When seeing Salem, start where it all began. The Pickering Foundation welcomes you to an extraordinary place!
It is not only Salem’s oldest House, but also America’s oldest Home: home to a single family for over three and a half centuries; home to carpenters, farmers, patriots, military leaders, deacons, diplomats, linguists, scientists, and statesmen. And as homes will, it changed with the times.
Built in 1660 by settler John Pickering — a carpenter form Coventry, England — and his wife Elizabeth, it was once just a two-room farmhouse on a vast plot of land that ran all the way down to the seaport on the North River, encompassing what is today Chestnut Street and the McIntire District.
Over the next 350 years, the succeeding John Pickerings and their wives added wings, gables, and Gothic peaks. They raised ceilings, extended the roofline, and created the distinctive fence, to evolve into the warm and gracious home it is today.
You are cordinally invited to come and see a piece of Salem history that is very much alive!
Mission
The Pickering House strives to be a vital community educational resource where history, preservation, and the Pickering family’s story come to life, so that visitors can appreciate and connect with their own American experience and the values of public service and democracy.
Events
We are a cultural hub over here on Broad Street, with our winter chowder lecture series, music series and Fireside Chats. And both the house and 2+-acre garden are available for rental and tours in season.
