Adult Life
Hawthorne's Adult Life: Introduction
 Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, MA (photography by Terri Whitney) |
After his graduation from Bowdoin in 1825, Hawthorne returned to Salem to live with his mother and sisters at 10 1/2 Herbert St. in Salem. Sometime between his graduation and 1827, he changed the spelling of his name from Hathorne to Hawthorne. Hawthorne spent the next years living in Salem and launching his career as a writer. He lived a somewhat solitary life, but he travelled around New England to the Shaker village in Canterbury, NH in 1831 and to the Erie Canal and Niagra Falls in 1832.
Hawthorne did go on walks in Salem, and he and his sisters would visit friends at their houses. It was not usual, however, for Hawthorne to call on families whom he knew only casually. On November 11, 1837, however, at the invitation of Elizabeth Peabody, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Peabody and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Hawthorne and his sisters, Elizabeth and Louisa, called on the Peabodys at their home on Charter St. in Salem. It was on this occasion that Hawthorne first met Sophia Peabody, sister of Elizabeth and Mary, and the woman to whom he would become engaged the following year. Helped by Elizabeth Peabody, in January of 1839, Hawthorne obtained a position as measurer of salt and coal in the Boston Custom House. In late October he moved into rooms at 54 Pinckney St. with the Hillards and then to 8 Somerset Place in Boston. Hawthorne left his position at the Boston Custom House in the spring of 1840, and in the spring of 1841 he moved to Brook Farm, a utopian community in West Roxbury, Masschusetts. Soon disillusioned, however, Hawthorne left Brook Farm, and on July 9, 1842, he married Sophia Peabody at the house of her parents in Boston.
They moved into the Old Manse in Concord, rented from Emerson, with garden prepared by Thoreau. Here the Hawthornes had their first child, a daughter, Una, in 1844, and they all lived happily, if under some financial strain, in Concord until 1846 when, strapped for money, Hawthorne took a position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House.
A son, Julian, was born in the summer of 1846, and in 1847 Hawthorne moved his family, including his mother and sisters, to 18 Chestnut Street in Salem; two months later they moved to larger quarters at 14 Mall Street. Hawthorne had a study on the third floor; his mother and sisters lived on the second floor, and the children resided on the first floor. In 1848, Hawthorne became manager of the Lyceum of Salem and invited Emerson and Thoreau to lecture.
The following year was a particularly trying one for Hawthorne. On June 7, 1849, he was fired(original article from the Salem Register part 1, part 2) from his position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House when Zachary Taylor, a Whig, was elected president. Then, less than two months later, on July 31, his mother died. These catastrophes were followed by a fecund period in his writing, however. It was in September of 1849 that Hawthorne began the novel that was to become The Scarlet Letter. In that novel he includes an opening chapter, "The Custom-House," based on his own experience as surveyor, which aroused controversy because of its unflattering portrayal of Salem and its residents. The novel was published the following year by Ticknor and Fields. A year later, in April of 1851, Hawthorne published The House of Seven Gables, and he wrote "Feathertop," his last tale. Then in 1852, he published The Blithedale Romance, based on his experiences at Brook Farm. That year, too, was a tragic one for Hawthorne; his sister, Louisa, died in a steamboat explosion on the Hudson River in New York.
In March of 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Hawthorne Consul in Liverpool, England. In July Hawthorne moved his family to Liverpool from Concord, and he assumed his position as Consul on August 1. In October of 1855, in an attempt to improve her health, Sophia went to Lisbon. She took Rose, the Hawthornes' second daughter, born on May 20, 1851, and Una with her, and they stayed in Lisbon until June. Julian remained with Hawthorne in Liverpool.
In November of 1856, Melville visited Hawthorne in Liverpool, and he visited him again for a short time in May of the following year. In October of 1857, when Pierce did not receive the presidential nomination, Hawthorne left his position as American Consul in Liverpool, knowing that his appointment would end. In January of the following year, Hawthorne and his family travelled to France, and from January 17 to May, 1858, they lived in Rome. From May to October, Hawthorne and his family lived in a villa in Florence. Hawthorne wrote about his experiences in Italy in his notebooks, and he began work on the romance published in America under the title, The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. Also while in Italy, Hawthorne met William Cullen Bryant, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and the American sculptor William Wetmore Story. In June of 1859, Hawthorne and his family moved to England where Hawthorne finished writing The Marble Faun which was published in London in February of the following year under the title Transformation and was published the following year in America.
Hawthorne and his family moved back to the Wayside in Concord, MA in February of 1860. At that time Hawthorne renovated the house, adding a tower that became his study. Two years later, in March of 1862, Hawthorne, Ticknor, and U.S. Representative Charles Russell Train called on President Lincoln in a visit arranged by Hawthorne's friend, Horatio Bridge. A short time later, Hawthorne published "Chiefly About War Matters By a Peaceable Man," an essay on the Civil War, which reports on his visit with Lincoln. In May of that year, Hawthorne attended the funeral for Henry David Thoreau who died of tuberculosis.
In January of 1864, Bronson Alcott called on Hawthorne to try to learn the cause of Hawthorne's coolness toward him and his family. Hawthorne tactfully identified Bronson's wife, Abba, as the problem. A few months later, Hawthorne travelled to New Hampshire with Franklin Pierce. It was on this trip on May 18/19 that Hawthorne died in his sleep. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, MA near Emerson and Thoreau along what is now known as Author's Ridge.
Literature Related to Hawthorne's Adult Life
 W. H. Getchell photograph of Nathaniel Hawthorne done at the firm of Silsbee, Case, and Getchell, 299 1/2 Washington St., Boston, 19 December, 1861 (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
"Letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne" poem by Alison Hawthorne Deming
The Hawthorne in Salem Website is delighted to have received permission from Alison Hawthorne Deming and the Louisiana State University Press to post Deming's poem from Science and Other Poems in which she reflects upon her great-great-grandfather's life and personality.
"Hawthorne" a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
On May 23, 1864, Longfellow wrote this poem as a tribute to Hawthorne who died in the early morning of May 19th.
