Sarah Orne Jewett House

James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) was a poet, essayist, critic, editor, abolitionist, and diplomat.  As one of a group including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Lowell was key in founding The Atlantic Monthly magazine and he became its first editor. After several years abroad, Lowell returned to his native Cambridge after his wife died in 1885. He visited 148 Charles Street often and there became friends with Sarah Orne Jewett. Lowell shared with Jewett a passion for reading and was known to spend an entire day immersed in books. His daughter, Mabel Burnett also became good friends with Jewett, and his niece, Sally Norton was one of Jewett’s close friends.