Ingersoll’s Tavern, also known as Ingersoll’s Ordinary, is a historic house in Danvers, Massachusetts that once served as a tavern during the Salem Witch Trials.
The tavern is a Colonial-style clapboard house located on Hobart Street. The oldest part of the house was built in 1670 for Nathaniel Ingersoll, lieutenant of the militia and first deacon of Salem Village Church.
Ingersoll ran a tavern there, where he sold beer, cider, and liquor and rented rooms to travelers. The tavern featured a large fireplace with hooks on each side to hang firearms, a bare sanded floor, and stools and chairs in the bar room.
Taverns in 17th-century New England operated under strict restrictions. They were forbidden from serving Native Americans, apprentices, Harvard students, and intoxicated people.
Taverns also needed to close by sunset or 9 p.m., and sinful games like cards, dice, billiards, and shuffleboard were forbidden.
Ingersoll’s Tavern served as the social center of the community where military personnel and civilians would often gather to hold meetings.
Since there were few public buildings in rural areas, taverns were often used for government purposes as well, like public meetings, hearings, and sometimes as a temporary jail.
When Reverend George Burroughs was arrested in Salem Village in 1683 for having debts, he was taken to the Salem Village meetinghouse for questioning, after which he asked “Well, what will you do with me?”
This prompted John Putnam to order the marshal to “take your prisoner, and have him up to the ordinary – that is a public house -, and secure him till the morning” (Upham 259.)
When the Salem Witch Trials began in 1692, on March 1, three accused witches, Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne, were arrested and confined at the tavern.
The women were scheduled to be examined there but the examinations were moved to the meetinghouse due to the large crowd that gathered to watch.
The other accused witches later examined and/or confined at the tavern include:
Bridget Bishop
Martha Carrier
Giles Corey
Martha Corey
Lydia Dustin
Sarah Dustin
Dorothy Good
Elizabeth Hart
Dorcas Hoar
Abigail Hobbs
Elizabeth Howe
Sarah Murrell
Rebecca Nurse
William Proctor
Wilmot Redd
Mary Warren
In addition, Nathaniel Ingersoll himself accused several of the suspected witches, including Martha Corey, John and Elizabeth Proctor, Sarah Wilds, Susannah Martin, John Willard, Benjamin Proctor, Mary DeRich, Sarah Pease, and Sarah Cloyce, and provided testimony against them.
Several acts of suspected witchcraft reportedly happened at Ingersoll’s Tavern, according to the court records. On March 28, William Rayment and Daniel Elliot were at Ingersoll’s Tavern with some of the afflicted girls when they heard the girls claim to see the specter of Elizabeth Proctor standing near them.
On April 10, Mercy Lewis reportedly suffered a fit at Ingersoll’s Tavern and cried out that Sarah Cloyce was afflicting her, according to Ephraim Shelden’s testimony.
On April 21, afflicted girl Abigail Williams was walking past the tavern when she claimed to see the specter of George Burroughs standing in the road.
Nathaniel Ingersoll’s adopted son, Benjamin Hutchinson, reportedly threw a pitchfork at the specter and Abigail told him he succeeded in tearing Burroughs coat but he vanished.
Hutchinson said he then entered the tavern with Abigail Williams where she claimed to see the specter again but it disappeared when Hutchinson drew his rapier.
Hutchinson said Williams saw the specter reappear as a cat, prompting Hutchinson to ask “Where abouts doth she stand?” When Williams pointed to the cat’s location, he struck at with his rapier. Williams told him he successfully killed the cat but she saw the specter of Sarah Good appear and carry the cat away.
On December 12, 1693, Ingersoll submitted a request to the Superior Court of Judicature asking for repayment for lodging, food, drinks, and care for the magistrate’s horses provided during the Salem Witch Trials examinations.
Ingersoll asked for repayment for “Horses, Drink and Entertainment” provided to the marshal and the magistrates during Martha Corey’s examination.
