Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace facts for kids
The Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace is the house where famous American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne was born. It's located in Salem, Massachusetts, at 27 Hardy Street, though you can reach it from 54 Turner Street. Today, this house is a museum, right next to another famous building, the House of the Seven Gables. You can visit both museums by paying an admission fee.
The Story of the House
This house was built a long time ago, between 1730 and 1745. It was first built for a sailor from Boston named Joshua Pickman. The land was given to him by his father-in-law, Joseph Hardy. Some parts of the house might even be from an older building from the 1600s!
Nathaniel Hawthorne's grandfather, Daniel Hathorne, lived here as early as 1765. (The family name was "Hathorne" back then, without the "w".) He bought the house in 1772.
Nathaniel's parents, Nathaniel Hathorne Sr. and Elizabeth Clarke Manning, got married on August 2, 1801. Elizabeth was already expecting a baby. They couldn't afford their own home, so they moved into the Union Street house. Nathaniel's widowed grandmother and three unmarried aunts and uncles already lived there. Elizabeth's family, the Mannings, were richer. They owned most of the properties on Union Street and Herbert Street.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in this house on July 4, 1804. He lived there until he was four years old. His father died at sea when Nathaniel was very young. After that, his family moved to a property owned by the Mannings on Herbert Street.
Years later, in 1853, Hawthorne wrote about his birthplace. He said he was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in a house his grandfather built. He remembered rolling on the grass under an apple tree in the garden. His mother also described his birth in a letter around 1865. She said he was born in the room above the small parlor.
In 1958, the house was moved to its current spot. It now stands on the grounds of the Turner-Ingersoll mansion. This mansion became famous in Hawthorne's novel The House of the Seven Gables (1851).
What the House Looks Like
The house shows what typical buildings looked like back then. It has a central chimney and a special roof called a gambrel roof. There are stairways in the front and back. The main entrance has a post-and-lintel design.
On the ground floor, the kitchen is on the right side. The main room is on the left. The second floor has rooms on both sides, front and back. Most of the inside of the house has been kept just as it was.
