Historic Houses
Derby-Beebe Summer House
Federal Garden area
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The Derby-Beebe Summer House (1799) is a one-room structure intended for serving light afternoon meals in a garden setting and retains nearly complete historic integrity.
All the trademarks of the Federal style are found in this small building, which epitomizes the gracious architecture and lifestyle of its era. It is one of only three surviving summer houses designed by Salem’s preeminent architect, Samuel McIntire. It originally graced the garden overlooking the river behind the mansion of Elias Hasket Derby (or “King” Derby). The house was completed in 1796 and Derby died only months after it was completed. His children fought but none could afford to buy the others out of their shares so it sat abandoned until 1816, when it was finally demolished and its architectural components sold off. The land on which the mansion sat was donated to the City of Salem and the current historic Old Town Hall was then built shortly thereafter.
Garden houses such as Derby-Beebe were based on such structures found on the estates of England that became popular in the late 18th century.
Photography by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
They were hidden in little nooks and crannies and were a place of private escape and quiet. This example was substantially restored to its original appearance in the late 1980s and retains important McIntire carvings.
Steven Mallory and Dinah Cardin recording PEM Walks. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
The Federal Garden
The federal garden nearby is a replication of the original garden that stood behind the Derby Mansion. The plantings are similar to the ones in the original garden — Heirloom roses, fruit trees, rhododendrons, and all sorts of smaller plantings as ground cover. This garden represents a movement away from the geometric and formal gardens of the earlier 18th century, which can be seen in the Colonial Revival garden in PEM’s Ropes Mansion Garden.
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