Memories of Hawthorne Haunt Streets of Salem 300 Years After Witch Trials : Massachusetts Town Is Up to Its Seven Gables in American History

When I was about 11 years old, an old lady pulled up in a car near the Salem Common, where I was playing, rolled down her window and said in a Southern accent, “Do you know Hester Prynne?”

“What?” I eyed her suspiciously. Was this what my parents meant when they said to beware of strangers?

“Hester Prynne,” she repeated, making the name two syllables: Pree-in. “Do you know her?” There was a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Sorry, lady, I don’t,” I said, edging away.

“Then, young man, you should be better read!” And off she drove.

That’s how tourists visiting Salem were in those days--a literate bunch, and a little odd, too. They knew their Nathaniel Hawthorne, and expected young Salem boys to know the heroine of Hawthorne’s novel, “The Scarlet Letter.”

I miss those days, and those kinds of tourists. Visitors still come in droves to this small city of 38,000, 15 miles north of Boston, but most of them not for Hester Prynne’s sake, or to see Hawthorne’s birthplace. They come for witches.

Witches have always been big here. The high school football team is the Fighting Witches (“W-I-T-C-H-E-S! Rah! Rah! Rah!”) and the city’s official logo--a witch riding on a broomstick--adorns every police car and is embossed on my high school ring. By far the biggest tourist attraction in Salem is the Witch Museum on Washington Square, which presents a rather melodramatic multimedia re-creation of the witch hysteria of the late 17th Century. Other popular sites include the Salem Witch Dungeon, with live re-enactments of the trials, and the new Salem Witch Trial Memorial, dedicated in August by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel.

The hoopla reached a crescendo this year: the 300th anniversary of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, in which 19 people were put to death on charges of practicing witchcraft. (Contrary to popular belief, 18 were hanged and one crushed; none were burned at the stake.) All 19 were accused by a group of hysterical, and some say bored, adolescent girls. But the event has remained part of the American psyche, a fascinating stain that has popped up in fiction, movies and drama with a strange obstinacy. It has even become part of our political vocabulary, as in “witch hunt.”

Beginning Friday, a 10-day festival called Haunted Happenings will feature parties at local hotels, plays about the witch trials, street fairs, dances, music celebrations, costume balls and psychic readers. But the festivities will have a serious side as well: They will include a major exhibition at the Essex Institute called “Days of Judgment: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692,” in which a tour guide will take visitors through the past, discussing the social and political forces that combined to result in the trials. The exhibition runs through Nov. 29.

Salem is more than witches, though, as those kids who were asked dumb questions about Nathaniel Hawthorne know. The city claims an important literary legacy as birthplace of one of the most influential American authors of the 19th Century. Salem’s bloody history served as inspiration for his two most important novels: “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter.”

Despite Salem’s influence on Hawthorne, Salemites have a right to be skittish about honoring him. He didn’t like his hometown, and made no secret of the fact. He was mortified by the Witch Trials and the role played by his ancestor, Col. John Hathorne, one of the Trials’ judges, calling the episode “a hideous epoch.” And he railed against Salem’s stodgy parochialism as the town settled into sleepy tranquillity in the 1820s and 1830s, after Salem ceased to be significant as a port.

“Salem is my dwelling place,” he wrote disparagingly. Yet off and on for 37 of his 60 years, from his birth in 1804 until his final departure from the town in 1849, he lived in Salem, obsessed by its past, wishing to escape its present.

Upon my recent visit to my hometown, I discovered that despite the author’s ambivalent relations with his birthplace, Salem can offer an astounding wealth of Hawthorne memorabilia to serious students, or to casual visitors who may want a break from the relentless Witch Trial hoopla.

What can the visitor see? First, there is the House of the Seven Gables itself (there are actually eight gables), the mansion that served as the inspiration for the novel. Built in 1668, it is a marvelous example of 17th-Century architecture, with steeply pitched overhanging roofs and black clapboards. Located at the foot of Turner Street right on Salem Harbor, the house is officially known as the Turner-Ingersoll House, but the locals call it the Gables. When he was a young man, Hawthorne frequently visited his cousin, Susannah Ingersoll, who lived there. During Hawthorne’s time, the house had only five gables; the others had been removed during the many alterations the house had undergone.

