{"nrhp_refnum":"74000364","name":"Hale, Reverend John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"39 Hale St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Beverly","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.549066819000075,"lon":-70.87439678899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 1694 house at 39 Hale Street in Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts, built for Rev. John Hale, with a gambrel-roofed wing added in 1745 and later ells and a 20th-century addition.","why_significant":"The house was the home of Rev. John Hale, first settled minister of Beverly's first gathered church. He was involved in the 1692 witchcraft trials and wrote a 1697 treatise on witchcraft there. It also shows the evolution of a house from 1694 through 1745 and later, and stayed in the Hale family for 12 generations.","narrative":"Built in 1694 on Hale Street in Beverly, this house was the home of Rev. John Hale, the town's first settled minister. The original two-and-a-half-story section runs east-west, and town records describe lumber granted to Hale for the frame, which tradition says reused timbers from his earlier 1665 house across the street. In 1745 a gambrel-roofed wing was added facing the street, and its pedimented entrance is now the main door. Further ells and a 20th-century caretaker's addition followed, and the whole house is covered in grey clapboard. Inside are early ornamental hardware and a room with its original 1745 hand-blocked English wallpaper. Hale was ordained in 1667, served until his death in 1700, and took part in the 1692 witchcraft trials. After his own wife was accused, public confidence in the accusers collapsed. In 1697 he wrote a treatise on witchcraft here. The house stayed in his family for twelve generations before passing to the Beverly Historical Society in 1937.","period_of_significance":"17th and 18th centuries (specific dates 1694 and 1745)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition and altered; owned by the Beverly Historical Society (acquired 1937), used as a museum, with a caretaker living in a rear addition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.145115-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7949/63794982/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000364.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000364/f9a2bf1545-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000364/f9a2bf1545-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daderot at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rev._John_Hale_House_-_Beverly,_Massachusetts.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rev._John_Hale_House_-_Beverly,_Massachusetts.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794982","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hale_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6237259"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/hale-reverend-john-house-74000364/"}