Narboone House entrance on Essex Street

The Narbonne House is the only historical building within Salem Maritime National Historic Site that is not on or near Derby Street. To find it, walk between the Hawkes House and the Derby House and just keep going until you see it. The house is actually on Essex Street, but there is a walkway that leads to it from Derby Street.

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The Narbonne House is one of the five oldest buildings in Salem, having been built around 1672. It remained occupied all the way up until the National Park Service purchased it in 1964 (it was not part of Salem Maritime National Historic Site to begin with—the park was created in 1938). The National Park Service approached the owner about selling, and a deal was made. Other than stabilization-related renovations, the interior of the house has been left just as it was in 1964.

Interior of the Narbonne House

The Narbonne House fits into the Salem maritime narrative in that it is representative of a typical working class house, thus providing a counterpoint to the Derby House and Hawkes House, which are homes of wealthy Salem businessmen. The house began as the home of Thomas Ives, a butcher by trade. Ives died in 1695 and was survived by his wife. She ended up selling the house and land in 1699 to Simon Willard. The house was quite small, so the Willards expanded it to the size it is today. (Willard testified against Reverend George Burroughs during the Salem witch trials.)

In 1729, Simon sold the house to his son, Josiah, and a few months later Josiah sold the northern half of the house and lot to his brother, Richard. On that same day, Richard mortgaged his half of the estate to Thomas Ellis. The loan was not repaid, so Ellis eventually foreclosed and became owner of half the house and property.

Rear of the Narbonne House shows its different sections

Josiah Willard died in 1731, and his half of the property and house went to his children. In 1750, they sold it to Joseph Hodges, and later in 1757, Hodges purchased the other half from the Ellis Family. Joseph and his wife, Elizabeth, owned the house until 1780, but did not live in it all of this time. When Joseph’s business became more successful, the couple moved to a larger home and used the Narbonne House as a rental until selling it to Jonathan Andrew. It is not known exactly when the Hodges moved into the new house, though the “mansion” was mentioned in Joseph’s will that he signed in 1778.

Jonathan Andrew and his wife Mary had seven children, ages 4 to 19, when they moved into the house. Jonathan died a year later, leaving Mary alone to raise the children. Her daughter Sarah, who was 10 years old when the family moved in, married Matthew Vincent, and they continued to live with her mother, having five children of their own while there, including a daughter also named Sarah. Jonathan Jr., the oldest Andrew boy, also remained in the house, and it was he who eventually inherited the property.

When Jonathan Jr. died in 1844, his niece Sarah was still living in the house. She must have been the only descendant who showed any interest in it, because Jonathan left it to her in his will. Sarah had married Nicholas Narbonne in 1823 and had a child each of the next two years. The couple separated in 1825 (Nicholas is thought to have died a few years later in 1830). Sarah ended up living her entire life in the house, dying in 1890 at the age of 95. Her daughter, Mary, inherited the house and lived there until her death in 1905. (It is interesting to note that while the house is now called the Narbonne House, when Mary died, according to a Salem history book that I stumbled upon from 1909, it was known as the Willard House.)

Mary had no children, so the house went to her brother’s son, the only living heir. He lived in Los Angeles and had no interest in moving to Salem, so he rented the house to his cousin, Frank Hale, starting in 1911. Hale eventually bought the house in 1948, and it was his daughter, Margaret, who ultimately inherited it and sold it to the National Park Service. Thus, though having different names—Andrew, Vincent, Narbonne, and Hall—the house remained in one family for 184 years.

Today, the Narbonne House is open to the public by guided tour only (see the Derby and Narbonne House Guided Tour web page for details). There is no furniture inside, and only two rooms are visited. However, there is a display of artifacts that were found in the yard during archaeological digs done between 1973 and 1975. There was no trash collection service in Salem until the early 1900s, so people got rid of their garbage by burning or burying it in their yards. Because of this, over 150,000 artifacts were found, including children’s toys, dishes and other ceramic items, building materials, and the bones of animals that were eaten at the time.

Dishes and pots found in the 1970s excavation of the Narbonne House yard

Display of items inside the Narbonne House

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