The Hawthorne Second Empire House Left to Quiet Seasons

The Hawthorne House was completed in 1905 for Edwin and Margaret Hawthorne after Edwin accepted a management position with a regional railway supplier. The family chose the neighborhood because it offered space for orchards, gardens, and a greenhouse while remaining close enough to the growing town for business. They raised three children within the tall Second Empire residence, where the sunroom became the center of everyday life throughout the changing seasons.

Margaret cultivated herbs and climbing roses, the children cared for rabbits behind the greenhouse, and family meals often ended beneath the pear tree at a handmade picnic table. Careful household ledgers, savings books, and maintenance records reveal a family that valued stability, routine, and steady improvement rather than extravagance.

The economic depression reached the Hawthorne family gradually. Edwin’s hours were reduced before his employer finally closed, leaving the household dependent upon shrinking savings and occasional seasonal work. Repairs to the slate roof and zinc flashing were postponed, allowing water to penetrate the upper floors during winter storms. Heating became limited to the kitchen, sunroom, and one upstairs bedroom while the remaining rooms were closed. Garden maintenance declined as Margaret focused on preserving food rather than flowers, and bills accumulated beside increasingly urgent legal notices. Their eldest children found employment elsewhere and departed, leaving the aging parents unable to maintain either the house or the grounds that had once occupied every spare hour.

By 1944, mounting debts, unresolved probate proceedings following Edwin’s death, and the continuing cost of essential repairs forced the remaining family members to leave permanently. The property passed into legal uncertainty, preventing restoration or resale for many years. The pear tree continued bearing fruit beside the weathered picnic table, herbs spread beyond their brick borders, the quilt remained fading upon the clothesline until it finally disintegrated, and climbing roses reclaimed the greenhouse alongside tangled grapevines. Inside, furniture, documents, and everyday possessions remained untouched. No descendants returned to reclaim the residence, and the Hawthorne House still stands abandoned, slowly deteriorating beneath gray skies while the garden quietly preserves the memory of the family that once devoted itself to every corner of the home.