Best place to escape this mortal plane

Since the New Age '80s, Americans have sought quick paths to inner calm. Often the easy fix has been to idealize past cultures -- say, to package and sell traditions like Native American rituals and Shaker music. But a CD sampler can't provide the kind of context that is crucial to actually being enlightened. Fortunately, the Fruitlands Museums can.

Sitting on the sloping hillsides of the town of Harvard, an hour west of Boston, Fruitlands includes the home where the Alcotts (Louisa, her parents, and family) tried and failed to establish a lasting transcendentalist utopian society. Nearby there is ample evidence of other ways of life now largely lost: a Shaker house (moved intact from a defunct village) and a museum of Native American artifacts. A house full of primitive portraiture completes the enigmatic grouping. As powerful as the museums are, there is no denying that their effectiveness is greatly heightened by location. Joann Meyers, director of education, says the site itself is what draws people--a panoramic vista of the valley, with the museums nestled on the hillside. The convergence, if you will, of unspoiled nature and human legacy provides plenty of impetus for introspection--and you won't need a crystal to find it.

Fruitlands Museums, Old Shirley Road (six miles from the junction of Routes 495 and 2), Harvard. (978) 456-9028.