![\"House](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SevenGabless-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
House of the Seven Gables. Credit: Ryan Krugman\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\nSALEM, Mass.\u2014Paul Wright leans over a 17th-century granite barrier and points at a faint watermark depicting Salem Harbor\u2019s daily rise and fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a normal day, high tides reach just four feet from the top of the seawall,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen there\u2019s a big storm or king tide, that\u2019s when it gets close to spilling over.\u201d<\/p>\n
That seawall is the first line of defense for one of America\u2019s most storied homes, protecting it from centuries of battering New England storms. The colonial manse, the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, is now best known as the setting for Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s \u201cThe House of the Seven Gables.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
House of the Seven Gables. Credit: Ryan Krugman\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Sixty years after the novel was published in 1851, the structure fell into disrepair until Caroline Emmerton, a philanthropist, restored it in the early 1900s as both a museum and immigrant settlement house.<\/p>\n
By 1924, she had moved three colonial buildings onto the grounds, intent on preserving Salem\u2019s past. Strolling the property perched just above the harbor, Emmerton might have wondered if her legacy would endure. Would future generations care for Salem\u2019s past? Would the buildings she saved remain monuments, or fade into memory?<\/p>\n
What she likely never could have foreseen was that the greatest threat to her legacy would not come from neglect, but a changing climate.<\/p>\n
The encroachment of a warming sea and global warming-fueled storms are no longer distant threats\u2014they are already reshaping Salem\u2019s waterfront. At the House of the Seven Gables,\u00a0 <\/a>rising tides and creeping groundwater threaten to undo centuries of preservation work. Now, the same museum staff who care for Hawthorne\u2019s literary landmark and Emmerton\u2019s legacy are facing a new test: how to save history from the sea.<\/p>\n Wright is the director of preservation and maintenance at the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association, known as The Gables, the nonprofit behind the historic property. He joined the staff in 2022, eager to launch decarbonization projects: tightening insulation, boosting energy efficiency and adding on-site renewables. But as climate impacts grew harder to ignore, resilience overtook efficiency as the more urgent demand.<\/p>\n Today, six historic structures stand on the site. Three of them are classified as First Period homes, built between 1625 and 1725, a rare architectural feat since only 350 First Period<\/a> houses remain intact across the country.<\/p>\n Each building, along with the property\u2019s seawall, has endured generations of storms. Yet in a warming world, their limits are becoming painfully clear.<\/p>\n In 2019, a visitor suddenly sank knee-deep into the lawn. A small sinkhole had opened near the seawall. Only later did staff learn that salt water, seeping through during high tides, had been carrying away sediment, hollowing out the ground until it gave way.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the first wake-up call,\u201d said Susan Baker, Curator of Collections of The Gables.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second came in the form of a mold bloom. After a heavy rain in 2023, water seeped into the basement of Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s 1790 birthplace, relocated to the property in 1958. Unaware of the flooding, staff later discovered mold creeping across the basement, damaging furniture and books tied to Hawthorne\u2019s life.<\/p>\n Soon after these events, The Gables staff began shoring up defenses. High-end dehumidifiers and sump pumps were added when funds allowed. Wright fitted larger gutters onto the steep medieval-style roofs and regraded slopes, hoping to chase water away from the foundations. But as emissions continue unabated, meaning that climate impacts in the Northeast are expected to worsen, it became clear these remedies were only buying time.<\/p>\n In 2022, the organization secured a grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to study the property\u2019s vulnerabilities and chart a long-term preservation plan.<\/p>\n With help from architects, engineers and Salem Sound experts, the team dug groundwater\u00a0 monitoring wells and conducted in-depth flood projections to better understand the properties\u2019 current and future vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe belief before research began was, we raise the seawall and we\u2019ll be fine,\u201d said Wright. But as research unfolded, the evidence pointed to a harsher reality\u2014one no historic property owner wants to face.<\/p>\n Flooding, Mold and Pests<\/p>\n The Counting House, a small 1830s shack once used by merchants for business and now serving as a children\u2019s education center, sits at the harbor\u2019s edge. It lies within the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s VE\u2014velocity and elevation\u2014flood zone, the designation reserved for the most vulnerable coastlines.<\/p>\n Wright watched as a Nor\u2019easter barreled into Salem on a cold January day last year. It was his day off, but he came anyway\u2014ready to move artifacts, shield equipment or throw up barriers if the sea broke through. Waves lapped over the stone wall outside the Counting House, and for a moment he feared this would be the storm that finally overwhelmed the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the storm struck a few hours before high tide, pushing the worst of the surge north of Salem. The Gables was spared. A near miss, Wright thought.