Meet Your Site Manager: Abby Stewart

Every historic site has a story—and so do the people who care for them. Meet Abby Stewart, North Shore Regional Site Administrator at Historic New England. She has been with the organization for four years and manages Phillips House, Gedney House, and Boardman House. When Abby isn’t working at sites in the North Shore, she enjoys traveling, going to concerts, and crafting.

Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be a site manager at Historic New England.

Growing up in Massachusetts, I have always had a deep love of the region’s history and landscape. After teaching high school English literature and ancient history, I received my master’s degree in architectural history and historic preservation from the University of Virginia, where my research explored how buildings, particularly house museums and iconic structures, undergo changes in their use and function over time, and how that impacts our idea of place. I began my museum career in Newport, Rhode Island, where I was the Education and Interpretation Manager for the Newport Mansions. After a brief stint in Braille publishing, I joined Historic New England as the North Shore Regional Site Administrator and Salem and Saugus Site Manager in 2022.

Which parts of your work do you find most rewarding and the most challenging?

The part of my work that I find the most rewarding is connecting with our visitors and guide staff. It’s important to me that the properties create a space where people aren’t just passively going through the history of the site, but they are actively connecting their experiences to what they’re seeing and hearing. House museums have a unique quality in that they frame history in a familiar context. Everyone can connect to a bedroom or kitchen, and to work through historic moments in those spaces makes more of an impact.

When you think about your sites, what is one favorite thing that comes to mind? 

My favorite thing is what I call the “Four Centuries Wall” at Gedney House. Gedney House is unique in that visitors can see a surviving seventeenth-century structure, right down to the beams. In the Four Centuries Wall, there are examples of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century domestic architecture and insights to everyday living that I find fascinating.

What are some of the best ways you’ve found to connect neighbors and community members with Historic New England’s sites?

One of the best ways to connect with neighbors is to be a welcoming part of the community. We have community-wide recurring programs, like the annual Phillips House Car Meet (August 9, 2026!), that have become part of the seasonal rhythm in Salem—and not just in October!

Are there any new tours, programs, or surprises visitors can look forward to this season? 

We’re excited for some new offerings this year, like The Art of Phillips House—a tour focused on the Phillips family’s collection of fine art and objects—and Aperture and Architecture: Open Photography at Gedney House. We’re also looking forward to more music at Phillips House this year, from sea shanties to blues to classical guitar.

Do you have a favorite local spot or activity near your sites that you like to recommend to friends or visitors? 

The usual lunch recommendations are Turner’s Seafood or Red’s Sandwich Shop in Salem. Both have pretty historic locations. Turner’s is in Lyceum Hall, where Alexander Graham Bell made the first publicly demonstrated long-distance phone call from Salem to Boston, and Red’s is at the London Coffee House, ca. 1698, which was a local gathering spot for Salem’s rebels before the American Revolution.

To learn more about these and other events at Abby’s sites, visit HistoricNewEngland.org/Events.