Original Documents Related to Hawthorne's Adult Life
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Article from the June 11, 1849 edition of the Salem Register on Hawthorne's firing from his position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House. Part 1. (courtesy of The Boston Public Library.) |
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Article from the June 11, 1849 edition of the Salem Register on Hawthorne's firing from his position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House. Part 2. (courtesy of The Boston Public Library.) |
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James Thomas Fields to "My dear Sir." Autograph note signed, Boston, February 14, 1877. Gift: Richard Harwell. This note reads: "An autograph of Hawthorne is among the impossibilities [and] I really should not know where to look for one." Fields, a partner of William Ticknor in the publishing firm Ticknor & Fields, was Hawthorne's publisher. all text copyright Bowdoin College, 2009. (courtesy of Nathaniel Hawthorne Collection, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine) |
Images Related to Hawthorne's Adult Life
Hawthorne
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Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Charles Osgood, 1840 First oil painting of Hawthorne; hangs in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. According to Rita Gollin the portrait may have been commissioned by Hawthorne's uncle, Robert Manning (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, Gift of Professor Richard C. Manning, Acc#121459) |
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Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, MA (photography by Terri Whitney) |
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Photograph of Nathaniel Hawthorne from a daguerreotype,1848(?) This image was made during the period when he served as surveyor at the Salem Custom House and may have been done by John Adams Whipple, Boston. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Daguerreotype by John Adams Whipple, 1848(?) Only surviving Hawthorne daguerreotype, scratched half-plate Only surviving Hawthorne daguerreotype, scratched half-plate Courtesy of the Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ daguerreotypes hawthorne (courtesy of the Library of Congress) |
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Cephas Thompson oil portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne This painting, completed in May of 1850, two months after the publication of The Scarlet Letter, hangs in the Grolier Club in NYC, a gift from Stephen Wakeman to the Club in 1913. According to Rita Gollin, "engravers copied [this painting] almost immediately: three came out within a year and others soon followed. They would be the first Hawthorne portraits ever published" (30-31). Gollin also notes that Hawthorne's publisher, Ticknor, purchased the painting and gave it to Hawthorne and his bride to hang in the Old Manse in Concord. It was, Gollin explains, "the only oil portrait of himself that Hawthorne ever owned" (31). Image from Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Iconography by Rita Gollin, p.30 (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
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Steel engraving of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Thomas Phillibrown in the winter of 1851 from the Cephas Thompson oil painting, p. 32 of Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Iconcography by Rita Gollin (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) According to Rita Gollin, this is the "[f]irst known engraved portrait" and "was commissioned by Ticknor and Company, who published it as the frontispiece to their two-volume revised edition of Twice-told Tales, issued 8 March 1851" (32). Gollin also notes that "[p]rints[were]given to Hawthorne's friends, including Melville" (32). (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
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Oil painting by George P.A. Healy 1852/3; owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society According to Rita Gollin in Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne, "[t]his is the only Hawthorne portrait whose exact price we know. ... Franklin Pierce commissioned the painting for $1,000 in 1852, the year of his presidential campaign, when Hawthorne wrote his campaign biography"(39). Gollin also reports that Pierce exhibited the portrait in the White House throughout his administration (39). (courtesy of the New Hampshire Historical Society) |
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Hawthorne at his desk, photograph by J.J. Mayall, May 19,1860 This photo was one of three portraits made in London by Mayall. This pose, selected by Hawthorne's friend, Francis Bennoch, is now known as the "Bennoch pose." (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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3/4 pose photograph of Nathaniel Hawthorne,the "Bright-Motley" pose, by J.J.E. Mayall p. 56 of Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Rita Gollin (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) Rita Gollin explains that Hawthorne acquiesced to the request by Henry Arthur Bright, a friend, to sit for the photographer J.J.E. Mayall on 19 May 1860 in London (52). Of the three photographs taken, Bright selected this one, which was later referred to as the "Motley" photograph. Gollin says that Sophia wrote to Bright in August of 1864 asking that he send her this photograph, which he did (55). (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
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3/4 pose photograph of Nathaniel Hawthorne,the "Bright-Motley" pose, by J.J.E. Mayall (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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One of three photographs done by J.J.E. Mayall in London on 19 May, 1860,called the "Holden" pose, p. 62, Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Iconography by Rita Gollin (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) According to Rita Gollin, the "identification [of this photograph] as the "Holden" photograph, [is] a consequence of the mistaken assumption promoted by Holden himself that the image remained unknown for twenty-six years until he 'unearthed' it. But the image had not been buried, at least not at the beginning of its existence" (63). (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
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One of three photographs done by J.J.E. Mayall in London on 19 May, 1860,called the "Holden" pose (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Lithograph copyrighted in 1883 from the J.J.E. Mayall photograph (the "Bright-Motley" pose) of Hawthorne done on May 19, 1860 in London According to Rita Gollin in Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the lithograph was signed "J.E. Baker" whom Gollin believes was "the Boston-born Joseph E. Baker, a fellow-apprentice of Winslow Homer" (57). Gollin explains that "[m]any prints have survived, some with the addition of chcalk highlights that convey the impression that they are 'originals'" (57). (courtesy of the National Park Service) |
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W. H. Getchell photograph of Nathaniel Hawthorne done at the firm of Silsbee, Case, and Getchell, 299 1/2 Washington St., Boston, 19 December, 1861 This photograph was engraved for The Century magazine in May 1886. (from p. 82 of Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Icoconography by Rita Gollin) According to Rita Gollin, this photograph "would always remain one of [Sophia's] favorite portraits of her husband" (82). (courtesy of Northern Illinois UP) |
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Photograph by Alexander Gardner for Mathew Brady, 1862 Hawthorne in the "Napoleonic" pose common at the time (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Line engraving on steel by J.A.J. Wilcox, 1883 from volume V of the 1883 Standard Library edition of The Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne in fifteen volumes According to Rita Gollin in Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Wilcox, who worked as a photographer in Boston from 1860 on, "was particularly admired for his line engraved portraits" (84). (courtesy of Halldor F. Utne) |
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Relief Sculpture of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Jean Desire Ringel d'Illzach, 1892, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.) |
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Nathaniel Hawthorne Statue on Washington Street The sculptor of this full-length bronze statue, commissioned by the Hawthorne Memorial Association, is Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917). The statue was dedicated in Salem on 23 December, 1925. In her book Portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rita Gollin says that the statue was based on a famous photograph of Hawthorne in 1861-62 by W.H. Getchell of Silsb ee and Case (85). (photography by Bruce Hibbard) |
