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

"Browne's Folly" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a tale interwoven with history and personal thought that takes place near Salem, Massachusetts, and revolves around a hillside filled with local lore. The narrative thinks about time's relentless march and the power of memory, showing an old mansion's fall from glory into ruin because of nature and neglect. Here, Hawthorne remembers "Browne's Folly" from his younger days, a ridge that once held a massive estate made by a Royalist named Browne who escaped during the Revolutionary War. An earthquake and ultimate abandonment leave their mark on the estate, turning it into a place for the author to think about the lives lived long ago there. He paints an evocative portrait of the landscape and the mansion's remains, pondering how individual stories are woven into larger historical events. The story shifts when local schoolboys, wanting to know what’s inside a strange closet in the decaying estate, find family portraits that make the past seem alive, highlighting Hawthorne's themes of nostalgia and how the whispers of history echo in personal memories.