Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne Get Married in Downtown Boston

We here at the Boston Book Blog are doing some sleuthing.

So we came across a statement that Nathaniel Hawthorne married his wife Sophia Peabody at 13 West Street in Boston on July 9, 1842.

So if you Google that, you get this:

Which is right in downtown Boston by Downtown Crossing, and is actually the site (or next to the site) of the current day Brattle Book Shop! (It actually might have been where Max & Dylan’s Kitchen-Bar currently is.)

We also found out that Nathaniel and Sophia were married at her sister Elizabeth Peabody's book shop, located on that site from about 1840 to 1852. That was the site where Margaret Fuller held her "Conversations," but that's another Throwback Thursday!

Check out this document from the City of Boston for more info on the site's history.

So go see the site for yourself! Go stand on that street and go, this is where the Hawthornes got married!