Today the exterior looks much as it did in the 18th Century, with all gables intact and large framed windows replacing the original casement windows. It’s a brooding, melancholy ediface with clapboards that “. . . grew black in the prevalent east-wind . . .” and had “a meditative look,” as Hawthorne wrote in the novel.

Inside, though, the low ceilings, brightly painted and papered rooms, and large windows that overlook the garden and the sea beyond, offer a cheery contrast to the rather gloomy exterior.

Six rooms are open to the public. With the exception of the 17th-Century kitchen, they are furnished with period pieces from the 1830s and ‘40s, when Hawthorne was visiting the place. Many of the furnishings are originals that belonged to Susannah Ingersoll. Of particular interest to Hawthorne enthusiasts is the serpentine-front desk that is believed to have been used by the author.

Perhaps the most interesting feature in the house is the secret stairway, a twisting flight of steps built inside one of the house’s large chimneys around the time of the Witch Trials. It was forgotten for over a century and only rediscovered in the 1880s. Its original purpose a mystery, the stairway was removed during remodeling; this one is a replica.

Those wishing to know more about Hawthorne’s literary life can visit Salem’s Essex Institute on Essex Street. The institute houses the world’s largest collection of Hawthorniana--more than 10,000 pieces, comprising every edition of Hawthorne’s works and every edition in which his works have been reviewed. Also included are correspondence between the author and his literary contemporaries, among them Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville, and letters written to family members. There are many images of Hawthorne, includingCharles Osgood’s 1840 oil portrait, the most famous likeness of the author.

Another way to “complete” a Hawthorne visit is to see the place he worked from 1846 to 1849, the Salem Custom House, operated today by the National Park Service as part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. The historic site maintains a nine-acre park that includes Derby Wharf, Salem’s busiest during its 19th-Century heyday as a trading port, and several buildings of historic importance. All buildings are open to the public free of charge; a small visitor center provides information about Salem and surrounding areas.

As surveyor of the port of Salem, a political job he got through his connections with President Franklin Pierce--a Democrat and classmate at Bowdoin College in Maine--Hawthorne spent much time in the Custom House. Built in 1819, it is an imposing two-story, red-brick, Federalist structure on Derby Street, dominated by a double row of white pillars that support an elegantly carved balustrade. On the roof, a wood-carved golden eagle with outstretched wings keeps watch over the harbor, which today sees a steady flow of small-boat traffic . . . but no large vessels.

The sparsely furnished room where Hawthorne labored is on the first floor and offers a sweeping view of Derby Wharf and Salem Harbor. Visitors can see such Hawthorne artifacts as his pen and his scales (used to weigh cargoes). The remaining rooms open to the public are decorated in the opulent style of the 1870s and 1880s, and are the original furnishings provided by Custom House officials from that period.

Hawthorne lost his job at the Custom House when administrations changed in Washington and he was forced to look elsewhere for work. Ironically, this commenced the most productive period of his literary life; shortly after his dismissal he published “The Scarlet Letter.”

All of the Salem houses in which Hawthorne lived remain standing. The Hawthorne Birthplace, moved to the grounds of the House of the Seven Gables from its original location on Union Street, is a notable example of a mid-18th-Century, wood-frame house. The author was born here on July 4, 1804. A 2 1/2-story structure with gambrel roof dominated by a large central chimney, it was a typical residence for Salem’s working families of Hawthorne’s time, and shows the humble beginnings of the author. Unlike the gaily papered Gables, the birthplace’s walls are whitewashed with reddish-brown and blue paneling, reflecting a somber Puritan influence.

Other Hawthorne residences are not open to the public. The author lived for the better part of 30 years at 10 1/2 Herbert St., one street over from Union; this was the home of his mother’s family, the Mannings, and was the place where he wrote his first novel, “Fanshawe,” and “Twice Told Tales.”

