The House of Seven Gables

The House of Seven Gables 2010

http://www.7gables.org/

When most people go to visit Salem Massachusetts they are attracted to the stories of witches. No one ever really thinks about the great literary minds of the 19^th century, and yet this sleepy little town with a rather mottled past was the birthplace to Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the novel The Scarlet Letter. (Overview of the novel: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/summary.html) Hawthorne’s most popular novel is often studied in schools today and was recently remade into a new teen comedy entitled “Easy A” (here is a link to the trailer, compare the stories for yourself) yet when studying his works in school very few people are aware of the personality of the man who wrote the book. When I went to Salem and heard that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace was in the area I was excited to go and learn about this reclusive author.

The House of Seven Gables is located on Derby Street and is within walking distance from the town’s information center. If visitors are traveling into Salem for a day trip they can reach the town by car (Follow US Rt. 1 North or Rt. 95 North to Rt. 128 North. When the roads divide, stay on Route 128-North. Take exit 25A (Rt. 114 East). Follow Rt. 114 East into Salem. After Rt. 114 turns left onto Norman Street, continue straight ahead through the stoplight at the wide intersection onto New Derby Street. New Derby Street becomes Derby Street. The House of the Seven Gables is on the right. Complimentary parking is available during your tour: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=map+of+salem+ma&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Salem,+MA&gl=us&ei=q9HYTOy4M8H_lgfM4YnpCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA) or via the commuter rails (train service is available on the Newburyport / Rockport Commuter Rail Line from Boston's North Station. It is a 15-minute walk to The House of the Seven Gables). The house is open year round from 10am to 5pm with tours continuously running. Admission is $12.50 for adults, $11.50 for seniors, and $7.50 for children between the ages of 5-12. Admission ticket includes a guided tour of the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion (The House of the Seven Gables), a visit to the Nathaniel Hawthorne House, the Counting House, the Colonial Revival Gardens, and the waterfront.

Map of Downtown Salem

Let me tell you right now, the House of Seven Gables, although the setting for one of his novels is NOT the birthplace of Hawthorne. While the admission ticket does include access to his actual birthplace, the advertising can be misleading. The house was originally built “by a Salem sea captain and merchant named John Turner in 1668 and occupied by three generations of the Turner family before being sold to Captain Samuel Ingersoll in 1782. An active captain during the Great Age of Sail, Ingersoll died at sea leaving the property to his daughter Susanna, a cousin of famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne's visits to his cousin's home are credited with inspiring the setting and title of his 1851 novel The House of the Seven Gables.” (Quote from the House of seven gables website: http://www.7gables.org/history_property.shtml) Despite this weak connection with the famous literary author the tour does talk about him quite often, and parts of the house have even been remodeled to become the house of Hawthorne’s fictional setting rather than the house it was in reality, such as the addition of a replica store in the front of the house that is a setting in the novel but was never part of the original house.

The tour of the house lasts about 40 minutes and in my opinion doesn’t leave a very strong impression of its visitors. The house is sparsely furnished and the tour guide, a young woman who tried to be lively despite her lack of material, led the group through very narrow passages and stairways to exhibit the extent of the house. I spent more time feeling claustrophobic than anything else. (I guess this stairway is the highlight of the house according to the website) There were a few rooms redone in period decoration, but it was hard to tell what was historic and what was not. Now I do not believe that a house must have objects within its rooms to tell a good story, Montpelier the home of James Madison has very little of its original furniture, but I do believe that in order to make the spaces come alive the guides have to work much harder at evoking imagery in an unfurnished room. (Link to the Montpelier website: Montpelier) I left the house feeling underwhelmed which implies that this guide was not able to truly invoke the spirit of the people and events that were within the walls of the house.

In one of the upstairs rooms that is sparsely furnished the tour guide pulled out a model of the house in multiple pieces and then preceded to show the group how the house was built and added onto and where the seven gables actually were. This was a nice visual, but it maybe would have been nice to let the group members do the building. This concept could be taken into the realm of new media, maybe having a multi-person touch screen allowing people to construct their own house of seven gables? Now I realize this would be an expensive endeavor but since there is space I think that some sort of touch screen interactive in the space would be a nice addition to a fairly dry tour. Timing can be an issue for a guided tour and allowing people to interact with something, so maybe this activity would be better in the visitor center?

Although the house tour was nothing to write home about, the gardens surrounding the house were beautiful with a great view of the water. The gardens were not the only positive thing about this experience, the actual birthplace of Hawthorn (built in 1750 originally on Union Street) is also on the property, and while there aren’t guided tours of the small home there are interpreters in the rooms, similar to the Paul Revere House, who can help answer questions about the man behind the books. I am including a link to a blog on Old Houses and their review of the site: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/the-house-of-the-seven-gables.shtml

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace