Project for PEM: Restoration of the Grimshawe House

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The Grimshawe House is located at 52 Charter St. in Salem.

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February 10, 2012

Project for PEM: Restoration of Grimshawe House The Salem News Fri Feb 10, 2012, 04:33 AM EST

To the editor:

Now that the Peabody Essex Museum has become a major landlord in downtown Salem, it might be time for this institution to perform a noble restoration.

By this I mean bringing the "Grimshawe House," Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife's former residence, back to its Federalist-period glory.

Hawthorne never lived in this Charter Street dwelling, but used it in his writings. He was also a visitor to the institution now known as the Peabody Essex Museum.

I realize this idea has faced opposition, but PEM is the logical restorer of this house. Sophia Peabody Hawthorne was a talented personality in her own right, and PEM's effort would help upgrade the block directly behind its expanding campus.

Lastly, the Peabody family, with its notable members, would also be honored.

Edward W. Carberg

Gloucester

(Editor's note: The house referred to in this letter is located at 53 Charter St., and is mentioned in Hawthorne's book, "Dr. Grimshawe's Secret." Historian Jim McAllister, writing in this newspaper, once noted, "It was there ... that Hawthorne met his future wife, Sophia, in 1837. The author had been invited to the Peabody home by the eldest of the three famous Peabody sisters, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, who would later achieve fame as the mother of the American kindergarten movement.")

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Project for PEM: Restoration of the Grimshawe House

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