The Birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Salem. , The home in which author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 once stood near this spot. The Georgian-style house, two-and-a-half stories high and two byas wide, was built for blacksmith Jonathan Phelps between 1745 and 1750. In 1772, Phelps sold the house to his son-in-law Daniel Hathorne for £433. During the American Revolution, Hathorne took command of the privateer schooner, Fair American, and became a folk hero for his explaits. Daniel Hathorne, grandfather of author Nathaniel, died in 1796., In 1775, Nathaniel Hathorne Sr. was born here. In the 1790s and early 1800s he travelled as a sailor and captain to an array of foreign ports, including Calcutta, Batavia, Manila, and Canton. Nathaniel Hathorne Sr. married Elizabeth Clarke Manning in 1801. The couple lived in a room on the upper floor because the house was so crowded with relatives., The author, Nathaniel Hathorne Jr., was born while his father was at Java. When Nathaniel was three years old, his father died of fever in Suriname, and a lack of money forced the family to move into Elizabeth Clarke Manning's family home nearby on Herbert Street. When Nathaniel's maternal grandfather Richard Manning died in 1813, two of his uncles moved to Raymond, Maine. In 1818, Nathaniel himself moved north, though he would return to Salem several times in his life., Writing from the 1820s into the 1860s, Nathaniel Hawthorne (who later added the "w" to his surname) went on to become a world famous author. His work profoundly influenced the modern short story and novel, and helped to shape a uniquely American literary and cultural identity. Hawthorne died in Plymouth, New Hampshire in 1864 and is buried in Concord, Massachusetts. Today he is best known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables., In 1958, The Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace was moved from this site to the property of The House of the Seven Gables for preservation, where it can be visited today., [Captions:] , Above: Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1840, by Charles Osgood (American, 1809-1890). Oil on Canvas., Above: The Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace on the move in 1958. The house was moved passed the Hawthorne Hotel, down Hawthorne Boulevard, and past sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt's statue of the author. AFter traveling roughly half a mile, the house reached the grounds of The House of the Seven Gables, where it stands today., Left: The Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace at it original location on Union Street in 1933., Below: A detail from the 1897 Ciby of Salem atlas showing the location of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace on Union Street.