This is one my favorite local museum tours! Highly recommend doing the 3 house tour to see original…read moreitems from the 1600-1700s. My tour guide Judy, a retired teacher, was incredibly knowledgeable. We were able to see how older kitchen and household "appliances" worked. The Heard House is the main house, with an interesting family history. One of the sons was a trader who brought back beautiful items from East Asia. The house also happened to be hosting a special art exhibit for a well-renowned painter from Ipswich when I went. We spent a little over 2 hours here doing the full 3 house tour, but you can probably do the main Heard House in less than an hour. The 1 house tour is $10 per person and 3 house tour is $15. I'm glad we chose the 3 house tour. I would recommend any visitors to Ipswich come learn about the early history from before there was a state of Massachusetts.

The museum is perfectly situated among the witchy good fun area of Salem. Parking in the deck…read morenearby was less than $10 for several hours, way better than I did in Boston! There are loads of exhibits on several floors, as well as the Yu Tang house and Ropes Mansion (Ropes adds a few dollars, but the Yu Tang house is included, you just need to grab a time slot.) There's a restaurant on site, and to tour Ropes, you walk straight down the witch-i-center with all the shops, coffee, bakeries, and historic houses. The museum is laid out well, and you can come and go all day.

I visited the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) with my mom at the end of our day in Salem about a week or…read moreso ago, and we really enjoyed our visit. The museum has an extensive collection of Asian Art, but it holds more than 800,000 works of historical and cultural arts covering maritime, American, Asia, and Oceanic and African art. The highlight of our visit was visiting the Yin Yu Tang House. The house dates back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Huang, a prosperous merchant, built this stately 16-bedroom, two story-house with a courtyard and called it "Yin Yu Tang," meaning "Hall of Plentiful Shelter." It was home to the Huang family in the Huizhou region for more than 200 years until the last of the family descendants moved from the village in 1982. In the 1990s, as part of a cultural exchange, the home and its contents were dismantled and transported to Massachusetts, where it was re-erected in the PEM. The PEM opened to the public in 2003. The house is currently undergoing work to preserve its roof tiles and masonry walls, so there was a lot of scaffolding obstructing views of the home and pictures taken of the museum. But it still well worth a visit; it's incredible. (The website says the house is closed 7/27-7/31 and 8/3-8/7, so maybe they'll have the work done by the end of those stretches!) I only wish the staff that had walked us into the house had explained exactly how much time we'd get inside the house before being ushered out for the next group, because my mom and I were using the audio guide to learn about the house as we explored. Before we finished several rooms, we were told our time was up, which was a bummer - we barely had time to peek into the rooms we hadn't gotten to yet, so I wish we'd known and could use our time better. They call it a tour on the website, but it's a self-guided experience; no museum staff walk you around the house. (FYI: You need a separate ticket for the Yin Yu Tang House, which you can buy on the website.) We explored the rest of the museum as well, including some of their interesting temporary exhibits: "Anila Quayyum Agha: All the Flowers Are for Me," "On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America," and "Beyond the Broom: Salem Short Films." Other highlights of our time were visiting the East India Marine Hall and seeing art and artifacts relating to the Salem Witch Trials. They also have a great gift shop, so save some time for that. A very nice regional art museum that is worth visiting if you have time in your Salem itinerary!

Must see if you are a fan of eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture. This home has been…read moremuseum since 1921 (the met tried to buy part of the interior in 1919 and that spurred the locals into preserving it) since it has been a museum for so long, it is remarkably intact, with little guesswork in the restoration. The interior woodwork is incredible. There is little original furniture, but the house itself is the show stopper. It is only open three days a week but is worth the visit.

From the owner: Built in 1782, this elegant Georgian-style manse, which overlooks the harbor, is the former home of…read moreJudith Sargent Murray (1751-1820), considered the most important female essayist of 18th-century America. View ornate hand-carved woodwork, Federalist-period furniture, and portraits by important early American artists. See unique works by John Singer Sargent, Murray's great grandnephew.

Excellent site to visit! Beautiful views! We had a great docent lead tour. Our guide shared lots…read moreof details and did a great job trying to answer our group's many questions! Learning about the different architectural phases of this property was very interesting. The Secret Staircase is special! Gift Shop was a fun stop! Friendly staff. They have their own parking lot with ample and FREE parking while you visit. Now that's a plus. Everywhere else in Salem is paid parking, including the Peabody Essex Museum (park and hike!) Highly recommend visiting The House of Seven Gables if you are in the area.

My mom and I toured the House of the Seven Gables when we spent a day in Salem a week or so ago,…read moreand it was one of the highlights of our time in Salem. The house dates back to 1668, when it was built for a wealthy sea captain and merchant. It remained in that family for three generations before it was bought by another family. The house is mostly famous for being the setting and subject of a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a second cousin of Susannah Ingersoll, who lived in the home for years. In 1908, the home was purchased again, this time by a woman who made it her life's mission to restore the house, protect it for posterity, and to turn into a museum that could be visited by tourists to Salem. The home was renovated many times (by different owners of the house) - it didn't even always have seven gables, but that's a part of its interesting story! We learned all of the above and more from our tour guide on a guided tour of the house. Our tour guide was great - friendly, informative, and interesting! After our tour, we explored Nathaniel Hawthorne's birthplace home, which was moved to the grounds of the House of Seven Gables to avoid demolition. It was a great way to learn a little more about Hawthorne. There was also a gift shop, where my mom and I both bought copies of The House of the Seven Gables, stamped so we always remember where we bought it. Our tour was interesting, and the house is striking and fascinating. It's well worth a visit if you're exploring Salem.

What a great experience for my kids (6 and 13). Read the website for details but there's something…read morefor all ages in this tiny little place. Both kids were engaged and Ellen did a great job of doing so at the proper level. Highly recommended

Great experience! Ellen, the Marine Biologist was outstanding! Our kids loved it and learned a ton…read more The touch tanks were their favorite as well as the Scavenger Hunt. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful knowledge and passion!

Feels like so long ago we were hiking up the tower. I mentioned to my Dad that my legs weren't…read morefeeling the best and I needed to go slow. He felt bad so he waited for me half way up and then all of a sudden I got a burst of energy and sped past him. He was shocked and said I waited for you and then you left me in the dust. When we got to the top it was fun to look around the city and see the ocean. Lots of history here and we are so grateful for the memories made. Staff is very friendly and really takes pride in their museum. It's kept up well and very educational. Thank you

This is a cute museum to visit on a rainy day. You get to learn a lot about early Massachusetts…read morehistory and you can climb to the top of the monument. The cost for two adults was $46. They have entire section dedicated to the local Provincetown establishments as well.

Absolutely fantastic staff and performing arts theater!! The staff, who are all extremely friendly…read moreand talented, put on a fun and entertaining show. I visited The Witch's Cottage, also known as the Gallows Hill Museum & Theatre, for a show in October and enjoyed every minute of my experience. The staff knows exactly how to run its shows, with large crowds trembling over the cobblestone steps outside this charming Salem edifice. The show was just perfect in length, especially for kids, and gave its viewers interesting facts about Salem's history, including the witch trials. The Witch's Cottage is perfect not only because it has a great staff and a fun show, but also because it is nicely and conveniently located within walking distance of a lot of attractions in Salem. Following the show, my family and I purchased t-shirts in the Museum and headed out onto the old and classic streets of Salem. It made our venture to this Museum even more worthwhile as we were able to know exactly what occurred centuries before in the streets we padded down. If you are in for a good show--put on by an outstanding cast and staff--and want to learn about an interesting, old town in New England, then you definitely have to visit The Witch's Cottage!!