At the edge of Salem Harbor, rising tides and creeping groundwater threaten to undo centuries of preservation work at one of America's most storied historic sites.
The House of the Seven Gables — the 1668 mansion that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s gothic novel — sits just 80 feet from a seawall that has protected it from battering New England storms for generations. But that seawall is no longer enough. Storm surges have already come over the top, and the water table beneath the campus is rising. Our phased climate adaptation plan is designed to stay ahead of these threats — and Phase I is now well underway.
The team has completed several critical first steps. The Primm House, located in a zone of 100% annual flood probability, has been assessed for potential sale or demolition. The seawall has been improved and is now on an ongoing inspection and maintenance schedule. Gutters and downspouts have been upgraded to manage increasingly intense rainfall, and emergency deployable barriers are in place for the next big storm.
Work continues across the campus to address what’s happening below ground. Rising groundwater is reaching basement elevations and causing water infiltration — a quiet but persistent threat to the historic structures and their mechanical systems. The team is protecting and elevating utilities in all buildings, implementing temporary protection measures, and improving stormwater management based on real-time monitoring.
The next phase of work is now funded through a new CZM grant. This will support the relocation of the Counting House — the first building to be moved — along with dry floodproofing of the Hooper-Hathaway House and expanded stormwater tools across the site.
As Gables preservation director Paul Wright put it: “We’ve studied these impacts and created a plan.” Now we’re executing it — protecting this irreplaceable piece of American history before the water arrives.
