One of the things that I love about visiting historic sites are the personal things that are sometimes left behind. While visiting the Old Manse in Concord, Mass. I was drawn to a window while on the tour. It was an etching by Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife done while they were renting the property. I reads;
Man's accidents are God's purposes. Sophia A. Hawthorne 1843Nath Hawthorne This is his studyThe smallest twig leans clear against the skyComposed by my wife and written with her diamondInscribed by my husband at sunset, April 3 1843. In the Gold light.SAH
The Old Manse is an extraordinary place to visit because of the amazing history it has witnessed and the people that have walked its halls. The home is where Ralph Waldo Emerson penned Nature which helped give birth to the Transcendentalist movement, and it is also with just yards of the iconic Old North Bridge where some of the opening shots of the American Revolution occurred. Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott were also frequent guests to the home and often engaged in very deep conversations about the nature and purpose of life.
Honestly, the old phrase 'if these walls could talk' never seemed more appropriate.