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Nathanial Hawthorne postage stamps, issued in 1983 (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
Dearborn St. in Salem
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33 Dearborn St., Salem; home of Robert Manning, Hawthorne's uncle The fence and attached barn are no longer on the property. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Manning Cottage at 26 Dearborn St., Salem Robert Manning, built this Dutch style house with a gambrel roof and flared eaves, for his sister, Nathaniel’s mother, and her children in 1828. It was located next door to the Manning House on the site of the former Frank E. Locke house when Hawthorne lived there with his mother and sisters from 1828 to 1832. It was moved across the street in 1851 or 1852 by George Brown, the owner of the house at that time. The original ell from the house is still standing, however, and is part of the house now located at 31 Dearborn St. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Cottage at 26 Dearborn St. built in 1828 by Robert Manning for his sister, Elizabeth Hathorne, and her children. Robert Manning, built this Dutch style house with a gambrel roof and flared eaves, for his sister, Nathaniel’s mother, and her children in 1828. It was located next door to the Manning House on the site of the former Frank E. Locke house when Hawthorne lived there with his mother and sisters from 1828 to 1832. It was moved across the street in 1851 or 1852 by George Brown, the owner of the house at that time. The original ell from the house is still standing, however, and is part of the house now located at 31 Dearborn St. |
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33 Dearborn St. today; Robert Manning, Hawthorne's uncle, resided in this house and Hawthorne and his mother lived from 1828-1832 in a cottage next door. |
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Side view of 33 Dearborn St. in Salem |
Sophia
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Charter Street Graveyard and Peabody (Grimshawe) House in Salem Judge Hathorne and seven other Hathornes are buried here, but Hawthorne is buried in Concord. The Peabody House is where Sophia lived with her parents when Hawthorne courted her. It is also the setting of "Grimshawe" and the unfinished novel,The Dolliver Romance. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
Boston March-August 1836 and January 11, 1839 to October 1840
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The Fessenden Home at 53 Hancock St. in Boston This is the first place Hawthorne lived when in Boston (March-August 1836). At that time he was writing and editing for The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. (photography by Dan Popp) |
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54 Pinckney St., George Hillard's Home Hawthorne lived in the home of George Hillard, a Boston attorney and friend of the Peabody sisters during the time he worked at the Boston Custom House as measurer of coal and salt from January 11. 1839 to October 1840. |
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Old South Church in Boston Hawthorne mentions Old South Church in "Howe's Masquerade" in Colonial Stories. The Province House, mentioned in all the stories in this collection, is located across the street from Old South Church; the church stands on what was once Governor Winthrop's estate, and it is here where he died. Hawthorne refers to Winthrop's death in The Scarlet Letter. |
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36 Bromfield St. in Boston, location of the Bromfield House, a hotel in Hawthorne's time Stages came and went from this hotel, and it is from this hotel that Hawthorne departed on his last journey. |
The Old Manse, Concord
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The Old Manse in Concord The Old Manse in Concord where Nathaniel and Sophia moved after they were married. Eventually they were unable to pay their rent and were asked to leave. (photography by Terri Whitney) |
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Emerson's "Old Manse," Concord, MA Emerson's "Old Manse," Concord, MA (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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Rear View of Emerson's "Old Manse," Concord, MA (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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Side View and Gardens of Emerson's "Old Manse," Concord, MA (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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Gardens at Emerson's "Old Manse," Concord, MA (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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The Old Manse, Concord, MA The Old Manse is the home where Hawthorne lived at the beginning of his marriage to Sophia; from A Journey Into the Transcendentalists' New England by Robert Todd Felton (courtesy of Robert Todd Felton) |
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Garden at the Old Manse, Concord, MA, which Henry David Thoreau planted as a wedding gift to Hawthorne and his bride, Sophia from A Journey Into the Transcendentalists' New England by Robert Todd Felton (courtesy of Robert Todd Felton) |
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Hawthorne's Country |
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The Old Manse, illustration from frontispiece of Mosses from an Old Manse, from Hawthorne's Works, vol. 2 from the 1882 Riverside Press 15 volume edition of Hawthorne's works published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. in Boston (courtesy of Halldor F. Utne) |
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Sitting Room in the Wayside During the Hawthorne years this was the dining room for the family, as it was during the Alcott years. The fireplace screen was decorated by Rose Hawthorne for Harriett Lothrop. She inscribed a verse from her father's short story, "Fire Worship" in Mosses From an Old Manse: "Beautiful it is to see the strengthening gleam-the deepening light-that gradually casts distinct shadows of the human figure, the table, and the high-backed chairs, upon the opposite wall, and at length, as twilight comes on, replenishes the room with living radiance, and makes life all rose-color." (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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"The Old Manse from the road, Concord, Mass." Illustration by Louis K. Harlow (1850-1913) from Haunts of Hawthorne published by L. Prang & Co., Boston, n.d. On the illustration is the quotation, "Abandon care, all ye who enter here." (courtesy of Terri Whitney) |
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"Hall in the Old Manse," Illustration by Louis K. Harlow (1850-1913) from Haunts of Hawthorne published by L. Prang & Co., Boston, n.d. Illustration includes the following passage by Hawthorne: "How gently, too, did the sight of the Old Manse, best seen from the river, overshadowed with its willow and all environed about with the foliage of its orchcard and avenue,--how gently did its gray, homely aspect rebuke the speculative extravagance of the day!" (courtesy of Terri Whitney) |
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Old North Bridge, over the Concord River, Concord, MA Hawthorne enjoyed walks by the Concord River; the Old Manse was located not far from the Old North Bridge. from A Journey Into the Transcendentalists' New England,2006. (courtesy of Robert Todd Felton) |
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The Old North Bridge, Concord, MA The original Old North bridge over the Concord River is no longer standing; this one, built in 2005, replaced an earlier one built in 1956. from A Journey Into the Transcendentalists' New England,2006. (courtesy of Robert Todd Felton) |
The Berkshires
