On the return of the Hawthornes to Concord in 1852 and their purchase of The
Wayside from "Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne" in Student Companion to Nathaniel
Hawthorne by Melissa McFarland Pennell, p. 7 (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
"In 1852 the Hawthornes decided to return to Concord, which they remembered fondly
from their years there as newlyweds. Hawthorne purchased The
Wayside, former home of the Alcotts, and had renovations made to the house.
The return to Concord had promised to be a happy one, but shortly after moving
into The Wayside, Hawthorne received news that his sister Louisa, on her way to
visit the family at the conclusion of a trip to New York, had died in a steamboat
mishap on the Hudson River. Hawthorne was grief stricken by his sister's death,
a grief intensified by the close proximity of this loss to the anniversary of
his mother's death…."
