It’s said that sculptor Maria Louise Lander, granddaughter of Nathaniel West, was the inspiration for characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun. The two dated for a bit before the relationship soured in 1858, stemming from rumors of Maria Louise modeling nude and having an affair with an unknown person while in Rome. If true, we wonder if she would have been a better muse for The Scarlet Letter.

If Abijah Northkey had his way, you'd be staying somewhere else. That’s because the West House would not exist. Soon after Nathaniel West purchased the parcel of land upon which this house was ultimately built, Northkey, whose land abutted this parcel, claimed the land was part of his father’s inheritance and rightfully his. Fortunately, West won that battle and his house, and, ultimately, the Salem Inn was built.