Ropes Mansion and Garden — Attraction in Salem

I'm a Salem resident and I am on a mission to tour all the local attractions AND historical houses.

About this one:

I visited Ropes Mansion yesterday with a friend and I truly enjoyed the experience. I was familiar with the gardens, but this was my first time inside the historical house. I was pleasantly surprised to see how so many of the objects and pieces of furniture inside are original to the house. I found particularly striking the collection of dining wares in the Old China Closet (first floor). I also enjoyed the playfulness of the plates, in the second dining room, quoting etiquette tips from the 1890s.

What it is:

Ropes Mansion is a house built about 1727 that went through several generations of Ropes until, in 1893, the three sisters Sarah, Mary and Eliza inherited it, moved to Salem from Cincinnati and prepared it to become a museum after their deaths.

It consists of 6/7 rooms on the first floor, all furnished, with panels describing the history and use of the rooms, some interactive activities and original writings from the family to read. The second floor is set up more like an exhibit, with a few rooms showcasing objects from the family organized thematically plus two of the original bedrooms.

Tours are self-guided, but you can ask questions to museum's personnel stationed on both floors. Tickets are to be purchased in advance, I might be wrong but I don't think they can be bought at the door. The Ropes Mansion is a property of PEM, the Peabody Essex Museum, so first you need to purchase a General Admission, either in person at the museum or online, and then you can add a timed ticket to the Ropes Mansion. Both are free if you are a Salem resident. Entrance is from front door.

The gardens behind the house are instead free and open almost all year round. As you can imagine, they are particularly striking during the spring.

Yes, the exterior of this house was featured in Hocus Pocus (the original) as Allison's home. If you visit during the fall, for the past few years PEM has decorated the outside of the house as it was in the movie, during the month of October.

PROs

Very authentic historical house, informative and truly enjoyable.

Gardens open all year round and free.

Entrance to the house is free for Salem residents.

CONs

Opened only seasonally (after Memorial Day- October) and only on weekends.

During the fall, I expect this place to be quite crowded and tickets might go fast.

Btw, the gardens have a small free library under the arch, so if you visit Salem you might consider bring a book with you to leave there and take a...

I wasn't planning on visiting the inside, but, they had a free 🆓 open house 🏠,soooo... The garden, not the house, is where some of the scenes from the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus" was 📽️ filmed. I overheard employees saying that Disney is returning again to the property. The house and grounds are supposed to be haunted! The inside of the house has the original furniture, kitchenware, dishes, glasses, paintings and various items from the time of the original owners. As I looked out the 🪟 windows onto the property, after reading the history posted on placards throughout the house 🏡, I wondered what it was like living in that time period. The staff were friendly. You are not allowed to touch anything and you cannot use any flash 📸 from your camera. The garden is wonderful 👍! Circular pattern with many kinds of flowers 🌻🌺. Bees, dragonflies,moths and butterflies you may see flying around. A sundial sits in the center. Places to sit in the garden. A small pond with goldfish is near the entrance of the garden. The garden is wheelchair accessible but the house is not. If you are interested in history or gardens, I...

Robinson is probably rolling in his grave at what a despair his garden has become! Went towards the garden because the front of the house had large beautiful flowering plants. Literally once we passed the gate there was nothing in the garden but dirt. You could even see the irrigation piping coming up above the ground. There was not one flower in the entire garden. There were a few patches where someone had tried to plant some items in a row, but you could tell that that person did not know what they were doing. When you have a historic garden you bring in already grown beautiful plants or already grown beautiful flowers to transplant and showcase. Someone had literally planted rows of brand new sprouts, and they planted them very Close together so that when the plants grow bigger there will not be any room and also they will not show case by the end of...