Amherst, Massachusetts Is a Literary Pilgrimage for Fans of Emily Dickinson 

There is no shortage of famous and incredibly talented writers who hail from Massachusetts, or at least spent a good deal of time there and used this time to inspire their works. One wouldn’t think that someone would find such a literary destination in Amherst, but this college town was actually the home of the poet Emily Dickinson. Her posthumous famous and mysterious persona has made her a hard figure to pin down, but you’ll find that visiting her hometown and the places most important to her can connect you to the poetess in a way that few others can truly experience. 

Why This Destination Is Perfect for Emily Dickinson Fans

Stuck squarely in the middle of Massachusetts, Amherst is known for its intellectual and creative prowess, featuring three colleges, galleries, libraries, museums, and multiple performance spaces. As it is, the town is rife for learning, but add in the ties to Emily Dickinson? It’s virtually a literary lover's paradise. 

Born in 1830, Emily Dickinson was a recluse and a homebody who rarely ventured outside of Amherst and even her home. Nicknamed ‘the nun of Amherst,’ she mainly interacted with the world through poems and letters, but in truth, very few of her poems were published before her death (even though she wrote almost 1,800), and even then, those that were have clearly been edited heavily by someone else who didn’t appreciate her unconventional writing style. Poetry at the time was rigid and emotional in a flowery but surface-level way, whereas Dickinson was intense and clever, using an unstructured form of short linework and dashes.

Her posthumous fame, combined with her homebody status, gave rise to a mysterious aura. Casual fans may know her work, but the woman herself is somewhat hard to pin down — was she prudish like the ‘nun’ they said she was, or was she secretly the opposite (as hinted at in her poems)? Was she devout, or are the criticisms about religion in her work her way of questioning her faith? 

But there’s no better way to begin understanding someone than to visit their home. Luckily for fans, her home has been perfectly preserved and is also a museum, so there’s no better place for Emily Dickinson fans to travel to.

A Literary Destination in Amherst: What You Can See and Experience 

As mentioned, Dickinson mainly stayed within the confines of her home and her family’s homes. But, in addition to those places, there are a few more spots that any fan would want to visit!

The Homestead and the Gardens - 280 Main Street, Amherst

One half of the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Homestead is where Emily Dickinson was born and lived for most of her life. Her bedroom, on the second floor, is where she spent the majority of her time while she was inside the dwelling. Here, she wrote most of her poems and letters, especially while looking out the window. The gardens are where she spent the other part of her time, especially while observing the plant life and using it as inspiration for her work.

The Evergreens - 219 Main Street, Amherst

A house bordering the Homestead and the other half of the Emily Dickinson Museum, this is where her brother Austin and his wife Susan (Emily Dickinson’s rumored lover) lived. The majority of Dickinson’s social activity happened here, and her more thematically impassioned work came from these social interactions and from continued exposure to the people she encountered there. 

Amherst College - 220 South Pleasant Street, Amherst

Although Dickinson did not attend this college (all-male at the time), her family had close ties to it. She was often in the library reading.

Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) - 50 College Street, South Hadley

Only a short distance from Amherst, this is the college she did attend, but only for one year. It had an impact on her education as well as her outlook on faith. 

West Cemetery - 27 Triangle Street, Amherst

The final resting place for Dickinson, she actually lived next to this cemetery for years while her family lived in a house on Pleasant Street (from 1840-1855). She wrote about the cemetery in letters to her friends, detailing how she would walk through it, look at headstones, and imagine what her own death and memorial would be like. Today, fans leave offerings for the famous poetess. 

Amherst (as a town) - Hampshire County

Many of Dickinson’s poems were influenced by the town of Amherst overall. She wrote about nature, the changing seasons, and the mountains. She also wrote about how restrictive the community felt, and how much religion and faith were woven into the very fabric of the town itself. 

Curious to see where the famous poet lived? Want to take a walk back through time in her gardens and imagine your own verse? Plan your trip to Amherst using Only In Your State’s itinerary planner!