The more I hear about these famous New England authors, the more I realize that most, if not all, of them were connected to one another—either by personal acquaintance or through someone else. For English dorks like me, these New Englanders would be the easiest authors to use in a “Six Degrees of Separation” game.

First we have Nathaniel Hawthorne. For being notably reserved and standoffish, Hawthorne had an unbelievable array of connections to most of the finest writers of the time. This is probably a result of both “coincidence” (which I don’t believe in) and his success as an author. Beginning with “coincidences,” Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Maine, and his classmates included the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce. Hawthorne and Longfellow had a long and close relationship. Apparently, the two men couldn’t be more different, but these variations were complementary, making for a lifelong friendship. Longfellow even wrote a beautiful poem about Hawthorne’s death in 1864.

Next, Hawthorne lived in the “Old Manse,” which was owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson at the time. Emerson introduced Hawthorne to many of his fellow Transcendentalists such as Henry David Thoreau and Bronson Alcott. Later on, Hawthorne would move into Wayside, which was right down the road from both the Emerson and the Alcott houses. One of our tour guides told us a story about how Bronson Alcott would often sit beneath a large tree in front of his house, and if you passed by, Bronson would engage you in a philosophical conversation that could go on for hours. Apparently while living at Wayside, Hawthorne would occasionally head for town, see Bronson sitting beneath the tree just itching to stop someone for a chat, and would hike up the ridge behind the houses so to avoid his friendly neighbor.

Finally, Hawthorne befriended Herman Melville while living in the Berkshires. Melville lived on his farm at Arrowhead and Hawthorne was a neighbor. The two became as thick as thieves, spending days together talking about…well, “literary things” for lack of a better term. Hawthorne played a pivotal role in the creation of Moby-Dick; he suggested that Melville pursue the novel he really wanted to do instead of just another commercial piece. Hence, many notice a drastic shift in tone after the first fifteen chapters of Melville’s book.

I realize how much time I’ve spent lecturing about Hawthorne, so I’ll try to sum up the rest as quickly as possible. Henry David Thoreau was a devoted student of Ralph Waldo Emerson and practically a member of the Emerson household. Emerson was close with the entire Alcott family, especially Louisa May, author of Little Women, and her younger sister May. Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe were neighbors—I can envision them borrowing cups of sugar from one another.

Honestly, if you picked one author and did a little research, you could connect the dots between all the big names of early American Literature in New England and daresay most of America at that time. If one were to, say, tromp through places like Concord and the Berkshire (as we did), you’re sure to come out with a lengthy “Who’s Who” of American Lit. Neat, huh?