The hotel is named after novelist and Salem native Nathaniel Hawthorne.

[3] It has also been listed as one of the top allegedly haunted places in Massachusetts and the country.

The building soon became the headquarters of the Salem Marine Society, acquired by sea captain Thomas Handasyd Perkins in 1838.

[7] By 1923, prominent members of the Salem community agreed that the city needed a modern hotel to house the increasing travelers for business.

Frank Poor, founder of the Sylvania Lighting Company and North Shore native, was the most outspoken about ideas about the hotel.