Old Corner Bookstore

In the earliest days of Boston history, this was the site of the home of Anne Hutchinson, the religious dissident who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay colony and co-founded the Rhode Island colony. The current brick building dates to 1718, when it served as a pharmacy and residence. In the 19th century, however, the house was leased to a bookseller, Carter & Hendlee. This was the first of nine bookshops and publishing companies that would occupy this spot, making it a breeding ground for literary and philosophical ideas. The most illustrious was Ticknor & Fields, publisher of books by Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Today the storefront houses a jewelry shop, which seems somewhat less lofty.