Christine Thomson is a local conservator whose specialty is paint analysis. This scientific technique is used in historic buildings to help with restoration work and to share better historical information with staff and visitors alike. Ms. Thomson will talk about the importance and techniques of paint analysis and share her 2016 research findings from The House of the Seven Gables. In 2018, The Gables celebrates its 350th anniversary and this talk is complementary to the exhibit These Walls Do…
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Emerson W. Baker of the Salem State University History Department will talk about why folk magic was far more common in colonial New England than most of us realize. Daisy wheel marks, witch bottles, well-worn shoes by fireplaces or a horseshoe over a doorway are examples of the counter-magic employed to protect homes and families from evil. They are also evidence that New Englanders dabbled in magic, and feared witches and supernatural forces long after the Salem witch trials ended.…
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"Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst." Nathaniel Hawthorne had hoped to finish The House of the Seven Gables by November, but, like many writers even today, finishing a novel on deadline can be difficult. The Witch City Writers challenges you to a speed writing event using the famous first line of…
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