The
Blithedale Romance
Hawthore published this novel in July, 1852, shortly after moving to
the Wayside.
The
Life of Franklin Pierce
In August of 1852, soon after moving to The Wayside, Hawthorne completed
the biography, The Life of Franklin Pierce. Much of the biography
is devoted to sections from Pierce's Mexican War journal.
"Septimius
Felton" Hawthorne's unfinished work "Septimius Felton" features
a character inspired by the man who inherited The Wayside a generation
before Hawthorne who believed that he would never die.
"Tanglewood
Tales"
Hawthorne began writing "Tanglewood Tales," a recreation of six myths,
while living at the Wayside. The work was published in September, 1853,
while Hawthorne and his family were living in England.
"Chiefly
About War Matters By a Peaceable Man"
Hawthorne published this essay on the Civil War in July, 1862 while
living at the Wayside, after a visit with Lincoln in Washington, D.C.
"Grimshawe"
(first titled "The Ancestral Footstep" then "Etherege" and finally "Grimshawe")
Hawthorne began to write this story in 1860 or 1861 but put aside the
work in late 1861, leaving it unfinished. The tale is set in Salem in
the house next to the Charter Street Burying Point. In this autobiographical
tale, Ned is the young Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Grimshawe is in some
ways Hawthorne in his depressed final years.
"Septimius
Felton" and "Septiumius Norton"
Hawthorne began to write this story in 1861 while living at the Wayside.
This story is set in 1775 in Concord when the British confronted American
farmers at the Concord bridge and focuses on the inner conflicts of
a young seminary student, Septimius Felton, who, like Hawthorne himself
in his waning years, felt "a vague depression of the spirit."
Our
Old Home
In June of 1863, the Atlantic Monthly articles he had written
between 1860 and 1863 were published as Our Old Home.
"The
Dolliver Romance"
Around December, 1863, or January, 1864, Hawthorne began "The Dolliver
Romance" while living at the Wayside. "The Dolliver Romance," like "Grimshawe,"
is set in the house next to the Charter Street Burying Point in Salem.
