Tour of the Property: Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace

YEAR BUILT: 1750
STYLE: Georgian
BUILT FOR: Unknown
MOVED TO ITS CURRENT SITE: 1958

This house was originally located a few blocks from here on Union Street. It was moved to this location in 1958 with the assistance of architectural historian and conservator, Abbott Lowell Cummings. While not a particularly fine example of Georgian architecture, this house is best known for one famous inhabitant. It was here, in this modest home, that Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4th 1804 to Elizabeth and Nathaniel Hathorne. Tragically, Nathaniel's father, a sea captain, died while on a voyage when Nathaniel was only five years old. This left Elizabeth with three small children and little wealth. She and her children were left no alternative but to move out of this house and accept the charity of her family, the Mannings. Elizabeth Hathorne was not alone in losing her husband on an ocean voyage. In the late 1700's upwards of one in four women were widows who had lost their men to the sea. As an adult, Nathaniel Hawthorne found a literary outlet for this early childhood trauma. Many of the characters in his novels have suffered the loss of one or both parents, and are dependant on the goodwill of others for support.

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