Ambrose Gale House
The Ambrose Gale House is a First Period house in Marblehead, Massachusetts at 17 Franklin Street.[1][2] Built in 1663 for fisherman Ambrose Gale, it is called the oldest surviving house in Marblehead by the Salem Witch Museum.[3][4]
42°30′28″N 70°50′44″W / 42.5076737°N 70.8456146°W
History
[edit]The house was built in 1663 for Ambrose Gale, Marblehead selectman, landowner, and an early member of the local church.[2][3]
Architectural historian Abbott Lowell Cummings cites research that found a December 16, 1663 deed referring to a dwelling house in the immediate area belonging to Gale. Cummings thought the date consistent with the construction of the earliest part of the surviving house.[5]
In 1692, during the Salem witch trials, Gale and his daughter Charity Pitman were both witnesses against Wilmott Redd, the only woman from Marblehead to be tried for witchcraft during the trials.[3][6][2] Redd was later put to death.[6][3]
The case against Redd, court records, September 14, 1692, has separate testimony by Charity Pitman and a statement by Ambrose Gale.[6]
Gale died in 1708.[3][2] Later, the property went to the Girdler, Knight, and Felton families.[2][7] The house was extensively remodeled in the 1840s, with changes to its windows, trim, stairway, and fireplaces. This period also saw the addition of Greek Revival details.[2][7]
Architecture
[edit]The Ambrose Gale House is one of only three First Period survivals in Marblehead firmly identified by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. A single-cell portion and chimney bay have been dated to 1663, and a second ell to about 1695.[1]
The initial left-hand section of the house, according to Cummings, was a single-room plan with a chimney bay and crossed summer beams. A second single-room unit was added to the building later in the seventeenth century, perhaps around the time of Gale's second marriage in 1695. The original chimney was removed at a later date, probably in the nineteenth century, and the house was partially restored in the twentieth century.[5]
Recognition and preservation
[edit]The Ambrose Gale House is one such building that has been listed in studies of First Period buildings in eastern Massachusetts. It is listed in the National Register as a property located at 17 Franklin Street, built around 1663 according to Abbott Lowell Cummings.[8]
According to the 2023 annual report of the Old and Historic Districts Commission of Marblehead, the restoration of the Ambrose Gale House has been praised due to the maintenance of its historic integrity both externally and internally.[9]
References
[edit]- 1 2 MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Marblehead (PDF) (Report). Massachusetts Historical Commission. 1985. p. 8. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Historic Building of the Week: Never judge a house by its clapboard". Marblehead Weekly News. January 31, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ambrose Gale House". Salem Witch Museum. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ Boss, Owen (August 22, 2012). "Where is Marblehead's Oldest House?". Patch. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- 1 2 Cummings, Abbott Lowell (1979). "Appendix I: Summary abstracts of the structural history of a significant sampling of First Period Houses at Massachusetts Bay". Architecture in Colonial Massachusetts. Vol. 51. Boston: The Colonial Society of Massachusetts. p. 161. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "SWP No. 114: Wilmott Reed Executed, September 22, 1692". Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive. University of Virginia. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- 1 2 "Gale, Ambrose House (MAR.623)". Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System. Massachusetts Historical Commission. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts Thematic Resource Nomination (Report). National Park Service. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ Marblehead Town Report 2023 (PDF) (Report). Town of Marblehead. p. 194. Retrieved August 6, 2026.