William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born on April 23?, the third of eight children. Because he died on April 23, 1616, historians have settled on his birthdate to be the same day in April. We know that he wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets and 3 long narrative poems, that he was married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and that he fathered three children. He lived in the same house until he became successful, when he bought the second largest home in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Strangely enough, for an author universally known, there is little that has been unearthed about his private life, including what he actually looked like. The portrait that shows a man of the era is labeled “likely depicting William Shakespeare.”

We do know that he acted in plays in London, in many of his own works, and we know where he is buried. His grave in Stratford-upon-Avon in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Church has the following inscription …

Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones. And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Because the home he bought no longer exists and to maintain a memorial to him, when Shakespeare’s birthplace was going to be sold at public auction in 1847, Charles Dickens became involved with the campaign to save it for the nation. Many great writers have also visited Shakespeare’s birthplace to get closer to the man and to be inspired.

Behind his home, there is a small stage where parts of Shakespeare’s plays are presented.

Juliet is in her balcony prepared to ask, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo” And he responds to her as expected.

Department 56 gave us a replica of the building and even included a stage where we can place our actors and imagine their saying the famous lines of whatever play you choose