Architecture Tour in Salem

Free Architecture Tour in Salem with Roamee Pro

Roamee Pro, also known as Roamee, offers a free architecture tour route in Salem. The audio walking tour can include stops such as Peabody Essex Museum — Founded in 1799 by sea captains returning from voyages to the Far East, this is the oldest continuously operating museum in America with a collection of over 1.8 million objects spanning maritime art, Asian export art, American decorative arts, and photography. The museum's crown jewel is Yin Yu Tang, a complete 200-year-old Chinese house from Anhui province that was dismantled, shipped to Salem, and reassembled inside the museum over seven years. The modern wing, designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in 2003, creates a striking contrast with the museum's original Federal-period buildings., House of the Seven Gables — Built in 1668 for Captain John Turner, this dark timber mansion on the Salem waterfront is the oldest surviving 17th-century wooden mansion in New England and the setting for Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel of the same name. The house features a secret staircase, period-furnished rooms, and original architectural details including the seven peaked gables visible from the harbor. Hawthorne's own birthplace, a small red house built around 1750, was moved to the property in 1958 and is included in the tour., plus hidden gems like Derby Wharf — Extending nearly half a mile into Salem Harbor, this wharf was built in 1762 by merchant Elias Hasket Derby, who became America's first millionaire through privateering during the Revolution and trade with the East Indies. Now part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site — the first National Historic Site in the United States, designated in 1938 — the wharf offers a windswept walk with views of the harbor, the 1871 Derby Wharf Light Station, and the replica tall ship Friendship moored nearby. and McIntire Historic District — Named for Samuel McIntire, the self-taught architect and woodcarver who designed many of its finest buildings, this neighborhood of elegant Federal-period mansions was built by Salem's wealthiest sea captains and merchants between 1780 and 1820. Chestnut Street, often called the most beautiful street in America, features a continuous row of three-story brick and clapboard mansions with McIntire's signature carved wooden ornaments, fan-shaped doorway arches, and rooftop widow's walks from which merchants' wives watched for returning ships..

Use this page as a starting point for a Salem walking tour, a free route, or the Roamee app for Salem. Roamee Pro keeps the route flexible so you can follow the stops, skip ahead, or explore nearby streets at your own pace.

• •Peabody Essex Museum — Founded in 1799 by sea captains returning from voyages to the Far East, this is the oldest continuously operating museum in America with a collection of over 1.8 million objects spanning maritime art, Asian export art, American decorative arts, and photography. The museum's crown jewel is Yin Yu Tang, a complete 200-year-old Chinese house from Anhui province that was dismantled, shipped to Salem, and reassembled inside the museum over seven years. The modern wing, designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in 2003, creates a striking contrast with the museum's original Federal-period buildings.
• •House of the Seven Gables — Built in 1668 for Captain John Turner, this dark timber mansion on the Salem waterfront is the oldest surviving 17th-century wooden mansion in New England and the setting for Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel of the same name. The house features a secret staircase, period-furnished rooms, and original architectural details including the seven peaked gables visible from the harbor. Hawthorne's own birthplace, a small red house built around 1750, was moved to the property in 1958 and is included in the tour.

• •Derby Wharf — Extending nearly half a mile into Salem Harbor, this wharf was built in 1762 by merchant Elias Hasket Derby, who became America's first millionaire through privateering during the Revolution and trade with the East Indies. Now part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site — the first National Historic Site in the United States, designated in 1938 — the wharf offers a windswept walk with views of the harbor, the 1871 Derby Wharf Light Station, and the replica tall ship Friendship moored nearby.
• •McIntire Historic District — Named for Samuel McIntire, the self-taught architect and woodcarver who designed many of its finest buildings, this neighborhood of elegant Federal-period mansions was built by Salem's wealthiest sea captains and merchants between 1780 and 1820. Chestnut Street, often called the most beautiful street in America, features a continuous row of three-story brick and clapboard mansions with McIntire's signature carved wooden ornaments, fan-shaped doorway arches, and rooftop widow's walks from which merchants' wives watched for returning ships.

• ›Look up. Ground floors get remodeled for shops every generation, but the upper stories — cornices, windows, rooflines — keep the building's original face.
• ›Learn three style tells: rounded arches and thick walls read Romanesque; pointed arches and flying buttresses read Gothic; symmetry with columns and pediments reads Neoclassical.
• ›Step inside lobbies, courtyards, and churches — interiors are often open, free, and where the real craft (ceilings, staircases, light) hides.
• ›Time Peabody Essex Museum for the right light — west-facing facades glow at sunset, east-facing ones at sunrise; flat midday sun flattens the detail.
• ›Notice the materials and what they signal: local stone, imported marble, cast iron, concrete, glass — each marks a different era and a different ambition.