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.

Art en plein air at the Gables

  

I was delighted to find an artist-in-residence at The House of the Seven Gables yesterday!  Kailyn Perry is junior at the Mass College of Art, and for the past several weeks she has been setting up her easel in the gardens of the House of the Seven Gables.

The piece she is working on, shown here, will be auctioned at the House of the Seven Gables annual fundraiser, Gables: 101, on September 18th. 

When Kailyn is not painting or studying Painting and Art History, she is a curatorial intern at the Gables.  She will be painting throughout September, so if you see her, make sure to say hello!

iGetNewEngland Visits the House of the Seven Gables

iGetNewEngland has visited Salem several times.  Here is their very nice video portrait of The House of the Seven Gables.
 





If the video is not showing in the message, you can view it on YouTube.

Gables offers Two for One Admission for Residents of Essex and Suffolk Counties

The House of the Seven Gables is inviting residents of Essex and Suffolk Counties to include the Gables in their summer itineraries for half price.  A special "two-for-one" ticket is being offered to all residents of the 38 cities and towns in the two counties, including Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Gloucester, Ipswich, Beverly and Marblehead.  Proper ID must be shown to receive the discounted ticket.

Built in 1668 by Captain John Turner, the House of the Seven Gables is a National Historic Landmark, and the last great colonial mansion house in New England.  The house inspired Salem native Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his famous novel The House of the Seven Gables in 1851. Guided tours of the Gables include the famous “secret staircase” and restored 18th century interiors reflecting the opulence of Salem’s Golden Age of Sail. The historic site features Nathaniel Hawthorne’s boyhood home built in 1750 and moved to The Gables in 1958. Located on Salem Harbor, the mansion features Colonial Revival gardens with sweeping views of the water and Marblehead.

The Gables was restored and opened as a historic house museum in 1910 to generate revenue to support Settlement House work with the newly arriving immigrant community surrounding The Gables. The Gables continues this legacy of community service through partnerships to serve immigrant youth and under-privileged children from Salem. In addition, The Gables has partnered with North Shore Elder services to host the Over the Rainbow supper club one evening each month. This innovative award winning program for seniors of the LGBT community provides an opportunity to get together for good food and camaraderie. Participants come from the North Shore and Boston area. 

Bring a friend, bring a picnic, and spend the day at The House of the Seven Gables! The Gables is located at 115 Derby Street, Salem, Massachusetts. Open seven days a week from 10:00am to 7:00pm. For more information please contact us at 978-744-0991 x116 or 7gables.org. 

"The New New England" - A Play - to Debut on the lawn at the House of the Seven Gables

The House of the Seven Gables,

St. Peter's Episcopal Church ~Iglesia Episcopal San Pedro

& Family Self-Sufficiency Center Inc.

To premiere the play “The new New England” July 16th

Free of Charge.

“The new New England” is an adaptation of the production “Millyard, Mass,” by Brendan Pelsue and Anna Smulowitz; the original play told the story of immigrant children and their families who worked twelve hours a day in the mills along the Merrimack River in the early 20th century. The lives of these immigrant families and their struggle for better working conditions and wages were retold in this historical drama. In this adaptation, “The new New England,” Pelsue and Latino youth from St. Peter’s Summer Theater Project interweave their experiences with those of immigrants from the past.  

Support for Salem’s immigrant families is an integral part of The House of the Seven Gables community service work. Founded by Caroline Emmerton in 1910, The Gables has supported Salem’s immigrant families for over 100 years. This partnership with St. Peter’s and Salem’s Latino youth is an example of The Gables’ work today.  The production will take place on The Gables’ seaside lawn on Saturday July 16th at 7:00 pm. 

For reservations, please call 978-744-0991 ext. 108.  

July 4th at The House of the Seven Gables

Join The House of the Seven Gables for its traditional Independence Day celebration and seaside picnic July 4th and honor our Nation’s birth and Hawthorne’s 207^th birthday. The House of the Seven Gables has marked the fourth of July with great gusto for decades, making the 4^th of July at The Gables a long-standing tradition for many families. This year, to honor the 161^st anniversary of the writing of the book, The Gables will introduce a new tradition. Beginning at 9:30 in the morning and extending through to 6:00 in the afternoon The Gables will host a marathon reading of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The House of the Seven Gables. Area politicians, Salem State University professors, and local best-selling authors have signed-up to take part in the event. The reading will take place in The House of the Seven Gables’ Visitor Center and feature Hawthorne’s antique desk. The reading of the novel is open to the public free of charge. Hear a classic piece of American literature read aloud from the very desk on which it was written and the house it made famous in the background.

