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And it’s the perfect vantage point from which to view the bay, marina, Marblehead across the way, and the ferry to Boston. Inside, you can purchase or present your tickets, visit the bathroom, and even connect to the wifi. Look around at the walls to see old signs from the early years of the attraction. Also called the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, Seven Gables is located right on the water of Salem Harbor at the intersection of Derby and Turner Streets.
Tickets
At the book’s end the descendant of a family long ago defrauded by the Pyncheons lifts his ancestors’ curse on the mansion and marries a young niece of the family. Experience a more personal history of Salem from the perspectives of the people who don’t make it into the history books. From enslaved people to indentured servants to immigrants fleeing war and looking for opportunity the Derby St. Neighborhood has been a backbone of Salem since its earliest days. No matter what community you are from, you share a sense of place or identity with those in your circle.
Inspiration for Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association is a 501(c)(3) charity. Unfortunately our time in Salem was limited by the afternoon’s last ferry back to Boston, so we skipped the audio tour of the garden and grounds in favor of heading into town. To better understand Salem’s Witch Trials history which Hawthorne’s book derives from, we made our way to the Salem Witch Museum. We walked past kitschy gift shops full of witchy halloween wear, and shops with crystals in the window and other supplies for the spiritually minded and practicing Wiccans. We passed a wax museum and haunted houses, and made a stop at the Witch Trial memorial and cemetery.
Salem Witch Trials and Hawthorne’s House of the Seven Gables
Fusion Fest brings live music, dance, food, arts and the Salem community together at The Gables - Destination Salem
Fusion Fest brings live music, dance, food, arts and the Salem community together at The Gables.
Posted: Fri, 04 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Around 1850, visiting cousin Nathaniel Hawthorne was impressed enough with the history of the house – and its previous additional gables – to write a book called The House of the Seven Gables. And while it is referred to by that name, the official name is the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, named for the previous owners. Although Hawthorne claims in his preface that The House of the Seven Gables is not based on any location.
Recreational photography for personal use is allowed during guided tours, with the exception of the month of October. Professional photography is any session using a paid photographer or any professional-style shoot, including wedding, family, or special event portraits. Professional photography is permitted when approved in advance, requires a signed contract between the photographer and The Gables along with a certificate of insurance. The Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace is now immediately adjacent to the House of the Seven Gables, and access to it is granted with either a regular admission fee or a grounds pass.
This slice of park honors that history with a jetty out to a short lighthouse and a recreated sailing ship. Inside, a tour guide will take you through the history and rooms of the mansion. You start in older rooms with low ceilings, and through richly decorated public and private rooms of a rich captain and trader. You also get to climb the fun secret staircase to the original attic, where you see the gables join together.
Turner-Ingersoll Mansion/The House of the Seven Gables
You can tour just the grounds for $12, but that only applies from May 11-Nov. Admission to the house and the grounds are free year-round for Salem residents with ID, including school-issued ID. You can even get your free passes online to get a time that works for you. Now, the complex has a modern visitor center and not only hosts tours of the gardens and the houses but also special events. It seems to be particularly popular to get married on the seaside lawn. The first section of the seaside house was built in 1668 and added onto – and detracted from – in the 355 years since.
Upstairs in the attic was a model of the house on which we could easily count all seven gables that tie into the roofline. Let’s continue Caroline’s extraordinary work together as we commemorate her birthday. Your support enables The Gables to uphold her vision of compassionate service and social justice. You can take a self-guided tour for $9, and children under 3 are free. Current hours are noon-4 pm, Thursday-Sunday, though those hours are extended during the warmer months.
