"Browne's Folly": (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches")

In Short

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s brief essay "Browne's Folly" takes the form of an intimate letter written in response to a cousin’s request for a short story. Lacking his former inventive drive for fiction, the author instead offers a nostalgic description of a specific hill near Salem, Massachusetts, where a grand pre-revolutionary mansion once stood. He details the tragicomic fate of this proud structure—shattered by an earthquake, moved down the hill, abandoned by its Loyalist owner, and left to decay—creating a poignant, enduring reflection on lost grandeur and forgotten youth.

The Story

The narrative opens on August 28, 1860, with Nathaniel Hawthorne writing from his home, The Wayside, to his cousin. Responding to a request to compose a short tale for the benefit of the Essex Institute, Hawthorne candidly admits that he can no longer craft the inventive fictions that characterized his earlier collections like Twice-Told Tales. He explains that his mind has lost its former fertility for such narratives. However, rather than decline the request entirely, he offers to describe a real place near his native town of Salem that once inspired his literary imagination: a prominent ridge locally known as "Browne's Folly."

Hawthorne describes the physical geography of the ridge, comparing its appearance in the flat landscape to a whale rising out of a calm sea. He reflects on his boyhood visits to the spot, noting the green lane, tall locust trees, barberry bushes, and a tiny brook he once dammed up, which has now shrunk to a near-dry ditch. From the top of the hill, two expansive views unfold: one looking out over the ocean toward Salem and Beverly, and the other overlooking a flat rural landscape where neighborly lives, property lines, and quiet generations play out against a larger perspective.

The heart of the narrative centers on the summit of the hill, where a wealthy, pre-revolutionary aristocrat built a magnificently scaled mansion. The steep approach and ostentatious nature of the dwelling earned it the name "Browne's Folly." The building's glory was short-lived; in 1755, a powerful earthquake shook the house so violently that the owner moved the entire structure to humbler ground at the base of the hill. When the American Revolution broke out, the Royalist owner fled to England, leaving the house in the care of Richard Derby, who preserved the fully furnished mansion in anticipation of the exile's return.

Over decades of neglect, the empty mansion became a playground for curious local children. One legendary closet, rumored to house a family demon, was eventually forced open by a group of adventurous schoolboys. Instead of a monster, a collection of ancestral portraits in antique lace and brocade tumbled out onto the floor. Years later, the house was divided into three separate dwellings at the foot of the hill. Hawthorne concludes by describing the faint grassy traces of the foundation that remain on the summit, offering the site and its forgotten history to any young writer wishing to fashion a tale of their own.

How It Unfolds

A nostalgic decline Hawthorne writes to his cousin explaining that he can no longer invent the romantic fictions of his youth, choosing instead to describe a memorable landscape near Salem.

Surveying the ridge The narrative moves to the physical description of "Browne's Folly," detailing the surrounding countryside, the enduring green lane of the author's boyhood, and the sweeping views from the top.

The grand mansion's rise and fall The text recounts how an arrogant colonial magnate constructed an opulent hilltop home, only for the earthquake of 1755 to force him to slide the entire building down the ridge.

Exile and ghost stories Following the proprietor's flight to England during the Revolution, the mansion sits abandoned for decades under Richard Derby's care, giving rise to local rumors of a trapped household demon.

The closet unlocked Terrified schoolboys force open the forbidden closet, discovering that the dreaded "evil spirit" is merely a fallen stack of ornate, dusty family portraits.

Traces on the summit Hawthorne reflects on the remaining shallow cellar holes and overgrown foundations, ending with a generous invitation for future storytellers to claim the lingering history.

The People

Nathaniel Hawthorne The narrator and author reflects on his aging mind and lost fiction-writing energy. He seeks to capture a tangible piece of his past by describing a landscape that shaped his youthful imagination, using the visit to the hill to contrast human vanity with the steady persistence of nature.

The Royalist Proprietor A wealthy pre-revolutionary magnate from a prominent Salem family, he builds an excessively magnificent mansion atop a high ridge to display his stature. His ambition is humbled first by an earthquake that forces him to relocate his house, and permanently by the American Revolution, which drives him to flee to England as an exile, leaving his pristine estate behind forever.

Richard Derby An ancestor of the local Derby family related to the proprietor by marriage, he assumes guardianship over the abandoned mansion after the Revolution. He maintains the fully furnished estate for decades in the unfulfilled expectation that the exiled owner will one day return.

The Schoolboys A group of inquisitive local children whose playful trespassing leads them to confront the town's ghost stories. Their fearful breaking into the locked closet demystifies the mansion's dark rumor by revealing a simple pile of forgotten oil paintings.

In Its Own Voice

"I can write no story, therefore; but (rather than be entirely wanting to the occasion) I will endeavor to describe a spot near Salem, on which it was once my purpose to locate such a dreamy fiction as you now demand of me."

Hawthorne sets the reflective tone of the piece, explaining his inability to produce new fiction while introducing the real-world setting that inspired him.

"A man's individual affairs look not so very important, when we can climb high enough to get the idea of a complicated neighborhood."

Standing on the elevation of the hill, the author offers a philosophical observation on how physical perspective diminishes human self-importance.

"There I have sometimes sat and tried to rebuild, in my imagination, the stately house, or to fancy what a splendid show it must have made even so far off as in the streets of Salem, when the old proprietor illuminated his many windows to celebrate the King's birthday."

Sitting in the overgrown cellar ruins, Hawthorne uses the quiet landscape to summon historical visions of colonial glory and long-vanished celebration.

What It's Really About

Underneath its casual epistolary surface, "Browne's Folly" examines the fragility of human ambition and the inevitability of decay. By tracing the downfall of a grand house—shattered by natural forces, abandoned through political upheaval, and slowly dismantled by time—Hawthorne highlights how political pride and material wealth vanish into local folklore. The text also contrasts the permanent cycles of nature with the temporary footprint of human activity. The ridge and its barberry bushes remain virtually unchanged, while the magnate's grand halls dissolve into shallow, grassy hollows no deeper than a plow furrow. Ultimately, the piece reflects on memory itself, charting the transition from youthful fiction-making to mature historical contemplation.

Why Read It Today

"Browne's Folly" offers readers a charming, beautifully constructed snapshot of Nathaniel Hawthorne in his later years. Writing with quiet warmth and intimacy, he invites the reader into his personal reflections, making the piece feel like a private letter shared between close friends. Readers who enjoy local history, short historical essays, and meditations on place will appreciate how vividly Hawthorne brings the Massachusetts countryside and its colonial past to life.

The essay is remarkably accessible and brief, avoiding the dense, multi-layered plotting of Hawthorne's full-length novels while retaining his signature prose style. Readers should note that the text reflects nineteenth-century literary sensibilities and vocabulary, utilizing period-specific terms and historical references to colonial Loyalist politics. Its strength lies in its gentle humor—especially during the unmasking of the closet "demon"—and its grounded, atmospheric description of landscape. It leaves the reader with a thoughtful appreciation for the lingering stories embedded in everyday places.