Charter Street Historic District

The Charter Street Historic District consists of the Grimshawe House (c.1770), the Pickman House (c.1638-1680), and the Charter Street Cemetery (Burying Point, c.1637) which lies between the houses. The Grimshawe House sits in the northwest corner of the Charter Street Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Salem. It is a large hip roofed Fedéral style structure, three stories high and four bays wide. The house has been altered considerably on the exterior; the original clapboards of the wooden structure have been covered with asphalt shingles, the original chimneys and shutters have been removed and additional windows added. In 1896 the house was moved back several feet in order to widen the sidewalk. In 1915 fire damaged the interior.

After repairs were made the house was used as a boardinghouse, and the front entrance was moved to the Essex Institute to preserve it. The Pickman House, whose c.1638 or c.1680 dates are a subject of much controversy (discussed under significance), is situated on the corner of Charter and Liberty Streets. This early 2% story wooden building was extensively restored and The Charter Street Cemetery is situated between the two historic houses. It is the oldest burying ground in salem and one of the oldest in the cuntry, having been in use before 1637. Its original name was the "Burying Point" because of its location on a bluff overlooking the South River. Within its confines are the gravestones of many early settlers.

The cemetery is a well kept up area and contains gravemarkers typical of the 17th and 18th centuries. NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Item number7 Non-Contributing Structures 2780 W.

/ARCHITECT STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Charter Street Historic District contains the only remaining elements of the thriving business and residential neighborhood that once stood here, created in part by the neighborhood's proximity to the South River which formerly extended to the fout of Liberty Street. The area also has strong associations with the earliest settlers in Salem as well as literary associations with Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Peabody sisters. Although the neighborhood surrounding the Grimshawe House and the Pickman House has disappeared through decay and urban renewal, and even though both of the re- maining houses have been considerably altered, they still retain the significance they acquired through being associated with the neighborhood.

The Grimshawe House (c.1770) has additional significance because of its associations with the Peabody family and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Dr. Nathaniel Peabody, a dentist and general physician, lived in the house with his family from 1835 to 1841. It was to this house that Nathaniel Hawthorne came and courted Sophia Peabody, and the house became the setting for the novel Dr. Grimshawe's Secret. In the story he vividly describes the house and the burying ground next door, both of which found their way into many of his other works. Horace Mann, the notable educator, was a frequent visitor to the house when he was courting Mary Peabody. Her sister Elizabeth Palmer Peabody became one of the foremost women in the literary circles of her day.

Her association with the Transcendentalists, Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, and the feminist Margaret Fuller is well known. Elizabeth's untiring efforts were also responsible for the estab- lishment of the kindergarten in America. The Charter Street Cemetery (Burying Point) is historically significant as the oldest burying ground in Salem,c.1637, and because of the many early settlers that are buried here.