U. S. Custom House

The U. S. Custom House on Derby Street was built in 1819 and remained in use as a custom house until 1935. Two years later it became part of the new Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Since it was already a federal government building, it did not have to be purchased or donated; it was simply transferred to the National Park Service.

There had been a custom house in Salem as far back as 1649, as duties on imported goods have been collected ever since the concept of taxes was invented. In the United States, before the federal income tax was established in 1913, taxes on imported goods made up 97 percent of federal revenue. Whenever a merchant ship returned from a foreign country, customs workers would set up scales at the wharf and weigh the cargo as it was unloaded. Taxes were determined by the weight or volume of various products, and these taxes were paid inside the Custom House. Even back in the late 1700s and early 1800s, a tax of $50,000 on a ship’s cargo was not uncommon, and it wasn’t unheard of for $100,000 to be collected.

At the time of this writing, the Custom House is open to the public from mid-May until October 31st on Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 AM to 4 PM, and on Mondays from 1 PM to 4 PM. Times can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Basic Information web page for Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Tours of the Custom House are self-guided, but there is a Ranger or park volunteer on duty to answer questions and give short lectures. All rooms on the bottom floor are open, plus two rooms upstairs. Unfortunately, when I visited the upper floor was closed because there was only one staff member on duty, and for it to be open a second person must be stationed on the floor.

Included in the Custom House complex are the Public Stores and the Scale House, both of which are open to the public whenever the Custom House is open. Public Stores (aka bonded warehouses) are warehouses where goods are stored when taxes are not paid. The existing Public Store is located on the backside of the Custom House and is actually attached to the building, though there are no doorways connecting the two. To access the warehouse, Customs officials had to exit the Custom House and walk around back. There were other smaller warehouse buildings in the yard, but none exist today.

The Scale House is also located in the back yard of the Custom House. This small, brick building is where the scales used to weigh cargo were stored. There is a collection of scales on display.

The Custom House’s claim to fame is that author Nathaniel Hawthorne worked there between 1846 and 1849 as Surveyor of the Port. Back then, federal jobs depended on government connections, so you had to be a member of the party in office to get or keep a job. Hawthorne was a Democrat, and when Whig candidate Zachary Taylor won the election in 1849, he lost his job. When Democrat Franklin Pierce won the 1852 election, Hawthorne got another government job as United States Consul in England (1853 to 1858). Oddly enough, he was a famous author at this time, though his most popular books were written during the gap between the Surveyor of the Port job in Salem and the consul job in England. I guess famous authors back then didn’t make the same money as they do today. Of course Hawthorne missed out on the movie rights to his books. The Scarlet Letter has been made into a least six movies going back to 1934, and there are at least two House of Seven Gables movies.

While in Salem, Hawthorne worked in the Surveyor’s Office. Today there is an exhibit of some of the items he used on the job, including his desk. Up until around 1870, Customs employees had to provide their own furniture.