40 US Historical Homes That Are Worth the Visit

14.The House of the Seven Gables

The House of the Seven Gables, also known as the Turner House, in Salem, Massachusetts, was made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel The House of the Seven Gables. A gable is a solid triangular peak at the top of a house, over a window or door. Mr. Hawthorne was more inspired by the sound of the phrase “seven gables” than the appearance of the house, surprisingly, and he wrote of the home as though it was an actual character. Its architecture is a mix of traditional Colonial architecture with some Georgian renovations added in the 18th century.

They called this historic U.S. home the House of the Seven Gables because it has, unsurprisingly, seven gables. The home is one of the oldest preserved timber-framed Colonial homes in the United States, built in 1667. It has 17 rooms and over 8,000 square feet, including its notably large cellars. The house remained in the Turner Family for three generations. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2007 after being restored. However, it has been open to the public as a museum since 1910. Today, over 100,000 visitors enter its doors yearly. Next up, let’s visit the Henry Ford Estate!