions. Certain vegetables, including carrots, were forbidden because they showed a lower nature by growing downward. Near starvation contributed to the Alcotts leaving Fruitlands after only seven months. Shortly after, they moved to Concord and into today’s named Wayside House on Lexington Road.

Answer: A. Ellen Garrison. When the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed, Ellen was working as a teacher in Maryland. The Act declared “that all…. citizens of the United States…of every race and color… shall have the same right, in every State and Territory….”  Despite the promised language in the Civil Rights Act, Ellen was forcibly removed from a train station in Baltimore after she sat in a segregated waiting room. Ellen challenged this action in court. Learn more by visiting the Robbins House Museum or read Camille Johnson’s Discover Concord  article “From Concord to California: Ellen Garrison and her fight for Freedom” in Discover Concord magazine. issuu.com/discoverconcordma/docs/dc.fall22.fullbook/s/16740941

Answer: C. N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) Visit the William Munroe Concord Library to view their Wyeth art collection on permanent display.