‘Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge clustered chimney in their midst.’ So wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1851 novel The House of Seven Gables. The house brings to life the gloomy Puritan atmosphere of early New England. Look for wonderful seaside gardens, many original furnishings and a mysterious secret staircase.