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Tanglewood Plaque Commemorating House Where Hawthorne Lived While in the Berkshires Tanglewood plaque commemorating the house where Hawthorne lived from the spring of 1850 to the autumn of 1851 while in the Berkshires. It is here that he wrote The House of the Seven Gables and The Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys and where his daughter, Rose, was born. The house was destroyed by fire in June, 1890. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Mount Greylock, outside North Adams, MA This 3,491 foot peak is the highest point in Massachusetts. Melville could see it through his study window at Arrowhead, and the mountain reminded him of a whale. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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Mount Greylock, outside North Adams, MA This 3,491 foot peak is the highest point in Massachusetts. Melville could see it through his study window at Arrowhead, and the mountain reminded him of a whale. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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Mount Greylock, outside North Adams, MA This 3,491 foot peak is the highest point in Massachusetts. Melville could see it through his study window at Arrowhead, and the mountain reminded him of a whale. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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The rebuilt version of "The Little Red House" at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts Hawthorne began his self-imposed exile from Salem in the spring of 1850 when he and his family moved to the original "Little Red House" in Lenox, MA, which burned down in 1890. He and his family lived there until Nov. 21, 1851. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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The rebuilt version of "The Little Red House" at Tanglewood in Lenox Massachusetts Hawthorne began his self-imposed exile from Salem in the spring of 1850 when he and his family moved to the original "Little Red House" in Lenox, MA, which burned down in 1890. He and his family lived there until Nov. 21, 1851. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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This desk in the “Little Red House” in Lenox is the one at which Hawthorne wrote The House of the Seven Gables. Holgrave might have sat at a similar desk while he composed his tale of Alice Pyncheon. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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Melville's Red Barn at Arrowhead in Pittsfield, MA Here Hawthorne met with Melville to talk about literature and the universe. (photography by Rich Murphy) |
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Arrowhead, Melville's house in Pittsfield, MA While living in the Berkshires, Hawthorne visited Melville at Arrowhead. (photography by David McClure) |
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Side view of Arrowhead, Melville's home in Pittsfield, MA While living in the Berkshires, Hawthorne visited Melville at Arrowhead. (photography by David McClure) |
Chestnut St., Salem
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18 Chestnut Street at corner of Botts Court, Salem Exterior of 18 Chestnut Street (Bott-Fabin house) where Hawthorne lived from 1846-49 while working as surveyor at the Salem Custom House. (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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18 Chestnut St., Salem, side view Side view of 18 Chestnut St., Salem, where Hawthorne lived from 1846-1849 while working as surveyor at the Salem Custom House (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Entry of 18 Chestnut St., Salem Entry of 18 Chestnut St. in Salem where Hawthorne lived from 1846-49 while working as surveyor at the Salem Custom House (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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View of Bott-Fabin House, 18 Chestnut St. in Salem from Bott's Court Hawthorne lived at 18 Chestnut St. from 1846-49 while working as surveyor at the Salem Custom House. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Exterior of 18 Chestnut St. (Bott-Fabin house) in Salem where Hawthorne lived for a brief period while working at the Salem Custom House (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
The Custom House in Salem
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Exterior of the Salem Custom House, 2000 Constructed in 1819, the Salem Custom House is a superb example of American Federalist public architecture. Hawthorne worked here as surveyor of the port from 1846-1849; import duties collected here helped finance the federal government. Constructed on ground where the George Crowninshield house once stood, the Salem Custom house, says Bryant F. Tolles, Jr. in Architecture of Salem, "may be entered through a beautifully adorned front central doorway serviced by a sweeping flight of granite steps. Combining delicate restraint and rich detail in the best tradition of Salem Federal architecture are the balustraded front entrance, with its four attenuated Ionic composite columns and fully developed entablature, and the modified Palladian window above which the porch column entablature elements are repeated. Perched high on the roof balustrade rests, in Hawthorne's words, 'an enormous [gilded] specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, ...a bunch of intermingled thuinderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw....' Surmounting the hipped roof, with its tall brick chimneys, is an octagonal Italianate cupola that dates from alterations (mostly interior) made in 1853/4. A three-story bonded warehouse ell is attached to the rear. Although the construction of the Custom House occurred several years after Samuel McIntire's death, it shows McIntire's influence, perhaps in large part because four of his contemporaries--nephew Joseph McIntire, Jr., David Lord, Joseph Edwards, and Joseph True--are known to have labored on the building. Perley Putnam (1778-1864) of Salem supervised construction" (58). (photography by Aaron Toleos) |
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Hawthorne's Salem Custom House seal Custom House seal used by Hawthorne when he worked as surveyor at the Salem Custom House from 1846-1849 (courtesy of Salem Maritime National Historic Site) |
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Hawthorne's Office in the Salem Custom House (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Hawthorne's Office in the Salem Custom House (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Hawthorne's Office in the Salem Custom House Hawthorne worked at this desk as Surveyor of the Port (photography by Aaron Toleos) |
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Whalebone letter opener. Gift: Norman Bassett. Hawthorne used this letter opener while he was surveyor at the Salem Customs House; subse-quently, he gave it to a clerk there, Zachariah Burchmore. The item eventually found its way to the College to commemorate the centennial of Hawthorne's Class of 1825. all text copyright Bowdoin College, 2009. (courtesy of Nathaniel Hawthorne Collection, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine) |
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View from inside Custom House cupola to Derby Wharf (courtesy of Halldor F. Utne) |
14 Mall St.
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Front of 14 Mall Street, Salem, 2015 (photography by Terri Whitney) |
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Plaque on 14 Mall St., Salem, MA (photography by Terri Whitney) |
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14 Mall Street in 2001 Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in this house. |
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14 Mall Street in Salem Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter while living in this house. |
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Parlor on second floor of 14 Mall Street in Salem Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in this house. |
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Postcard c. 1907 with picture of 14 Mall St., Salem Hawthorne lived in this house when he wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1849. |
The Wayside in Concord
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The Wayside, Concord, MA The Wayside is the only home Nathaniel Hawthorne ever owned. Hawthorne purchased the house from the Alcotts in 1852 and moved in with his wife, Sophia and children Una, Julian and Rose. His family owned the property until July 1870. (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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Postcard of Wayside, Concord, MA Hawthorne moved to this former home of the Alcotts with his family in 1852. This is the only home that Hawthorne ever owned. When Hawthorne received his appointment as consul in Liverpool in 1853, he and his family left the Wayside. After Hawthorne's appointment ended in 1857, he and his family spent time in France and Italy and then returned to The Wayside in 1860. (special thanks to David McClure) |
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Hawthorne's attic study, The Wayside, Concord, MA Hawthorne's attic study in The Wayside, one of the houses where he and Sophia lived from the winter of 1852 to July of 1853 in Concord. In 1853 they moved to Liverpool, England, where Hawthorne served as the American consul in Liverpool.The Wayside was the only house Hawthorne owned. (photography by Dan Popp) |