I myself used to live in the former Hawthorne residence at 14 Mall St., near Salem Common. This was Hawthorne’s home during most of his Custom House years, and was where he wrote “The Scarlet Letter.” My family lived on the second floor, where Hawthorne’s mother and sisters lived. The author and his wife and children lived on the first floor; his study was on the third floor.

Hawthorne lived briefly on Chestnut Street, the most elegant street in Salem, lined with exquisite Federalist mansions. The house, No. 8, where he lived in 1847 just after his appointment as surveyor, is a three-story, wood-framed structure; it was built before 1800 and is reputed to be the oldest residence on Chestnut Street. Despite its location, the house proved too small for Hawthorne’s growing family (he and his wife, Sophia, had three children), so he moved to Mall Street.

After losing his surveyor’s job, Hawthorne left Salem for good. Although he never returned after 1849 and lies buried in Concord, Mass., his mark on the city is indelible. Any visitor to Salem, even one with only the most passing interest in the author, will find a fascinating trove of Hawthorne lore in the Witch City.

And a certain Southern woman would be glad to know that I have made my acquaintance with Hester Prynne.

GUIDEBOOK

A Salute to Salem

Getting there: American, United and Northwest offer nonstop service between LAX and Boston; round-trip, advance-purchase fare is $530. From Logan International Airport in Boston, drive north on U.S. 1 or on the more scenic Massachusetts 1A. Signs to Salem are well-marked. Travel time is approximately 25 minutes. If you wish to take a bus to Salem, you must take the subway (called the “T” locally) from the airport to Haymarket Square in Boston. Buses run frequently from Haymarket to points on the north shore, including Salem. For those traveling from Logan to Salem by train, take the “T” to North Station, in Boston, and then a train to Salem. Trains run about hourly.

Where to stay: The Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square, Salem, Mass. 01970, (800) 729-7829, is located right next to Salem Common. It contains 89 rooms and is one of the country’s great small hotels; rates about $90-$130. Salem has many charming and reasonably priced bed and breakfast establishments in historic homes. Two of the best are the Stephen Daniels House, 1 Daniels St., Salem, Mass. 01970, (508) 744-5709, and the Amelia Payson Guest House, 16 Winter St., Salem, Mass. 01970, (508) 744-8304.

Where to eat: In the last 10 years, Salem has developed an excellent variety of restaurants. The Lyceum Bar & Grill, 43 Church St., (508) 745-7665, has excellent seafood and French cuisine. Chase House, Pickering Wharf, (508) 744-0000, offers a wide array of seafood at a location overlooking Salem Harbor. Bertini’s, 284 Canal St., (508) 744- 1436, is popular with locals for its Italian food.

What to see: None of the Hawthorne residences are open to the public, with the exception of the birthplace. Other Hawthorne-related sites include:

The House of the Seven Gables (includes the Hawthorne Birthplace and two other historic houses), 54 Turner St., (508) 744-0991. Open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and the last two weeks in January. Guided tours and slide presentation. Admission: $6.

James Duncan Phillips Library of the Essex Institute, 132 Essex St., (508) 744-3390. Open Tuesday-Friday (also Monday in summer). Call for hours. Admission: $4.

Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Custom House, Derby Street. Open year-round. Free admission. The National Historic Site also maintains Derby Wharf and several nearby buildings, including a visitor’s center; the Derby House, home of America’s first millionaire, and a West India Goods Store.

For places of witch-related interest, visit the Salem Witch Museum, Washington Square, (508) 744-1692, open year-round; the Witch Dungeon Museum, 16 Lynde St., (508) 741-3570, open May 1-Nov. 11, and the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, on Liberty Street, open year-round.

For more information: Contact the Salem Chamber of Commerce, 32 Derby Square, Salem, Mass. 01970, (508) 744-0004, or Salem Maritime National Historic Site, East India Square, Essex Street, Salem, Mass. 01970, (508) 741-3648 or (508) 744-4323.