RIP, Franklin Pierce

After visiting Pierce’s grave last night, this morning, I awoke to a rainy, chilly day in New Hampshire, but had in mind this single, obscure destination, seen below, from a letter, written by Franklin Pierce, describing his last few hours with Nathaniel Hawthorne before he “passed from natural sleep to that from which there is no earthly waking.”

“We only reached Centre Harbor late in the afternoon of the second day. He [Hawthorne] was weary and very restless during the night. He partook of a slight breakfast in his room the next morning, and about twelve o’clock went out upon the piazza, which commands, as you know, a remarkably fine view of the lake…” March 18, 1868, Franklin Pierce, Letter to Daniel Webster

I fully concede that wandering around New Hampshire in the wake of a dead and forgotten president is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s certainly not babies or puppies or memes. But for me, at least, this one was a special visit.

RIP Franklin Pierce, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.