In the evening, The Gables will once again host a picnic dinner and celebrate Hawthorne’s birthday. Bring your blankets and lawn chairs, and enjoy a boxed-picnic dinner from Wichit gourmet sandwiches at 7:00PM. These deliciously creative sandwiches feature artisan breads, hand-made condiments, and organic meats and vegetables. The evening concludes with birthday cake and a front row seat for the City of Salem’s extraordinary fireworks display over the harbor. This event is family friendly, so there is no alcohol permitted on the grounds. Tickets for the evening picnic and fireworks display are $25 for adults, $12 for children under 12. Members of The Gables are $20 for adults, $10 for children.  For Evening Tickets, please call in advance to 978-744-0991 ext. 104. 

Visit 7Gables.org for complete information.

Exploring Salem with guests from France

We were thrilled to host thirteen guests from France in Salem over the weekend.  Representing Carlson Wagonlit and Air France, representatives from Paris came to Boston and Salem to learn more about the destinations for their clients.

Thanks to Logan International Airport, Boston is a major Gateway City in the Northeast, and thanks to our  proximity to Boston, Salem is a great day trip for visitors from France (or from anywhere, for that matter!).

This was the first trip to Salem for most of the group, and they were truly impressed with the Peabody Essex Museum and interested in the story of the Salem Witch Trials as told at the Salem Witch Museum.  We also took a Salem Trolley Tour, visited the House of the Seven Gables, and had lunch at the Atrium Cafe at the Peabody Essex Museum.

As always happens when I have the opportunity to tour Salem with visitors (from near or far), I learned new things.  Our wonderful docent at the Peabody Essex Museum showed us highlights of the collections, including a sculpture that is a portrait, an Oceanic deity named Ku, and an Asian export desk made entirely of ivory.

We ate lunch at the Atrium Cafe, provided by the Hawthorne Hotel, before walking over to the Salem Witch Museum, where the group heard the first presentation in French.  After going through the second presentation, one of our guests commented on the "Witch Hunt Wall," asking why they stopped at the AIDS epidemic, and commenting, "There are many witch hunts happening now that they could include."   Indeed.

Our Salem Trolley Tour highlighted our downtown history and the dozens of contemporary restaurants and shops, as well as taking us down Chestnut Street, around Pickering Wharf and ultimately dropping us off at the House of the Seven Gables. 

The House of the Seven Gables continues to refine its interpretation of the mansion, and the curatorial staff is repainting and papering the dining room.  The new trim is a gorgeous green, and it was fascinating to see the project in progress. Our guide, Jeff, started the tour by telling us that he would cover three themes, architecture, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and maritime history, during the tour.  And he did just that.

Thanks to Adventure Limousine who provided transportation from and to Boston for the group.


I Tweeted during the tour, and you can see the (formerly) live Tweets at Twitter.com/DestSalem.  We use the hashtag #SalemMA for all things Salem on Twitter.   

Hearing an introduction to the PEM from our docent, Nancy, in the Atrium.

 

In one of the maritime galleries learning about the model of the tall ship Friendship.

In the Faces of Devotion exhibit, which features art of India. I was fascinated to learn that this ca. 1848 sculpture is a portrait of a shipping agent in Kolcata named Rajibder Dutt. So this would have been displayed in Dutt's home, just as a painted portrait would be displayed.

We got to hear the new contemporary art exhibition in the East India Marine Hall.  The third installment in the Freeport contemporary art series, this sound sculpture by Susan Phillipsz breaths life into Salem's maritime history. 

Aboard the Salem Trolley, pausing on Chestnut Street to talk about Hamilton Hall.  This is the park across the street from Hamilton Hall, which is a lovely location for weddings.

An example of our new pedestrian signage in Salem, which will help you find your way between the McIntire, Downtown and Waterfront Districts.

Still aboard the trolley, paused to discuss the Old Burying Point on Charter Street, it's significant residents, and the sea walls that once abutted the South River, and today abut Derby Street.

