The Old Manse

Hawthorne’s talent for descriptive writings was never exercised on a happier theme than the Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts. Built in 1765 by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s grandfather, it was Emerson’s temporary home for three different periods. Emerson wrote his "Nature" in the small back room on the second story, looking out upon the river, the North Bridge and the battlefield. When Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody in July 1842, they took up their abode in the Old Manse. Here they passed three years in idyllic happiness.