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Hawthorne's Stand-up Desk in His Attic Study, The Wayside, Concord, MA Hawthorne's stand-up desk in his attic study at The Wayside in Concord,where he and Sophia lived from the winter of 1852 to July of 1853 when they moved to Liverpool. While living in The Wayside, Hawthorne wrote The Life of Franklin Pierce, and he completed Tanglewood Tales. |
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Plaque Commemorating Larch Path from The Wayside into Concord Plaque Commemorating the Larch Path which Hawthorne used to walk from The Wayside into the center of Concord. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Side view of The Wayside in Concord Side view of The Wayside in Concord, the only house Hawthorne owned. When Hawthorne and Sophia lived here from the winter of 1852 to July of 1853, the house had no porches and a central entrance, and, according to E.H. Miller in Salem Was My Dwelling Place,"the paint was of 'a rusty olive hue'" (378). Hawthorne bought the house from Bronson Alcott for $1,500 and eight acres of land on the other side of the road from Ralph Waldo Emerson for $500 (Miller 378).According to Miller, it was Hawthorne who gave the house the name "The Wayside" (378). |
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Statue of Hawthorne at his Reading Stand at The Wayside in Concord Statue of Hawthorne at his reading stand at the entrance to The Wayside in Concorc. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Exterior view of The Wayside Exterior Wayside (5)- Exterior view of The Wayside, the only home Nathaniel Hawthorne ever owned. Hawthorne purchased the house from the Alcotts in1852 and moved in with his wife, Sophia and children Una, Julian and Rose. He and his family would own the property until July 1870. |
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The Larch Path The Larch Path (23) - one of Hawthorne's favorite haunts. It still leads from The Wayside to Orchard House, the Alcotts' home next door. (courtesy of the National Park Service) |
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View of Tower Addition of The Wayside in Concord, MA View of Tower Addition (24)- A view from the West of Hawthorne's three-story tower addition. The top story was Hawthorne's Tower Study, the second-story was the "Terrace Bedroom", so called because during the Hawthorne years the windows in this room opened onto the remnants of the 12 terraces that Broson Alcott had carved into the hillside behind the house during the Alcott years 1845-1848. The first floor was the formal parlor during the Hawthorne years. (photography by Dan Popp) |
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Hawthorne Table in the Wayside Sitting Room, described in the introductory to Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales Hawthorne Table (9)- During the Hawthorne years at The Wayside this room served several functions. From 1852-1853 this room was the Sitting Room for the Hawthorne's. There is a wonderful description of this room in the introductory to Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales. The dining room table belonged to Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne and was sold by their daughter, Rose and her husband, George Parsons Lathrop. The table was sold by the Lathrops in 1883, along with the house, to Harriett and Daniel Lothrop. (courtesy of the National Park Service) |
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Hawthorne Secretary Hawthorne Secretary (18)- This is the "Bay Window Room" which Hawthorne had constructed in August 1860. Sophia Hawthorne called it her chapel because she gave Sunday School lessons to her children here. The secretary belonged to Sophia. |
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Shaving Stand 2 Shaving Stand 2 (19) - "The West Chamber" was the Master Bedroom of Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne as it was for the Alcotts. You can see Hawthorne's shaving stand and the "Butler's Secretary" next to it belonged to Rose Hawthorne and her husband, George Parsons Lathrop. |
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Stand-up Writing Desk Stand-up Writing Desk (22) - Hawthorne's stand-up writing desk in his Tower Study. Hawthorne deliberately had his desk facing the book shelves that were part of the desk, so he would would not be distracted by the wonderful view from the south-facing window. |
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N. Mural with Busts N. Mural with Busts (14)- This is one of three beautiful murals that grace the vaulted ceiling of Hawthorne's Tower Study. The scenes in these murals are one artist's, George Arthur Gray, tribute to another artist, Nathaniel Hawthorne. These murals were painted in 1871 when the Grays owned the house. The two early 20th century busts that sit atop Hawthorne's book closets were made by P. P. Capproni Brothers of Boston. The bust on the right is possibly Antonia(A. D. 38) daughter of Mark Anthony and Octavia and mother of the Emperor Claudius. It has also been identified as "Clytie", a nymph turned into a flower for her unrequited love of Appolo. The other bust is of Plato. |
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Bookcloset with Plato Bookcloset with Plato (2) - This view shows one of Hawthorne's book closets in his Tower Study. Hawthorne's son, Julian, inscribed quotes over the doors of his father's book closets. Above the door of this closet, Julian wrote "All care abandon ye who enter here." a paraphrase of "All Hope abandon ye who enter here." from Dante's "The Inferno". |
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Manuscript Closet Manuscript Closet (12) - Hawthorne's manuscript closet at the foot of the stairs to his Tower Study where Hawthorne kept his writing materials. It is said that when word of Hawthorne's death reached his family, Rose was in her father's Tower Study, and as she descended she opened the door to her father's manuscript closet and on one of the shelves was the unfinished Dolliver Romance . |
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Sitting Room in the Wayside During the Hawthorne years this was the dining room for the family, as it was during the Alcott years. The fireplace screen was decorated by Rose Hawthorne for Harriett Lothrop. She inscribed a verse from her father's short story, "Fire Worship" in Mosses From an Old Manse: "Beautiful it is to see the strengthening gleam-the deepening light-that gradually casts distinct shadows of the human figure, the table, and the high-backed chairs, upon the opposite wall, and at length, as twilight comes on, replenishes the room with living radiance, and makes life all rose-color." (photography by Rich Murphy) |
Sites in Salem Important to Hawthorne's Adult life
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The John Tucker Daland House, 132 Essex St. part of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem Formerly the Essex Institute (in Hawthorne's time known as the Essex Historical Society)the Daland House is now part of the Peabody Essex Museum. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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The Burying Point, 1637, Salem The Burying Point, Salem's oldest cemetery, dates from 1637 and contains the remains and gravemarkers of many prominent people in Salem's history. Some of Hawthorne's early ancestors are buried here, as well as individuals associated with the witchcraft episode and China trade period. The burial ground is situated on what was once a bluff, projecting into the South River. Cattle used to graze in the burial ground, and for several years it was the site of John Horne's windmill. (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
