The House of the Seven Gables

My dad and I traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011 because his sister died unexpectedly. I lived in Portland, Oregon, and he lived in NW Indiana, an hour from Chicago.

A view of the House of the Seven Gables

Massachusetts, Part 14

I had no trouble talking my dad into a day trip to Salem, Massachusetts. We went to the House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace, the Salem Witch Museum, and some shops. I would have liked to stay longer: by the time we stood in front of the Peabody Essex Museum, it wasn’t long before closing time.

If Nathaniel Hawthorne visited modern-day Salem, he’d write a story in which a mad scientist gives aggressive drivers — who honk at and give nasty looks at tourists — a potion that transforms them into grotesquely ugly monsters, thus showing their true selves.

We visited the House of the Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace! The latter was moved to the vicinity of Seven Gables House. I downloaded the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne onto my Kindle and started reading The House of the Seven Gables.

Notes I took on the House of the Seven Gables:

The House of the Seven Gables was built in 1668 by Captain John Turner.

Cent shop = common in Hawthorne’s time. Caroline Everton added it in 1909 — it’s not original — it’s based on…