In 1843, Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane turned a swath of Harvard, Massachusetts farmland into a Transcendentalist experiment in subsistence farming and Emersonian self-reliance, named Fruitlands, which ultimately disbanded after only seven months. In 1914, Clara Endicott Sears opened the grounds to the public, establishing a museum in the property's 1820s farmhouse.

Today, the 210-acre landscape encompasses five collections first established by Sears: the original Fruitlands Farmhouse, a National Historic Landmark; the Shaker Museum, the first such museum in the country; the Native American Museum, celebrating the history and heritage of indigenous peoples; the Art Museum, with a variety of rotating exhibits, contemporary art, and showcasing a combined collection of more than 300 Hudson River School landscape paintings and 19th-century vernacular portraits; and the Wayside Visitor Center, a classroom, education, and exhibition space.

The property is owned and managed by The Trustees.