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Gardner-Pingree House, 128 Essex St., 1804-5 Salem merchant John Gardner, Jr., built the house in 1804-5, and in 1811, because of financial difficulties, sold the house to Nathaniel West who sold the house three years later to Joseph White. It is here where Captain Joseph White lived and was murdered in April 1830, an event that shook the town of Salem and one which intrigued Hawthorne and which he wrote about in "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe." In 1834, the house was sold to David Pingree, and the ownership of the house remained in the Pingree family until 1933 when it was donated by the Pingree heirs to the Essex Institute. With its lovely details and proportions, this dwelling is considered to be a superb example of American Adamesque Federal town houses and perhaps the best example in New England. Many scholars believe the house was designed by Samuel McIntire and consider it to be his finest mature work. Details consistent with McIntire's work are the symmetrical rectangular facade wooden roof balustrade and an elaborate semicircular portico entrance with Corinthian columns and pilasters. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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First Church (Daniel Low Building), 121 Washington St., 231 Essex St. Mall First Church, established in 1629, was the first Protestant church in America. Rebecca Nurse and Giles Cory, two victims of the witchcraft hysteria in 1692, were members, and most of the Hathorne family also belonged to this church. Nathaniel's grandfather and grandmother were members; Hawthorne's mother, Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne, joined First Church in 1806, and her children were baptized there. In the early 1800s, the church became Unitarian in its theology. In 1824, Charles W. Upham became associate pastor with John Prince, and after Prince's death in 1836, became pastor. He remained in this position until 1844 when he left the post because of illness. Margaret Moore points out in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne that "Hawthorne wrote in Our Old Home that only fond memories of John Prince of First Church helped him retain 'a devout, though not intact nor unwavering respect for the entire fraternity of ministers'(CE 5:28)." (110). First Church was originally located in Town House Square, but in 1734, after a dispute between the minister, John Fisk, and some members of his congregation, Fisk and his supporters built a new First Church at 256 Essex St., a short distance from their original location. In 1772, the church broke into five different churches and rejoined in later years. This building was constructed in 1826; the second floor was used by First Church and the first floor was rented to shopkeepers. In 1874, the church was enlarged and extensively remodeled in the High Victorian Gothic style. In 1922, the First Church merged with North Church (Unitarian) and moved to the North Church building at 256 Essex St. Daniel Low and Company then acquired the property at 121 Washington St. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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Tabernacle Church, Washington and Federal Sts., Salem Established in 1735 as a branch of the First Church, and calling itself "The First Church of Salem," Tabernacle Church built a meeting house in 1736 near 256 Essex St. Until 1762, Salem thus had two churches calling themselves, First Church. At that time, the government required the church that separated to change its name, so it became Third Church of Christ in Salem. When that house of worship was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1774, a new building was erected in 1777 that resembled London's Tabernacle, and soon was referred to as The Tabernacle. Eventually the church took this as its legal name. One of the most orthodox congregations in Hawthorne's time, it was led by Dr. Samuel Worcester (1770-1821), who was installed as minister in 1803 and who was one of the leading voices of the conservative view in New England. His sermons were highly regarded; Leverett Saltonstall, a leading Unitarian lawyer in Salem, admired them because of their mixture of emotion and reason, even though he was aware that Worcester was a strict calvinist. In 1924 the Tabernacle Church merged with South Church, and the current Colonial Revival building was constructed, replacing a large wooden Italian Revival building which was the home of the Tabernacle Church from 1854 until it was demolished in 1922. From 1776 to 1854, the building that stood on this ground was occupied by the Tabernacle Church and in 1805 featured a three-stage tower added by Samuel McIntire. This is the building that Hawthorne would have known. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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Hamilton Hall, 9 Chestnut at Cambridge St. This important example of Adamesque Federalist architecture in the U.S, designed by Salem's famous architect-carver, Samuel McIntire, was built from 1805-07 and named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury. Its north side wall is particularly notable with its McIntyre carved eagle and the swags in panel inserts above the windows. In 1824 the west end of the building was completed, all except the doorway and Greek Revival portico, which were installed in 1845. Hamilton Hall was built as a place for Salem's wealthy families to socialize. In 1824 a ball was held in the second-floor assembly room to honor the visiting Marquis de Lafayette. Today the building features a ballroom with a "spring" dance floor and a curved musicians' balcony. It continues to be a center of social and cultural activity for the area. Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, describes one Salemite's memory of the dances held in Salem at Hamilton Hall in the late nineteenth century. According to Moore, Mrs. Eben Putnam, a resident of Salem in the late nineteenth century, "remembered the old Assemblies when dancing 'commenced at six and finished precisely at twelve'-even if in the middle of a dance" (88). According to Moore, Hawthorne took dancing lessons in 1818 from William Turner, who held an annual exhibition by his students, and again in 1820 from John M. Boisseaux (89), but there is no evidence that these lessons took place in Hamilton Hall. The caterer at Hamilton Hall was John Remond. He and his wife, Nancy, a noted cake maker, lived in an apartment on the first floor of Hamilton Hall and managed one of the two stores located in the Hall. Remond had come to Salem at the age of ten in 1798 on the ship Six Brothers and was employed as a baker by the brother of the ship's master. Two of the children of this respected black couple, Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1873) and Sarah Parker Remond (1824-1873), played important roles in the Abolition movement (139). (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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St. Peter's Church, Salem Constructed in 1833, St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Salem rests on the same site the original Episcopal Church occupied for which Philip English donated land in 1734. It would have been one of the many places of worship familiar to Hawthorne during his years in Salem. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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First (North) Church (Unitarian), (North Church until 1923; First Church thereafter), 316 Essex St. This building is the second meeting house of the North Church, which separated from the First Church in 1772; the original building was located at the corner of "Curwen's Lane" (North St.) and "The New Lane" (later Lynde St.). When the two churches merged again in 1923, this building became the home of First Church. Constructed in 1835-36, it is considered, along with St. Peter's Church, to be among the finest stone masonry Gothic Revival churches in the United States. Francis Peabody, a parishioner who oversaw the construction, is said to have led the argument for a building in the Gothic Revival style. North Church was one of the three more liberal churches in Salem in Hawthorne's time. It was the church attended by the Peabody family and also by Jones Very (1813-1880), a mystic, Unitarian minister, and poet. Some in Salem thought Very insane, but the Transcendentalists were intrigued by him as was Hawthorne who was friends with him in the late 1830s, according to Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne(215). N.B. Margaret Moore presents the interesting convergence of what is now First Church with the Hathornes and Thomas Maule in her book The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne. She says that across the street from First Church were the houses of Philip English and Thomas Maule. The English house was inherited by John Touzel; after his death, Touzel's widow shared ownership with William and Mary Touzel Hathorne, and then Sophia Peabody's family later lived in William and Mary's half of the house. Also, Moore says that Mary Hathorne, daughter of William, "owned a house on the other side of Essex Street, just in front of the land on which First Church now stands. It stood on part of Thomas Maule's orchard. She willed this house to her sister, Ann Hathorne Savage, but the will was lost, found much later, and then stolen. So, one Hathorne house on the southern side of Essex was next door to the Maule house; the other on the northern side stood on what had been his garden. Maule's garden is important in The House of the Seven Gables. The juxtaposition of the Hathorne house with the Maule land, the garden, the lost will, the witchcraft accusations: all make another possible Hawthorne connection to witchcraft" (45-46). (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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Turner-Ingersoll House, 54 Turner St., Salem, aka "The House of the Seven Gables" Built in 1668 for the prosperous merchant Captain John Turner as a 2 1/2 story, two room, central chimney plan house with two