Our guide at the House of the Seven Gables, Jeff, did a great job leading the group through the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion.  In this picture, he is leading the group into Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace.

The House of the Seven Gables' gardens are in full bloom. The tulips are stunning, and the water views breathtaking. 

Celebrate Women's History Day in Salem

Mayor Kimberly Driscoll has proclaimed Sunday, March 27, 2011 Salem Women’s History Day. In celebration of this proclamation, you are invited to join Historic New England’s Phillips House, the House of the Seven Gables, and the Witch House for a special community open house on Sunday, March 27, 2011 from noon – 4:00 p.m. Each property will be open for free to Salem residents with proof of residency and will feature tours and stories relating to the ladies of each house museum.

The Phillips House is located at 34 Chestnut Street and will have guided 45 minute tours that show what daily life was like for Anna Phillips and the Irish domestic staff who kept the household going. These tours will leave on the half-hour. If you would like more details, please contact the Phillips House at 978-744-0440.

At the House of the Seven Gables discover how Hawthorne’s Cousin Susanna Ingersoll and museum founder Caroline Emmerton changed the course of history on this waterfront site, located at 115 Derby Street. A special exhibit detailing Emmerton’s life and work will also be on display. Tours are available continuously. Please call 978-744-0991 for details.

The Witch House will be featuring a display on 17th century female novelist Aphra Behn. She is widely considered the first English woman to earn a living by her own pen. Self-guided tours are available through the afternoon. The Witch House is located at 310 ½ Essex Street. Please call 978-744-8815 for details. 

Each site will also have additional information about the Salem Women’s Heritage Trail, featuring local sites where women have made an impact over the past four centuries of Salem’s history. To download information before starting your tour, please visit www.salemwomenshistory.com.

A Report on the Most Recent Salem Witch Trials Research

The House of the Seven Gables Presents “A New Look at the Salem Witch Trials: Report on the most Recent Research”

The House of the Seven Gables will welcome Professor Benjamin C. Ray from the University of Virginia to present a talk entitled “A New Look at the Salem Witch Trials: Report on the most Recent Research” on Sunday November 7^th, 2010 at 2:00 PM. Professor Ray’s lecture will focus on the new scholarly edition of the court records of the Salem Witch Trials titled Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt. This book, of which Dr. Ray is an associate editor, is the first comprehensive record of all legal documents pertaining to the Salem Witch Trials in chronological order. With the inclusion of previously undiscovered manuscripts as well as documents published in earlier additions and omitted from later, Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt offers the most comprehensive historic account of the events of 1692-1693.

Dr. Ray’s roots in Danvers date back to Daniel Ray (spelled Rae) who settled his family on the North Shore in 1630. A later generation would raise their voices in defense of accused witch Rebecca Nurse in 1692. It was this family history that inspired Dr. Ray, a Religious Studies scholar, to begin teaching on the subject and conducting further research. After receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dr. Ray teamed with another scholar and a team of researchers to digitize all the court records associated with the Witchcraft Trials.During the project, the team uncovered over 30 previously lost original court records making this edition the most accurate and comprehensive record ever published. Dr. Ray’s lecture will discuss the story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials as scholars now understand them.

The lecture will be held on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 2:00pm at The House of the Seven Gables. Tickets are $10 for non-members and $5 for members of The House of the Seven Gables. For tickets, please call The House of the Seven Gables at 978-744-0991 ext. 104. For more information on this year’s centennial events, please visit www.7gables.org.

The Gables Inspires Two New Fabric Lines!

The House of the Seven Gables has inspired a lot of people to do a lot of things. It inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write a novel, it inspired Caroline Emerton to use its historical signifinance to operate the settlement house, it has inspired many brides and grooms who have married in the gardens, it inspired Brunonia Barry's new novel, The Map of True Places, and now it has inspired two new lines of fabric.

This is really exciting and unique. It is a fantastic new way to connect with this remarkable historic landmark.

Here is the scoop from The Gables:



In recognition of their centennial anniversary, The House of the Seven Gables has collaborated with Blue Hill Fabrics to produce two fabric lines inspired by architectural and decorative motifs found inside and outside the Mansion over the past three centuries. Blue Hill fabrics presented the first line at the International Quilt Market in Minneapolis in May and will unveil the new line locally at The House of the Seven Gables on Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 2:00pm in the fourth of the Seven Lectures at Seven Gables series, Creating Fabric Inspired by History, Place & Time.

