Lecture, Exhibit, explore lives of 17th-century women in Salem

The pages of history textbooks are always full of information about the lives and exploits of 17th and 18th century men, but what about their wives?  

How did women in the 17th century spend their days?  

Using the Turner family inventories, lecturer, author and historian Elisabeth Garrett Widmer will shed light on the lives of wealthy women in the 17th century.  

What did Mrs. Turner wear and how did she get dressed?  

What did a wealthy woman in Colonial America eat and how did one maintain such a large home?  

For a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the Turner women and members of their social class, join The House of the SevenGables for the fifth lecture of The Gables’ seven lecture series entitled, Living Comfortably in the 17th and 18th Century on Saturday September 24th at 2pm. This lecture, offered at The Gables as part of Essex National Heritage Commission’s Trails and Sails weekend, will be free of charge.  

For more on the lives of 17th century women, join the Witch House for a fascinating look at a new exhibit titled 17th Century Midwifery: Herbs and Customs Surrounding Childbirth.  Also offered as part of the ENHC's Trails and Sails Event the exhibit will be available for viewing September 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 26th.

Elisabeth Garrett Widmer received her MA from the University of Delaware in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture before becoming Curator of both the DAR Museum in Washington DC and the Abigail Adams Smith Museum in New York.  Ms. Widmer spent eleven years with Sotheby’s Educational Studies in New York where she directed Sotheby’s graduate-level American Arts Course before becoming a Senior Vice President at Christie’s where she directed Christie’s Classes in Connoisseurship.  Ms. Widmer lectures throughout the United States on American decorative arts and is frequently consulted by museums on historic interiors, exhibitions and education.  Her numerous articles and books have won her distinguished awards and accolades including the Colonial Dames of America book award. 

For more on Salem Women's History, visit SalemWomensHistory.org.

Ye Old Pepper Companie

In the spirit of Women's History Month, I have an excerpt from The Salem Women's Heritage Trail for you today. And it's about candy, so you know it's going to be a sweet story. (Couldn't resist - sorry.)

So, here's today's tale about Salem's "Gibraltar Lady" and the first commercially produced candy in America:

One of the most enduring remnants of Salem's great East India trade era is the "Gibraltar," a candy made famous throughout the world by the Spencers of Salem and currently available at Ye Old Pepper Companie, 122 Derby Street. Salem lore has it that Mary Spencer and her son Thomas sailed from England sometime around 1806 and supposedly lost everything they owned in a shipwreck, eventually finding their way to Salem. A kindly citizen was said to have donated a barrel of sugar to the Spencers who began making the tasty-paper-wrapped, lemon confection in a house at 56 Buffum Street in North Salem. Mary Spencer at first sold the candies on the stoop of the First Church in Town House Square (the current site of Rockafellas restaurant), but was soon able to acquire a cart (now owned by the Peabody Essex Museum) and a shaggy grey pony she used as she made her sales calls. Eventually, Gibraltars, originally called "Gibraltar Rocks" because of their hardness found their way to the farthest corners of the globe on Salem vessels. No Salem ship, it has been said, would dare leave port without a supply!

The confection business was sold around 1830 to John Pepper, who continued making Gibraltars on Buffum Street. Today, you can buy lemon and peppermint Gibraltars at Ye Old Pepper Companie on Derby Street. The business is owned by descendants of George Burkinshaw, who worked for John Pepper in 1830.

Credit for this information goes to Bonnie Hurd Smith and Jim McAllister, two historians who did all the work and made it easy for me to share the story with you. Visit Bonnie's web site to order the Salem Women's Heritage Trail.