One of the oldest houses in Marblehead is the John Palmer House at 11 Hooper Street. The house was built in 1683 and has framing timbers made of English walnut, salvaged from a sailing vessel (one timber was formerly a mast and still displays rope marks). The two houses on either side immediately adjoin the Palmer House. Today, the house has sash windows, which long ago replaced the original irregularly spaced casement windows.
At 44 Washington Street in Marblehead, opposite the Old North Church, is a house, built sometime between 1730 and 1742, where Elbridge Gerry was born and spent his early years. Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), a statesman and diplomat, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was one of three men who refused to sign the Constitution because it did not contain a Bill of Rights. Gerry later served as Governor of Massachusetts (1810-1812) and Vice-President (1813-1814) under James Madison. The process of gerrymandering, or drawing electoral districts to favor a particular party, is named for him due to a redrawing of districts in Massachusetts during his term as governor. In the 1820s, a third floor and Greek Revival entrance were added to the house.
A look at the William Sandin House, built in 1714 in Marblehead, reveals an interesting circumstance: when viewing the front facade, it’s clear that the left third of the house warps at a slight angle.
At a spot in Marblehead where five streets intersect is the c. 1731 “Lafayette House.” It acquired this name due to an often-told story that when General Lafayette visited Marblehead in 1824, his carriage was too large to pass by the house and so the corner of the building on the first floor was removed. The story is considered unlikely by modern historians and there are other possible explanations for why the house is missing a corner. One possibility is that it was done to allow large coal wagons to pass by. Another is that it was constructed that way for a retail shop entrance. Yet another idea is that it was to allow the flow of draining water and sewage. The house is also notable as being the home of Jeremiah Lee and his family from 1751 to 1768. before he built his later mansion in Marblehead.
The oldest sections of the house at 1 Mugford Street in Marblehead, known as the Old Bowen House, are believed to date to 1695. Located near Marblehead’s Old Town House, the building was the home of Nathan Bowen, a merchant who served as Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, and then of Nathan’s son, Ashley Bowen, a sailor, who kept a detailed journal and wrote an autobiography. Ashley Bowen also illustrated his Journal with his own paintings. Ashley Bowen’s nephew, Nathan Bowen, was a noted cabinetmaker. In the twentieth century, the Bowen House was used as the model for a house described in H.P. Lovecraft’s story “The Festival” (1925). Lovecraft‘s fictional town of Kingsport is based on Marblehead.
