Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Public Domain

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, Hampshire, England

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill Place, near Rochester, Kent

Date of Death:

June 9, 1870

Place of Burial:

Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom

Charles John Huffam Dickens was February 7, 1812 a British novelist during the Victorian Era and his popularity continues today. 

Some of his works include: A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Bleak House. Dickens died on June 9, 1870 and is buried in the Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey. 

Dickens first arrived in America in January 1842 with his wife Catherine. The trip was a mixture of business and pleasure. He was on vacation, but also had several speaking engagements. People eagerly awaited his arrival. He visited many places before riding on part of the Main Line Canal and the Allegheny Portage Railroad in March 1842. He wrote about his travels in a book, American Notes for General Circulation, published the following year. 

For the Main Line Canal, he wrote of the lazy motion of the boat, laying idly on the deck, the blue sky, gliding on at night, and the bright stars as "pure delights.” Like many other travelers, he described the cramped conditions of canal boat travel.

In his book he describes his trip on Allegheny Portage Railroad in several different passages:

"On Sunday morning we arrived at the foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten inclined plains; five ascending, and five descending. It was very pretty traveling thus at a rapid pace along the heights of the mountains in a keen wind, to look down into a valley full of light and softness; catching glimpses, through the tree-tops, of scattered cabins; children running to the door; dogs bursting out to bark, whom we could see without hearing; terrified pigs scampering homeward; families sitting out in their rude gardens; cows grazing upward with a stupid indifference; men in their shirt sleeves, looking on at their unfinished houses, planning out tomorrows work; and we riding onward high above them, like a whirlwind."

"Occasionally the rails were laid upon the extreme verge of a giddy precipice; and looking from the carriage window, the traveler gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of fence between, into the mountain depths below. The journey is very carefully made, however; only two carriages traveling together; and, while proper precautions are taken, is not to be dreaded for its dangers."