Exploring Beacon Hill Books

Still feeling the magic of our first day together, The Enchanted Book Club excitedly embarked for Boston. We watched Concord’s countryside fade into the rearview of our charter bus and continued conversations from the previous day during our drive to the city. When we arrived, the 50 of us separated into three rotating groups. While one group took a guided literary walking tour of Beacon Hill, the others would enjoy free time for exploring and lunch. After greeting our tour guide, I sent off the first tour group and then headed to Beacon Hill Books with the others.

When I started planning this trip nearly a year ago, I knew a visit to Beacon Hill Books had to be on our itinerary. This 5-story literary haven leaves no detail overlooked with speciality rooms for cookbooks and aesthetics, afternoon tea, and exciting events. It has quickly become one of Boston’s literary treasures located amongst the streets Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne once walked. Prior to our trip, I had the pleasure of interviewing Melissa Fetter, owner of Beacon Hill Books, who shared the story of how her bookstore came to be.

If you’re interested in learning from inspiring women or you’ve ever wanted to open a bookstore, I highly recommend watching/listening to the recording of this webinar. When you join The Enchanted Book Club, you get access to all previously recorded conversations and exclusive invitations to all future ones. Because the owner of Beacon Hill Books knew about our book club (and she was out of town when we were visiting), we were personally welcomed by the bookstore’s president, Irene, which made it all the more special.

One of my favorite parts of Beacon Hill Books is their prominent display of Persephone Books. I was introduced to Persephone Books last year during The Enchanted Book Club’s literary tour of England. It’s a wonderful UK publisher and bookstore that publishes neglected fiction and non-fiction, mostly written by women writers of the mid-twentieth century. All of the covers are solid pale grey with a white label. The idea is that when you pick up a Persephone Book, you know it’s going to be an inspiring story so you don’t need a cover to judge what your reading experience will be!

After browsing the Persephone Books display, asking for recommendations from Beacon Hill Books’ British bookseller, and making our souvenir selections, we transitioned to our guided walking tour. We started in the Boston Common where our guide pointed to what once was the pond that Louisa May Alcott nearly drowned in. She was rescued by an eight-year-old black boy and it is said that this was the inciting incident for her lifelong abolitionist work.

As we continued on, we saw the buildings that belonged to publishers of the 1800s, one of which rejected Louisa and the other publishing Little Women. We walked in her footsteps, learned about her passion for theatre, and where her father opened a school that welcomed little girls and black children.

It might sound improbable, but the moment we stepped foot on Pinckney Street, it was if we could feel the depth of its history. Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau all lived on this street and walking in their footsteps under Boston blooms was nothing short of enchanting.

See that number 10 there? That was the address where Louisa May Alcott passed away, just a few days apart from her father in the same home. After our enlightening tour of a city that once belonged to writers and storytellers at the helm of change in the 19th century, it was time for tea.

Some of us went to Beacon Hill Books Cafe while others ventured to other literary dining experiences like The Boston Public Library. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home for a private tour. Before I realized that photography wasn’t permitted, I snapped a couple of photos in the gift shop which is the room Margaret Fuller stayed in when she visited Emerson. I read Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki in preparation for this trip and was so deeply moved by the woman she was. It was almost surreal to see her story sitting there in her guest room.

It was another day that gave us beautiful memories to cherish. Click here to read about last day together, a day that left an indelible mark on each of our hearts.