1846. 'Typee' was dedicated to Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw of
Massachusetts, an old friendship between the author's family and
that of Justice Shaw having been renewed about this time. Mr.
Melville became engaged to Miss Elizabeth Shaw, the only daughter
of the Chief Justice, and their marriage followed on August 4,
1847, in Boston.

The wanderings of our nautical Othello were thus brought to a
conclusion. Mr. and Mrs. Melville resided in New York City until
1850, when they purchased a farmhouse at Pittsfield, their farm
adjoining that formerly owned by Mr. Melville's uncle, which had
been inherited by the latter's son. The new place was named
'Arrow Head,' from the numerous Indian antiquities found in the
neighbourhood. The house was so situated as to command an
uninterrupted view of Greylock Mountain and the adjacent hills.
Here Melville remained for thirteen years, occupied with his
writing, and managing his farm. An article in Putnam's Monthly
entitled 'I and My Chimney,' another called 'October Mountain,'
and the introduction to the 'Piazza Tales,' present faithful
pictures of Arrow Head and its surroundings. In a letter to
Nathaniel Hawthorne, given in 'Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife,'
his daily life is set forth. The letter is dated June 1, 1851.

'Since you have been here I have been building some shanties of
houses (connected with the old one), and likewise some shanties
of chapters and essays. I have been ploughing and sowing and
raising and printing and praying, and now begin to come out upon
a less bristling time, and to enjoy the calm prospect of things
from a fair piazza at the north of the old farmhouse here. Not
entirely yet, though, am I without something to be urgent with.