The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts, also known at the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, was built in 1668 in a Jacobean or Post Medieval style. Having just celebrated its 350th anniversary last year, the house and grounds are amazingly well-documented and quite interesting to visit.

This video provides a look inside.

Funny thing was I *thought* I’d read the book The House of the Seven Gables (1851) by Nathaniel Hawthorne long ago, but nothing in the house was familiar, so I now realize I must have been thinking of something else (weird!). In any case, Hawthorne was born in Salem, in a house now on the museum’s grounds (which I didn’t have time to visit, unfortunately). He would visit his cousin, Susanna Ingersoll, who lived in the house … with seven gables … which thus provided inspiration for the setting of his book.

I’d love to return to explore the garden and the other historic buildings on the site, which now form a National Historic Landmark.

The House of the Seven Gables is museum no. 25 in my #100museums challenge (see 100 Museums Challenge).