gables, this house, an important example of seventeenth-century New England architecture, was later owned by Captain Samuel Ingersoll and his wife, Susannah Hathorne. At the time of its construction, it probably resembled the John Ward house in Salem. Turner later added a kitchen lean-to and a single room plan to the south wing with a brick chimney and a two story porch. This wing contained a parlor, chamber, and a garret with three gables. It featured an overhang with carved pendants and casement windows. In 1692, John Turner, Jr. added a new north kitchen ell and the famous "secret staircase" in the rebuilt main chimney. In 1725 he added more stairs as well as Georgian style ornamentation. Further changes were made in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by subsequent ownder, including Hawthorne's relatives, the Ingersolls. The gables were removed, the front porch reconstructed, and trim in the comntemporary Victorian style was added. In 1908 the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association purchased the house, and Caroline O. Emmerton, the Settlement's founder, arranged for the restoration of the property, including the gables, of which there are eight, not the seven referred to in Hawthorne's famous novel. When Hawthorne was alive the house had only five gables, but Susan Ingersoll, Hawthorne's cousin whom he frequently visited, had told Hawthorne that two additional gables had once been part of the house. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.) |
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First (North) Church (North Church until 1923; First Church thereafter) 316 Essex St. This building is the second meeting house of the North Church, which separated from the First Church in 1772; the original building was located at the corner of "Curwen's Lane" (North St.) and "The New Lane" (later Lynde St.). When the two churches merged again in 1923, this building became the home of First Church. Constructed in 1835-36, it is considered, along with St. Peter's Church, to be among the finest stone masonry Gothic Revival churches in the United States. Francis Peabody, a parishioner who oversaw the construction, is said to have led the argument for a building in the Gothic Revival style. North Church was one of the three more liberal churches in Salem in Hawthorne's time. It was the church attended by the Peabody family and also by Jones Very (1813-1880), a mystic, Unitarian minister, and poet. Some in Salem thought Very insane, but the Transcendentalists were intrigued by him as was Hawthorne who was friends with him in the late 1830s, according to Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne(215). N.B. Margaret Moore presents the interesting convergence of what is now First Church with the Hathornes and Thomas Maule in her book The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne. She says that across the street from First Church were the houses of Philip English and Thomas Maule. The English house was inherited by John Touzel; after his death, Touzel's widow shared ownership with William and Mary Touzel Hathorne, and then Sophia Peabody's family later lived in William and Mary's half of the house. Also, Moore says that Mary Hathorne, daughter of William, "owned a house on the other side of Essex Street, just in front of the land on which First Church now stands. It stood on part of Thomas Maule's orchard. She willed this house to her sister, Ann Hathorne Savage, but the will was lost, found much later, and then stolen. So, one Hathorne house on the southern side of Essex was next door to the Maule house; the other on the northern side stood on what had been his garden. Maule's garden is important in The House of the Seven Gables. The juxtaposition of the Hathorne house with the Maule land, the garden, the lost will, the witchcraft accusations: all make another possible Hawthorne connection to witchcraft" (45-46). (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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East India Marine Hall (part of the Peabody Essex Museum), 161 Essex St. Mall Built in 1824-5 by William Roberts, who also built St. Peter's Church, this building housed artifacts brought back from exotic ports by members of the East India Marine Society which was organized in 1799 by ship captains who had sailed past the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn and had collected objects from the Far EAst, Africa,and the Pacific Islands to study and exhibit at their headquarters in Salem, one of America's busiest ports. President John Quincy Adams attended the dedication of the East India Marine Hall in 1825. Hawthorne's father became a member of the Marine Society in 1804, the year of Hawthorne's birth. East India Marine Hall later became the Peabody Museum, and today it is part of the Peabody Essex Museum. (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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The Salem Lyceum, 43 Church St., Salem In 1830 the Salem Lyceum was organized as a cultural institution which featured lectures on topics ranging from Salem witchcraft to phrenology. In 1831 a hall was built on Church Street, and Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, says that according to the October 6, 1838 issue of the Observer, " the Lyceum was called 'the theatre of New England'" (155). Although Hawthorne never lectured here, he did serve as corresponding secretary in 1848-49 and invited speakers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Horace Mann. The building still stands on Church street, but today it houses a restaurant. (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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Daniel Lowe Building, formerly First Church, 231 Essex St. Mall First Church, established in 1629, was the first Protestant church in America. Rebecca Nurse and Giles Cory, two victims of the witchcraft hysteria in 1692, were members, and most of the Hathorne family also belonged to this church. Nathaniel's grandfather and grandmother were members; Hawthorne's mother, Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne, joined First Church in 1806, and her children were baptized there. In the early 1800s, the church became Unitarian in its theology. In 1824, Charles W. Upham became associate pastor with John Prince, and after Prince's death in 1836, became pastor. He remained in this position until 1844 when he left the post because of illness. Margaret Moore points out in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne that "Hawthorne wrote in Our Old Home that only fond memories of John Prince of First Church helped him retain 'a devout, though not intact nor unwavering respect for the entire fraternity of ministers'(CE 5:28)." (110). First Church was originally located in Town House Square, but in 1734, after a dispute between the minister, John Fisk, and some members of his congregation, Fisk and his supporters built a new First Church at 256 Essex St., a short distance from their original location. In 1772, the church broke into five different churches and rejoined in later years. This building was constructed in 1826; the second floor was used by First Church and the first floor was rented to shopkeepers. In 1874, the church was enlarged and extensively remodeled in the High Victorian Gothic style. In 1922, the First Church merged with North Church (Unitarian) and moved to the North Church building at 256 Essex St. Daniel Low and Company then acquired the property at 121 Washington St. (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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Hamilton Hall, 9 Chestnut St. at Cambridge St., Salem This important example of Adamesque Federalist architecture in the U.S, designed by Salem's famous architect-carver, Samuel McIntire, was built from 1805-07 and named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury. Its north side wall is particularly notable with its McIntyre carved eagle and the swags in panel inserts above the windows. In 1824 the west end of the building was completed, all except the doorway and Greek Revival portico, which were installed in 1845. Hamilton Hall was built as a place for Salem's wealthy families to socialize. In 1824 a ball was held in the second-floor assembly room to honor the visiting Marquis de Lafayette. Today the building features a ballroom with a "spring" dance floor and a curved musicians' balcony. It continues to be a center of social and cultural activity for the area. Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, describes one Salemite's memory of the dances held in Salem at Hamilton Hall in the late nineteenth century. According to Moore, Mrs. Eben Putnam, a resident of Salem in the late nineteenth century, "remembered the old Assemblies when dancing 'commenced at six and finished precisely at twelve'-even if in the middle of a dance" (88). According to Moore, Hawthorne took dancing lessons in 1818 from William Turner, who held an annual exhibition by his students, and again in 1820 from John M. Boisseaux (89), but there is no evidence that these lessons took place in Hamilton Hall. The caterer at Hamilton Hall was John Remond. He and his wife, Nancy, a noted cake maker, lived in an apartment on the first floor of Hamilton Hall and managed one of the two stores located in the Hall. Remond had come to Salem at the age of ten in 1798 on the ship Six Brothers and was employed as a baker by the brother of the ship's master. Two of the children of this respected black couple, Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1873) and Sarah Parker Remond (1824-1873), played important roles in the Abolition movement (139). (photography by Lou Procopio) |
