July 8, 1843. Amidst the rolling hills of rural Massachusetts, a group of Transcendentalists come together to form a collective built around self-perfection and reverence for nature. And on this day poet Ralph Waldo Emerson stops by for a visit. Their name for this experimental Eden? Fruitlands. But every Eden has its fall, and by the time autumn winds blow over their 90 acres, the Fruitlanders are in trouble. How did a group of thinkers, writers, and educators come together to form one of the most famous utopian failures of the 19th century? And what can we learn from their attempt?
Special thanks to our guests, Richard Francis, author of Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia. And Catherine Shortliffe, Engagement Manager of the Fruitlands Museum and the Old Manse at The Trustees.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Irving Berlin’s Musical Revolution
A Meteorite Hits Ann Hodges
The Ballad of Blackbeard
The Inca's Last Stand (Replay)
Two Shawnee Brothers Hold Their Ground
The Truth About Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
The Donora Death Fog
Introducing: It Was Said Season 2
Exploring Earth’s Evil Twin
Jim Thorpe's Lost Gold (w/ Sports History This Week)
The Bone Wars
The Hanging of Jekyll and Hyde
Saladin Takes Back the Holy City
The Radium Girls Fight Back
Star Trek Premieres
Love, Betrayal, and the Battle for Rome
The Deadly Puzzle of Yellow Fever
Dirty Dancing in the Borscht Belt
Pop Music Pirates (Replay)
The Web Goes World Wide
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Food That Built America
Not What You Thought You Knew
Letters of Love in WW2