Waiting in the long line outside the white 1727 Ropes mansion, you often hear visitors, in authoritarian voices, informing others around them that only the outside of the house was used for one of the locations in the ‘90s Halloween classic movie, Hocus Pocus. Though the film’s cult following is one of the draws, visiting the home of the Ropes family adds an element of time-travel to the beautiful Georgian Colonial house amidst many visitors’ seasonal Halloween-centric visits to Salem.
That element is part of what makes Ropes Mansion’s self-guided tour different than other historic properties. Four generations of the same family lived in the house at different points and many of their personal items are still inside each room: toys, mourning jewelry, a monogrammed fire bucket, pocket watches, rings, and portraits hanging on walls throughout the house connect visitors to the lives of the family. It is refreshing to see names like “Elizabeth Ropes Orne” on the front cover of a book at the piano, “N. Ropes” on a quaint white, ceramic mug, and “M.P. Ropes” on the side of the steamer trunk with faded, worn stickers from many travels abroad.
Seeing the personal items are grounding in many ways, making visitors realize that these were real people who used these actual things at some point in their life. Like Hocus Pocus’ Winifred Sanderson and her sisters, it seems like the Ropes family may return at any moment to pick up where they left off.
Each room is set up to represent how the family used it as a living space. Upholstered tall chairs and a writing desk sits across from a canopy bed draped in an orange and blue foliage print; the red and gold double parlor downstairs looks welcoming to a prospective card game around the octagonal table in the center.
Across the hall, the golden-colored dining room is set for Sally Fisk Ropes Orne’s extravagant 1847 Christmas dinner, complete with table setting of Ropes family china. The Ropes family loved their china sets. The immense pantries and cabinets filled with beautiful blue-and-white porcelain dishes is awe-inspiring. Though the house tour is self-guided, docents are available in every room to answer questions, especially when visitors stare open-mouthed at the amount of plates and bowls before them. A docent in the adjacent room mentions that Joseph and Sally Fisk Ropes Orne, who married inside the Ropes Mansion in 1817, bought two sets of a 284-piece dinner set in case of breakage. It is interesting to see the different pieces in their extensive collections; the hollow plates with a space underneath for a reservoir of hot water to warm food seems to be a good pantry addition even today.
Visitors should certainly include a tour of the Ropes Mansion on their itinerary while in Salem, even if the main reason for visiting the city stems mostly from October seasonal events. The 10-minute walk from the Peabody Essex Museum is a nice reason to experience another story in the city’s history. Ropes Mansion is open seasonally, detailed here on the PEM calendar, and no admission is required.
For more information about Ropes Mansion, visit Peabody Essex Museum’s website here.
Originally featured in Wordsby Arts & Culture News.
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