The Old Burying Ground was first used in 1637 and holds some notable locals. Susanna Ingersoll, cousin of Nathanial Hawthorne and owner of The House of the Seven Gables is here, as well as some other Hawthorne/Hathorne family members. If you’re ever in Salem, Massachusetts, and want to walk the Salem Heritage Trail, a good place to start (and to park) is The House of the Seven Gables. I’m always a fan of a good house tour, and this one is almost as interesting for its history as a tourist spot as it is for the Hawthorne novel that made it famous. The earliest section of the House of the Seven Gables was built in 1668 for Captain John Turner, a wealthy sea captain and merchant who was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1644. Facing south towards Salem Harbor, it was originally a two-room, 2+1⁄2-story house with a projecting front porch and a massive central chimney.
A few blocks away on Hawthorne Boulevard towers a large statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne himself. The House of the Seven Gables, romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1851. The work, set in mid-19th-century Salem, Mass., is a sombre study in hereditary sin, based on the legend of a curse pronounced on Hawthorne’s own family by a woman condemned to death during the infamous Salem witch trials. The greed and arrogance of the novel’s Pyncheon family through the generations are mirrored in the gloomy decay of their seven-gabled mansion, in which the family’s enfeebled and impoverished relations live.
The only problem with that vantage is that there are almost always cars parked along the curb. Along the tour you will have an optional climb through a narrow secret passage way, added by one of the home’s many owners. You will also see displays on Hawthorne’s life, work, and historic Salem in general. At the end of the tour, you can choose to explore the small house of Hawthorne’s birth, which was also moved from its original location on Union Street to sit beside the House of the Seven Gables.
Hawthorne was more inspired by the way "seven gables" sounded than what the house looked like. As he wrote in a letter, "The expression was new and struck me forcibly... I think I shall make something of it."[6] The idea inspired Hawthorne's novel The House of the Seven Gables. Back on the boat I watched the black gables of Hawthorne’s house grow smaller as we pulled out of the harbor. I was glad that whatever forces had pulled me to his doorstep had led to an eye-opening, thought provoking, day where heavy history and light-hearted reality mingled to create an experience only Salem can offer.
It was moved to the site in 1924 and now serves as the museum’s gift shop. It’s a fun shop, too, with lots of books, home items, souvenirs, and fun little gifts. The house itself was built around 1750 and moved to the site in 1958. There’s a fun picture in the timeline room of the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion of the house being moved down the street. Criscitiello works as a curatorial assistant at the Lexington Historical Society. She received her master’s degree in art history and museum studies from Tufts University.
My particular walk down the Heritage Trail took us down Essex Street, a pedestrian mall of shops and tours. The Peabody Essex Museum is here, along with the Witch History Museum and lots of spooky shops. My friends and I enjoyed Wicked Good Books, a fantastic little bookshop. I will tell you the truth, I totally thought the stone blocks were benches that the city had thoughtfully provided for visitors.
The 14-room, black, wooden house was bigger than I expected, as I mistakenly first compared it to the several other author house museums I’ve visited. I shortly realized Hawthorne hadn’t owned this house, and wasn’t living off an author’s salary. It had been inherited by his second-cousin, Susanna Ingersoll and he lived with her while he worked in Salem’s custom house. While the house has always been much larger than the houses around it, it was actually a bit smaller in Hawthorne’s day. The gables, the high triangular peaks that tie into the roofline of the house, only numbered three during Hawthorne’s lifetime and it also lacked the later added rear addition. He had heard historically the house had seven gables and so used this fact in his book.
After checking the map and noting that the House in Salem is only a 5 minute walk from the ferry harbor, I purchased tickets for the next morning’s sailing. In celebration of Caroline’s 158th birthday, we are celebrating her impact on the city of Salem and her vision and foresight in creating The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association. Her vision endures today, as our organization continues to tell the history of America through the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion and welcome new people to our country with ESL and citizenship classes. The House of the Seven Gables is on one end of the heritage trail, so it makes a good spot to start from, especially with the free parking. There’s also a paid parking garage across from the Salem Visitor Center. I didn’t go into most of these other places, so I don’t feel like I can make a proper post about the Heritage Trail itself, so I thought I’d just tack it on here.
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