Ingersoll also requested repayment for “Horse Standing, Supper Lodging one night and drink for his attendance” provided to the marshal during Rebecca Nurse’s examination.
Ingersoll went on to ask for repayment for various “Horses, Hey & Oates…Drink for the Guard upon the Committed persons one Night” and “Victualls & Drink the Next Morning for the Attendance Guard” for April 19, 1692.
He also asked for repayment for “Oates for the Cart Horses & Marshalls Horse” and “Victualls for the Majestrates & tendance & Horses” during the “conveyance” of George Burroughs and other prisoners and for the guard hired to watch John Willard, Thomas Farrier, and others.
In addition, Ingersoll also asked for repayment for victuals, horse pasturing, cider, supper, and drink during the examination of William Proctor and several others in May 1692.
After Nathaniel Ingersoll died in 1719, the house later passed to Joseph Cross, a mariner in Salem, in 1736. Cross made extensive repairs on the house, which was again licensed as a tavern from 1751 to 1798.
In 1802, the house was sold to Major General Ebenezer Goodale who ran a large butchering business there for 30 years. The house became somewhat run-down during Goodale’s ownership.
In May of 1832, the First Church of Salem purchased the house to use as a parsonage. It continued to serve as a parsonage until the late 1960s.
In 2011, a private owner named Grenville Thoron purchased the house. It has sat vacant since. The house has fallen into disrepair and Thoron has had no success in finding financial assistance to repair it.
On September 15, 2024, a Change.org petition to save Ingersoll’s Tavern was posted and has received nearly 2,400 signatures to date.
Thoron reportedly bought the property hoping to preserve it and turn it into a house museum. He contacted the Danvers Historical Society and the Danvers Alarm List Company Inc for assistance but neither organization had the finances to help.
The house currently has a hole in the roof, the clapboards are falling off, and there are holes in the eaves allowing squirrels and birds to enter the home.
The structure is marked with a red “X” to warn firefighters of potential structural dangers inside the home as the building is believed to be in danger of collapse.
Despite reaching out for help, Thoron had not allowed anyone inside the building to assess the extent of the damage until May 2025, when he finally allowed David McKenna, President of the Danver Historical Society, access to the building.
Danvers has turned to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and, in May 2025, the house was officially placed in receivership, which is a process where a court-appointed third party intervenes to make a distressed property safe and habitable.
Sources:
Upham, Charles Wentworth. Salem Witchcraft With an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects · Volume 1. Wiggin and Lunt, 1867.
“SWP No. 171: Officials’ Expense Accounts for 1692 (Submitted 1692 – 1694).” Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, salem.lib.virginia.edu/n171.html#n171.4
Enos, Carline. “History at stake: Danvers officials work to save Salem Witch Trials’ tavern.” Salem News, 25 Apr. 2024, salemnews.com/news/history-at-stake-danvers-officials-work-to-save-salem-witch-trials-tavern/article_123b0f38-01a1-11ef-badf-1f8bff7b3e82.html
Enos, Caroline. “Salem Witch Trials site still at risk despite bigger push to save it.” Salem News, 3 Oct. 2024, salemnews.com/news/salem-witch-trials-site-still-at-risk-despite-bigger-push-to-save-it/article_ae885f66-7ab0-11ef-b483-4f5254b7e44c.html
McCarthy, Christine. “Community hopes to save 17th-century tavern tied to Salem Witch Trials.” Boston 25 News, 16 Sept. 2024, boston25news.com/news/local/community-hopes-save-17th-century-tavern-tied-salem-witch-trials/HTUTAWOZ4BFTDGC4XITQEXLKBY/
Patkin, Abby. “This North Shore home has ties to the Salem witch trials and American Revolution. Officials say it’s now ‘rotting’ away.” Boston.com, 31 Oct. 2024, boston.com/news/history/2024/10/31/danvers-historic-home-salem-witch-trials-american-revolution/
“Historic Building Detail: DAN.35 Ingersoll House.” MACRIS, mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=dan.35