Project Gutenberg 2005-11-01 Public domain in the USA. 261 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 1804 1864 "Browne's Folly" (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") Produced by David Widger and Al Haines. "Browne's Folly" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story likely written in the mid-19th century. The narrative offers a blend of history and personal reflection, centering around a distinctive hillside near Salem, Massachusetts, that is steeped in local legend. The story serves as a meditation on memory and the passage of time, particularly reflecting on an old mansion that once stood with grandeur, only to succumb to neglect and the ravages of nature and time. In this piece, Hawthorne recounts his childhood memories of "Browne's Folly," a ridge associated with a former grand estate built by a Royalist named Browne, who fled during the Revolutionary War. The estate, shaken by an earthquake and eventually abandoned, becomes a canvas for the author’s reflections on the lives that once occupied the land. He vividly describes the landscape and the remnants of the mansion, contemplating how individual stories intertwine with broader histories. The narrative takes an intriguing turn when local schoolboys, curious about a mysterious closet in the dilapidated estate, discover family portraits that seem to bring the past to life, further emphasizing Hawthorne's themes of nostalgia and the echoes of history in personal memory. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 57.2 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Essays PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: American Literature 33895 2025-07-04T08:17:30.301168 text/html 29118 2021-01-02T04:16:10 text/html 81568 2025-07-04T08:17:33.873145 application/epub+zip 80241 2025-07-04T08:17:31.881155 application/epub+zip 80241 2025-07-04T08:17:30.878137 application/epub+zip 176015 2025-07-04T08:17:35.249134 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 169960 2025-07-04T08:17:33.274142 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 164191 2022-09-05T03:36:16.930277 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 26996 2025-07-04T08:17:30.090148 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26986 2021-01-02T04:16:10 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17973 2025-07-04T08:17:35.366114 application/rdf+xml 13389 2025-07-04T08:17:31.349162 image/jpeg 3618 2025-07-04T08:17:31.112156 image/jpeg 11294 2021-01-02T04:16:10 application/octet-stream application/zip 10479 2021-01-02T04:16:10 application/octet-stream application/zip 79507 2025-07-04T08:17:30.305155 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia