Editor’s note: The following Q&A was conducted in character with Patrick Molloy, a University of Southern Maine theater student who is portraying Nathaniel Hawthorne at the upcoming anniversary event Saturday, June 30.

Q: What brought you and your family to Raymond?

A: After my father died of yellow fever, my mother took my sisters and me to live in with her father, Richard, in Raymond. Richard Manning, my uncle, had built the house in Raymond some time before, and it was nicknamed “Manning’s folly” by the locals. My mother decided she would take us to the house, as it was cheaper to raise us in the country, and so that she might have a better place for her mourning.

Q: Was life pretty simple? What did you do to fill your days?

A: It was a delightful time in my life. The land then was wild, and I ran quite wild. I spent long days fishing and shooting with my old fowling piece, as well as reading. I read a lot of Shakespeare, and in the winter I would skate. The view of Rattlesnake Mountain from the outlet of Thomas Pond remains the most enchanting sight in my memory.

Q: What do you think about people through the years preserving your boyhood home?

A: I have not been there since, but never wish to go again, for soon after we left, Uncle Richard rented the house to Col. Eben Scribner, to keep a stage tavern; everything I loved was neglected. Our fruit trees died, and the long row of butternuts that I watered with such solicitude were not enclosed, and now they have turned it into a meetinghouse.

Patrick Molloy in character as Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Staff photo by John Balentine)