2024 Christmas In Salem Part 4 – Captain Emery Johnson House (Salem, MA)

Date Of Visit: December 7, 2024

Location: 630 Essex St, Salem, MA

Parking: There are several parking lots and garages in the Salem area

Universally Accessible: No, many of the homes do not have ramps or universally accessible entry

After a short break from posting about the Christmas In Salem tours, I am resuming these posts.

The Christmas In Salem event reinforces how you can’t judge a book, or in this case house, by it’s cover or exterior. At first glance, the Captain Emery Johnson House looks like any garden variety historic home. Yet, as you will soon see, it’s interior is far from it.

Built in 1853, the Captain Emery S. Johnson house is an Italian Revival style residence. Decor of the Italian Revival style can be seen in the bay window frames and the scored corner boarding. Captain Johnson inherited the land for the house in 1845 when his father passed away.

After a successful career in maritime, Captain Johnson retied at the ripe old age of 22. Johnson’s travels included traveling to Brazil, Zanzibar and Madagascar. Shortly after his retirement, Johnson met Ann Elizabeth Creamer. They wed in June, 1850. After the death of both of Johnson’s brothers at sea, he became the sole heir of his father’s fortune. With his new found riches, he decided to have the house built.

The lighting fixtures at the home were very pretty and unique.

A piano player provided some comforting Christmas music.

Christmas decor and other types of decor were abundant in the home.

There were small Christmas trees and a rather big one! You may notice something different about the background of this photo. More on this later.

This dinner table is not any normal dinner table. This dinner table used to be a billiards table! That’s right. People used to play pool on this table. It appears to have been modified for

Getting back to the background in the photo of the tree decoration posted above, this may look like some decorative wallpaper or painted decor. But, it’s not.

This wall decor was done by stencil! Incredible, yet true.

Another odd part of this home was the dining area. Specifically this table.

At some point during the ownership of the home, a Dr Friedman owned the house. And, yes, were that table is was possibly where he did his “research.” Of course, it’s not the exact same table. But, it’s still a little creepy.

Outside the home there was more cool decor.

Don’t forget to visit my Facebook page to see more photos I don’t post in my blog. And you can also find me on Instagram.