Formed in August of 2009 by Roger Roby and Dan Weidmuller of Windham Fabrics, Blue Hill Fabrics demonstrates a devotion to superior quality fabrics, offering quilting basics, vintage reproduction fabrics and contemporary trend-setting styles. After several visits to The Gables and archival research, Roby and Weidmuller will ultimately create two lines: the first based on interior motifs including historic wallpaper and the second to be presented at the International Quilting Market in Houston this October will be based on exterior architectural details.

“There are 100 years of wallpaper samples in our archives,” says Anita Blackaby, Executive Director at The House of the Seven Gables. “They represent a variety of stylistic periods; everything from Jacobean to Oriental.”

In addition to introducing the first of The Gables fabric lines, Roby and Weidmuller will also discuss the history of fabric in the United States and Europe, exemplifying how modern fabric making techniques reflect past advancements in textile production.

The fabric lines inspired by The Gables will be available to the public in the fall of 2010. A portion of the proceeds generated from the fabrics will go to the House of the Seven Gables to fund its community service efforts in Salem.

The lecture will be held in collaboration with The Bowditch Institute on Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 2:00pm at The House of the Seven Gables. Tickets are $10 for non-members and $5 for members of The House of the Seven Gables, Historic New England or The Salem Athanæum. For tickets, please call The House of the Seven Gables at 978-744-0991 ext. 104.

For more information on this year’s centennial events, please visit http://www.7gables.org/.

The House of the Seven Gables to Host 100 Years of the Gables Colonial Revival Garden Lecture

The House of the Seven Gables welcomes spring and continues to celebrate its centennial anniversary with its Seven Lectures at Seven Gables series. The third of these will be 100 Years of The Gables Colonial Revival Garden, given by landscape designer and historian Robyn Kanter on Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 2:00pm.

In 1909, Gables founder Caroline Emmerton hired Joseph Chandler, a landscape architect, to layout the Colonial Revival garden overlooking the harbor. It was designed in Jacobean style as an “oasis of beauty” to be enjoyed not only by guests, but by Emmerton’s neighbors as well. After Hawthorne’s Birthplace was moved to the property in 1958, the entire site was re-landscaped by famed designer Dan Foley using Chandler’s raised bed design.

Kanter, of Kanter Design Associates, is the landscape designer responsible for the current arrangement of The Gables garden. Under her direction and attention to detail the old fashioned practices remain including hand pruning and cultivation to help retain the tradition of one of New England's most treasured places.

Utilizing The House of the Seven Gables collection of historic photographs, landscape records and her own research, Kanter will discuss the evolution of The Gables garden. In addition to the lecture, Kanter will guide guests through the present re-creation of the Colonial Revival garden on site, and introduce historical evidence from the garden’s past 100 years.

The lecture will be held on Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 2:00pm. Tickets are $10 for non-members and $5 for members of The House of the Seven Gables, Historic New England or The Salem Athanæum. For tickets, please call The House of the Seven Gables at 978-744-0991 ext. 104.

For more information on this year’s centennial events, please visit http://www.7gables.org/.

The Map of True Places - Book Signing, Reading, Meet Brunonia Barry!

The eagerly anticipated second novel from Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader, arrives Tuesday May 4th! Cornerstone Books will host the book launch event for The Map of True Places at The House of the Seven Gables at 115 Derby Street, Salem, on Tuesday, May 4th at 7:oo PM.

Author Brunonia Barry will read from the novel, answer questions, and sign books at the event. The House of the Seven Gables is the perfect location for the book launch, as much of the novel takes place in a home on Turner Street, across the street from the Gables.

Admission is free and books will be available for purchase at the event.

Set in Salem, Massachusetts, The Map of True Places is an emotionally resonant novel of tragedy, secrets, identity, and love. The moving and remarkable tale of a psychotherapist who discovers the strands of her own life in the death of a troubled patient, The Map of True Places is another glorious display of the unique storytelling prowess that inspired Toronto’s Globe and Mail to exclaim, “Brunonia Barry can write. Boy can she write.”

“Masterfully woven…The Map of True Places is a gripping quest for truth that kept me reading at the edge of my seat to the very last page.”

—Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice

For more information on Brunonia Barry, visit brunoniabarry.com.