I'm doing 17 things
The House of Seven Gables was more of a filler in my trip to Salem, MA this past weekend with Amanda. Our actual adventure was to go on a ghost tour of the city (more to follow). The House of Seven Gables was just how we started the day. I learned many things:
1- Hawthorne did not live here. He was born in another house on the property, but his cousins actually lived in the house with seven gables.
2- Gables are the peaks of the roof. Most houses have 2, this house has seven because people kept adding to the house.
3- Nails were a sign of wealth. Most people built houses with pegs, but the wealthiest used nails.
4- The saying “dead as a doornail” is because of the above. People would pound nails into the door to display their wealth and then hammer them down on the other side so nobody could steal them or use them again. You can see the original door on display at the house and it is full of nails.
5- The saying “sleep tight” comes from beds in this era. To keep them from sagging there were ropes under the bed frame. At night these would be tightened with a actual bed tightener (you can see one at the House).
The gardens at the house are beautiful and it overlooks the water. There was a wedding setting up while we were there. Rumor had it that the bride was wearing black. Amanda and I were awed at the idea.
After this we stopped at Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie (right across the street) to get fudge and then we had dinner on our way to the ghost tour.
The ghost tour was fun. Our tour guide was interesting. She was writing a thesis on how zombies would be biologically possible. Something about Ebola and rabies. We heard some interesting stories about Salem, but it turns out Amanda pretty much knows all the things. Her hand went up every time the tour guide asked a question. We actually did learn something on the tour, but apparently not well enough because we both forgot it. I am not going to spoil the fun of this with anyone. Not only because it would spoil the fun, but because it seems that each tour guide may do things differently. I will say this: we were kind on not calling the guide on some clearly BS things she told us.
Next time I do tour I will either pick a different city or, if I do Salem again, do the witch tour. That looked interesting.
Also, should you feel the need to go to Salem in October, go early. It was already busy on Oct 1st.
