Home Town Girl Celebrates Salem

The house was built for Samuel Barnard, a merchant. In 1768, Judge Nathaniel Ropes, Jr., purchased the house from Barnard's nephew. The Ropes family then inhabited the house until 1907, when the house was given to the Trustees of the Ropes Memorial for public benefit.

Although altered through the years and then restored, the house looks much like its original form, with a symmetrical facade of two stories, three small pedimented gables through the roof, roof balustrade, and modillioned cornice. (Compare it to the Crowninshield-Bentley House and the Peirce-Nichols House, also in Salem.) In 1807, however, its interior was extensively renovated. In the mid-1830s five rooms and the central hall were remodelled, and today's doorway installed (with details inspired by Asher Benjamin's pattern book. In 1894 the house was moved away from the street and further modified internally. A large, fine garden was added behind the house in 1912.

It was featured in the 1993 Disney film "Hocus Pocus".

One of the best ways to learn how to write clearly -- and quickly -- is to have a deadline. That's what I discovered from writing ad copy for many years for many different magazines. It was lots of fun...and a learned about so many things. Especially about antiques -- which is what I draw upon in my two mystery series. All my characters have some special fondness for period furniture