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.

Hearth & Field Day at the Witch House

The sixth annual Hearth & Field Day at the Witch House, featuring Colonel Bailey's 2nd Massachusetts Regiment reenactment group, is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, July 23rd.  

This is an great opportunity to interact with 18th century reenactors who will be demonstrating weaving, cooking, sewing and other household tasks from the 1700s.  There will be a mess tent set up on the front yard where the women (presumably!) will be preparing a meal, and the men (again, I'm presuming a gender-based division of tasks!) will discuss the militia and weaponry of the time.


Each year the group brings different reenactors, providing a new focus and different experience for visitors, and new insight into the life of 18th-century colonial life.  

At 12:45 PM the Regiment will march from the Witch House to Derby Wharf, via Essex Street and Hawthorne Boulevard, for a musket firing demonstration at 1:00 PM. 

Hearth & Field Day is free to the public. 
Saturday, July 23, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM 


Guided tours of the 17th-century Witch House are available for $10.25 ($8.25 for seniors, $6.25 for children 7-14). Self-guided tours are $8.25. The Witch House is the only structure in Salem with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials open to the public today.  It was the home of Judge Jonathon Corwin, a magistrate during the trials.  Self-guided tours cost $8.25


For more information call The Witch House at 978-744-8815.