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been really lucky that a once-in-a-hundred-year storm hasn\u2019t hit yet,\u201d Wright said, knocking on a 17th-century wood beam to ward off the specter of that happening. The staff is superstitious\u2014an almost unavoidable trait in Salem. \u201cA hurricane or Nor\u2019easter that hits during high tide would be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, most of the site sits outside FEMA floodplains. Projections show that reprieve won\u2019t last. According to Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, by 2050 three of the historic structures\u2014the House of the Seven Gables, the Counting House and the Hooper-Hathaway House of 1682\u2014are expected to flood once a year. By 2070, every structure except the Phippen House, a 1792 home now used as offices, will likely face annual or biannual flooding.<\/p>\n These models are based on probabilities and don\u2019t account for the site\u2019s hydrological defenses, according to Wright. Still, they indicate the entire southern half of the property could soon fall within FEMA\u2019s highest-risk flood zone.<\/p>\n And water is rising from below as well as from the sea. On Salem\u2019s coast, groundwater is tidal; as sea levels rise, so does the water table. Today, high groundwater sits about four feet above sea level\u2014reaching the base of the visitor center basement and reaching within inches of the foundations of each First Period home. By 2070, high groundwater could climb to 10 feet.<\/p>\n \u201cAt that point water will start coming up in bulk, introducing more humidity and even filling up the basements,\u201d said Wright.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moisture from above and below is already exacting a quiet toll. Mold blooms are now largely contained by dehumidifying efforts, leaving only minor impacts, but the region\u2019s warming, humid climate has opened the door to new threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n Baker remembers one moment vividly. While re-designing the House of the Seven Gables\u2019 master bedroom in 2016, she and a colleague began peeling back the bed set. To their dismay, small holes appeared in the fabric: webbing clothes moths had slowly chewed through the 18th-century-style hangings draped around the bed\u2014the most expensive item in the home at the time.<\/p>\n New England museums have largely escaped the insect infestations that plague collections in hotter, more humid parts of the country, according to Susan Pranger, adjunct professor at Boston Architectural College and author of a book on historic materials in a changing climate.<\/p>\n But beginning in the early 2000s, curators started finding webbing clothes moths, carpet beetles and other pests that devour animal-based fibers like wool, silk and leather, she said. Left unchecked, they can hollow out textiles or reduce rare artifacts to dust.<\/p>\n Each historic home on The Gables site is now deep-cleaned every two weeks to make sure not even a hair fallen from the head of an unsuspecting tourist is left for pests to feed on. \u201cIt\u2019s a constant battle,\u201d said Baker.\u00a0<\/p>\n For years, The Gables stewards hoped a higher, sturdier seawall would solve their hydrological challenges. But the defenses along the harbor are a patchwork of public and private seawalls\u2014each built at different times, with different materials, and stand at uneven heights.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we were to raise our wall it would affect our neighbors,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSome of their seawalls are shorter, so water would be pushed onto their property and in all likelihood find its way back to ours.\u201d<\/p>\n Without a coordinated citywide effort, any seawall upgrade would do little to protect the pieces of Salem\u2019s history found on the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n Confronted with dire projections and dwindling faith in municipal action, The Gables staff reached a sobering conclusion: the historic structures would have to retreat from the coast.<\/p>\n The Final Move<\/p>\n In May, The Gables released a 50-year adaptation plan<\/a> with funds from its Massachusetts state grant.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe only way this is going to work is with state or federal funding,\u201d Baker said. The estimated 45-year project will cost millions of dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n At its core, the plan details the relocation of five historic structures about 100 yards inland, onto what is now the property\u2019s parking lot. Had that space not been available, the process would have been far more complicated\u2014requiring the purchase of new land and the possibility of moving the homes miles away, Wright said.<\/p>\n \u201cA structure being in its original location and form is vital for authenticity, but we are going to have to rethink how we value that, \u201d said Pranger. \u201cIf we don\u2019t move pieces of history now, then we\u2019re just going to lose them forever.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wright, retreat isn\u2019t merely a compromise between accuracy and survival\u2014it\u2019s an opportunity. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to just raise the buildings because then they would just look like a bunch of old coastal shacks rather than a colonial revival property,\u201d Wright said. Instead, by shifting the homes inland toward the street, the plan will help restore the historic feel of a neighborhood that draws millions of visitors each year to experience its maritime lore and the legacy of its witch trials.<\/p>\n The adaptation extends beyond relocation to historical reconstruction. Along the seawall, staff envision a dual-purpose garden where native plants will anchor the soil and soak up seawater seeping through the wall. Threaded through the landscape will be a walkway honoring the Naumkeag people, who fished along Salem\u2019s shores for centuries before colonization.<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n![\"Sign](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GablesSign-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Sign leading to three historic homes. Credit: Ryan Krugman\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Wright-1024x683.jpg\"\/)
Paul Wright explains dehumidification efforts in the basement of the House of the Seven Gables. Credit: Ryan Krugman\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WaterWater-683x1024.jpg\"\/)
A sign to educate visitors on the property\u2019s climate vulnerabilities. Credit: Ryan Krugman\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Salem-Graphic.png\"\/)
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