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Woodcut of the Daniel Low Building, 121 Washington St., Salem, from the 1850 Salem City Directory (special thanks to the National Park Service) First Church, established in 1629, was the first Protestant church in America. Rebecca Nurse and Giles Cory, two victims of the witchcraft hysteria in 1692, were members, and most of the Hathorne family also belonged to this church. Nathaniel's grandfather and grandmother were members; Hawthorne's mother, Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne, joined First Church in 1806, and her children were baptized there. In the early 1800s, the church became Unitarian in its theology. In 1824, Charles W. Upham became associate pastor with John Prince, and after Prince's death in 1836, became pastor. He remained in this position until 1844 when he left the post because of illness. Margaret Moore points out in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne that "Hawthorne wrote in Our Old Home that only fond memories of John Prince of First Church helped him retain 'a devout, though not intact nor unwavering respect for the entire fraternity of ministers'(CE 5:28)" (110). First Church was originally located in Town House Square, but in 1734, after a dispute between the minister, John Fisk, and some members of his congregation, Fisk and his supporters built a new First Church at 256 Essex St., a short distance from their original location. In 1772, the church broke into five different churches and rejoined in later years. This building was constructed in 1826; the second floor was used by First Church and the first floor was rented to shopkeepers. In 1874, the church was enlarged and extensively remodeled in the High Victorian Gothic style. In 1922, the First Church merged with North Church (Unitarian) and moved to the North Church building at 256 Essex St. Daniel Low and Company then acquired the property at 121 Washington St. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Engraving of Salem Town Pump from article in May 1884 edition of Century Magazine by Julian Hawthorne entitled "Salem of Hawthorne" (special thanks to the National Park Service) The town pump was located at the corner of Essex and Washington St. Today there is a commemorative marker there. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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The Nathaniel Silsbee House, 94 Washington Square East at Briggs St. This three-story brick house was built in 1818/1819 for the shipmaster and U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Nathaniel Silsbee. According to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., in his book Architecture in Salem when Silsbee's son moved into the house c. 1850, he made extensive changes in the Italian Revival style and so it is difficult to know how the house appeared before that time (29). The changes included the Italianate windows on the facade and the square-columned, balustraded porch (Tolles 30). Silsbee's daughter, Mary Crowninshield Silsbee (1809-1887),an admired beauty often referred to as "The Star of Salem," was more glitter than substance according to James R. Mellow in Nathaniel Hawthorne In His Times.Hawthorne met her around 1837, and he was soon captivated by her. A year later, however, after a series of events that revealed Mary's manipulative and deceitful ways, Hawthorne, as Elizabeth Peabody expressed it, "crushed her." (photography by Bruce Hibbard) |
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Entrance to the Salem Common The Salem Common was known as the "town swamp" before its conversion in 1801 into the park it is today. Today, as in Hawthorne's time, the Common is surrounded by grand mansions on Washington Square such as the one owned by Nathaniel Silsbee, father of Mary Crowninshield Silsbee. Hawthorne wrote about the July 4, 1838 celebration on the Common: "A very hot, bright, sunny day; town much thronged; booths on the Common, selling gingerbread, sugar-plums, and confectionery, spruce beer, lemonade.... On the top of one of the booths a monkey, with a tail two or three feet long.... He is the object of much attention from the crowd, and played with by the boys, who toss up gingerbread to him, while he nibbles and throws it down again. He reciprocated notice, of some kind of other, with all who notice him. There is a sort of gravity about him." (photography by Bruce Hibbard) |
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Winter Island/Juniper Point Juniper Point is Salem's oldest residential area on Salem Neck. When Hawthorne took his walks to Juniper Point, there were no houses, but there were fortifications. Fort Lee, which probably was first used between 1690-1694 as a gun platform, was used to defend Salem Harbor in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. In the 1850s and 1860s, Juniper Point was the site of tents for recreation. In the 1870s cottages were built, creating a summer resort community. Today, this is a year-round residential part of Salem. (photography by Bruce Hibbard) |
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Winter Island/Juniper Point Juniper Point is Salem's oldest residential area on Salem Neck. When Hawthorne took his walks to Juniper Point, there were no houses, but there were fortifications. Fort Lee, which probably was first used between 1690-1694 as a gun platform, was used to defend Salem Harbor in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. In the 1850s and 1860s, Juniper Point was the site of tents for recreation. In the 1870s cottages were built, creating a summer resort community. Today, this is a year-round residential part of Salem. (photography by Bruce Hibbard) |
People Important to Hawthorne's Adult Life
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Sophia Amelia Peabody at the age of 36 Etching by S. A. Schoff, opposite page 242, volume 1 of Julian Hawthorne's Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife, 1884. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Portrait of Charles W. Upham (1802 - 1876) Charles W. Upham was the author of Salem Witchcraft (1867), as well as a series of earlier lectures on the Salem Witchcraft hysteria. Nathaniel Hawthorne was displeased with Upham's harsh portrayal of John Hathorne's role in the 1692 persecutions. |
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John Bunyan, Author of The Pilgrim's Progress, 1678, 1684. Engraving of John Bunyan by A. L. Dick Bunyan was one of Hawthorne's favorite writers. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Photograph of Herman Melville, 1861 (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) |
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Joseph Aitteon, c. 1862 Aitteon was a Penobscot guide for Thoreau in Maine in 1853. |
Hawthorne's Grave
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Hawthorne's Gravesite, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, MA Hawthorne's Grave, Concord, MA (Photography by Joseph R. Modugno) |
Critical Commentary Related to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Adult Life
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Learning Activities Related to Hawthorne's Life
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1. Read Longfellow's poetic tribute "Hawthorne"carefully. Then compose a thoughtful essay in which you identify techniques the author employs to convey the poem's sense of loss. (contributed by John W. Stuart, Ph.D., Department of English, Manchester-Essex Regional High School, Manchester, MA) |
Lectures and Articles Related to Hawthorne's Adult Life
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- "Home [Un]Sweet Home: Hawthorne's Fear and Loathing of Home in Our Old Home," paper by Mark Dunphy, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, KY, delivered at the American Literature Conference, Boston, May 24-27, 2007.
- "Nathaniel Hawthorne as Bronson Alcott’s 'Coy Maiden'," paper delivered by Karen English, San Jose State University, at the conference of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, in Concord, MA, June 10-13, 2010.