Some houses have curb appeal. This one has three centuries of baggage.
The House of the Seven Gables was built in Salem in 1668 and later became the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel of the same name, a story full of an old family curse, inherited guilt, suspicious death and generations paying for what came before them.
So naturally, it belongs here.
The postcard shows the famous dark timber house behind its fence and bare trees, looking exactly like the sort of place where somebody would tell you not to open the locked room upstairs.
The reverse identifies it as a Lusterchrome postcard made by Tichnor Bros. of Boston and published by the Curhan Co. of Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is unused and unposted, so unfortunately no dead stranger left us a cryptic message on the back. Can't win them all.
Use it in a Salem or witchcraft collection, tuck it into an altar or cabinet of curiosities, frame it with other strange old ephemera, or let it become part of whatever wonderfully questionable display you're building.
Details
Vintage House of the Seven Gables postcard
Salem, Massachusetts
Lusterchrome postcard
Made by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston
Published by The Curhan Co., Gloucester, Massachusetts
Unposted and unused
Printed in the USA
Vintage condition with minor age related wear
Sold as found
Easel and styling props not included
