Shutting the door on society – a visit to Emily Dickinson’s home

After decades of regret for missing the opportunity to tour the Dickinson family property in Amherst, I’ve finally made my way to the home of one of our country’s finest poets. I honestly don’t know what took me so long to get there, but I really enjoyed the time spent walking the rooms and grounds that Dickinson herself trod, despite the annoying man on my tour who asked absurd questions like:

“Do you think AI will help clarify who Dickinson was?” and “Did she send her poems as telegraphs?”

Dude, just stop.

Anyway – the tour meets in the newly constructed carriage house, a reproduction of one of the original property’s outbuildings. Dedicated in May of 2025 this simple structure functions as the museum’s gift shop, educational site and tour meeting spot. Our group of about 10 gathered there with our guide, Pete, and then together walked the gravel pathway to Dickinson’s family home.

The house is considered more of a reproduction than a preservation as much of the current furnishings were added in the years after Emily’s death. Some of the original items have been placed in other collections, including at Harvard where her actual writing desk resides. I haven’t watched it, but there was fairly recent AppleTV production about Dickinson and the network donated a number of the props and set pieces to the museum which has used the items to fill in some previously blank spaces, according to the tour guide.

Her bedroom, though, still features the original sleigh bed that was Emily’s resting place during life as well as when she passed. It was really powerful to be in the very corner room that contained so very much of her existence. The two exterior walls of her room each featured two large windows and even on a gray morning, it was a light space.

Speaking of light, I was surprised to learn that Dickinson had been a redhead having always assumed she had dark hair. I guess that’s one of the mysteries of black white prints.

After we completed our introduction to Emily’s home with her family, we met with a different guide for a visit to the Evergreens, the home of Emily’s brother and sister-in-law. Apparently, this house was presented as a gift to Austin Dickinson and wife, Susan, as a wedding gift from his parents. This generosity was reputed to spur from the patriarch of the family’s desire to keep his son close by. It was a successful gambit and Austin, Susan and their eventual three children, resided together in circumstances which were quite plush for their day.

Unlike the attempt to reproduce the furnishings and decor of the Dickinson home, the mission at Evergreens, we were told, is one of preservation. Remarkably, the home remained privately owned by someone connected to Austin’s heirs until the 1980s. For all of the time its occupation, the home had remained loyal to the original decor. The task now at hand for the museum is to continue efforts designed to save features and furnishings which have been in place since the nineteenth century.

The tour, including a walk through the gardens and newly planted orchard, takes approximately 2 hours. I paid a reduced entrance fee of $15, instead of the usual $20, because of my status as a teacher. Parking was readily available at a rate of $.25 for thirty minutes on the street.

Take the drive and pay homage to the Belle of Amherst. Late July proved an ideal time to visit as the numerous colleges in the area are not in session and the gardens looked gorgeous.

Lastly, I’m including my favorite Dickinson poem below. Read it and tell me that woman was an innocent Victorian!