The House of the Seven Gables

The House of The Seven Gables historic site: The Gables was founded in 1910 as a historic site and museum with a two-part purpose. Our founder, caroline emmerton, purchased The Gables to preserve some of salem's most historic buildings and The literary legacy of author nathaniel hawthorne. Revenues from The museum funded Settlement House work with local immigrant communities. Today, The House of The Seven Gables' campus constitutes its own national historic district on The national register of historic places and was designated a national historic landmark in 2007. Nearly 100,000 visitors from all over The globe visit and tour The historic site annually. Visitors are escorted on guided tours through The House of The Seven Gables (turner-ingersoll mansion, c. 1668) and nathaniel hawthorne's birthplace, c. 1750. These historic houses serve as The backdrop for stories about salem's maritime history, The life and work of nathaniel hawthorne, and The american Settlement House movement. Other major themes include early american architecture, The colonial revival period (when The Gables was restored), and material culture over a three-hundred year period. Located on The waterfront, The historic site features colonial revival gardens and views of salem harbor that place The mansion in its historic context. Over 87,000 people visited The Gables in 2022, an increase of 17,000 visitors from 2021. We hope to return to our pre-pandemic peak of over 100,000 visitors per year in 2023.

Museum education: The Gables values education as a central tenet of our programming. The Gables offers structured educational programs to students ranging from grades k-8. These programs provide students with engaging activities that focus on early maritime trade, new england history, and daily life in The past. These programs meet Massachusetts history and social studies standards and common core standards for english language arts and literacy in history and social studies. We also offer other public programming designed to engage diverse audiences with our national historic landmark district in unique ways. Educational events include lectures, special exhibits, theatrical performances, community days, hands-on history family programs, specialty tours and partnerships with arts and cultural organizations. For The first time since The pandemic began, in-person field trips were once again offered at The Gables in 2022.

The Settlement House program: in 1910, The House of The Seven Gables' Settlement Association offered programs to provide education and social services for salem's newly arrived immigrants. The Gables and its trustees remain committed to maintaining caroline emmerton's visionary Settlement model, while reflecting The needs of immigrant communities in 21st century salem. The Gables works with a community engagement committee to identify unmet community needs and advise on how The Gables can best help meet those needs. In 2022, The Gables provided english as a second language courses and citizenship preparation classes to north shore residents free of charge. The Gables also organized and hosted several community conversations on The topics of race and immigration that were free and open to The public.

The Gables is committed to carefully stewarding The collections, historic houses and gardens located on The historic site/museum. These components are essential to our mission and are what make The Gables a nationally and internationally visited historic landmark site.