Emily Dickinson Homestead

The Belle of Amherst [1] spent her fifty-some years in or around the homestead where she was born (280 Main St., 413/542-8161, www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org [2], 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Wed.–Sat. Mar.–Dec., $10 adults, $9 seniors and students, $5 youth 6–17, free children under 6).

The perception that she was a recluse who never showed her poems, however, is a myth. The newly opened Evergreens, the mansion of her sister and brother-in-law, gives a more accurate portrayal of the drawing-room society that Dickinson moved in during her life.

For many devotees, however, the prime attraction is still Emily’s simple bedroom, where she composed her work and where a “certain shaft of light” still inspires pilgrims to her chamber.