Welcome back everyone to 1,001 classic short stories and tales. This is your host John Haggadorn. Nathaniel Hawthorne had a lot of great stories. We've only

covered David Swan so far, but we have many more to do.

Rappachini's daughter is on the list. The snow image, the great stone face, Lady

Eleanor's mantle, the minister's black veil, the birthmark, and others.

We have one today for you called Old Ticonderoga.

First I'd like to give you a little history on Nathaniel Hawthorne.

He was born 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts from a family long associated with that

town. In fact, his great grandfather, whose name was Judge

Haythorne, was one of the judges who declared the guilty verdict on a lot of

those supposed witches back during the Salem witch hunt.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was very anxious to separate his name from Judge Haythorne.

So he purposely spelled his last name, Hawthorne, H-A-W-T-H-O-R-N-E, in order to differentiate himself from his hanging

judge relative.

Nathaniel Hawthorne became a great author.

He entered Bowden College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and graduated

in 1825.

He published his first work in 1828, the novel Fanshaw. He published several

short stories in periodicals which he collected in 1837 as twice told tales. He married Sophia Peabody in 1842 and they moved to the

old manse in Concord, Massachusetts, then finally back to Salem, then the Berkshires, then to the wayside in Concord.

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne's most famous piece, was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels.

A political appointment as Consul took Hawthorne and family to Europe

before they returned to Concord in 1860.

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