Pine Hollow's Family Dynasty

The Hawthorne Family

Old Money, Older Secrets

Pine Hollow's Ruling Class

Germany has the Rothschilds. New York has the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts. And Pine Hollow? We have the Hawthornes.

For generations, they’ve controlled much of the town’s wealth and property, quietly pulling the strings from behind the scenes. They've kept a relatively low profile. While other families have come and gone, the Hawthornes remain, their influence woven into the very foundation of Pine Hollow.

Hawthorne Holdings

If you throw a rock at random in this town, you have a good chance of hitting Hawthorne property. Some are more visible than others. The Hawthorne Pond. Hawthorne High School. The Hawthorne Heights. Even the Edwin River is named after Edwin Hawthorne, one of Pine Hollow's founders.

But their influence doesn't end there. The Hawthornes are one of the most prolific landlords in our community. Public records show they own more than half the buildings downtown. This raises the question: how did one family come to own so much of our town? Was it simply generations of smart investments, or is there something more at play?

Deep Roots

Perhaps the stangest thing about the Hawthornes is how few of them have ever left Pine Hollow. Unlike other wealthy families that extend their influence, the Hawthornes stay put. And for those who have left? Lady luck has not been kind.

The family keeps things close to the vest, but after tireless research I was able to dig up information about three Hawthornes that flew the coop. Nathanial Hawthorne III, once poised to expand the family fortune into the big city, lost everything in a market crash that left him bankrupt. Eleanor Hawthorne pursued a politcal career in Boston and soon found herself embroiled in a scandal that landed her in prison. And then there's Bobby Hawthorne, who left for California in the late '60s and was found dead just months later.