In the news
Press
A small house gets a surprising amount of attention, most of it in October. Here's some of what's been written about us, in brief, with our thanks to the writers who climbed all those stairs.
Selected mentions
Named the Crane & Lantern House one of its favorite historic stays on the North Shore, praising the "unfussy" restoration and calling the Captain's Quarters a room that makes you want to cancel your dinner plans and read by the fire.
— The Coastal Weekender, "Twelve Old Inns Worth the Drive," 2025
Singled out Chef Dee Okafor's cod with a benne-seed crust as one of the dishes of the year in the region, and described the jollof risotto as "a quiet argument that New England cooking was always more international than it admitted."
— North Shore Table, annual dining guide, 2024
Featured the Fairweather restoration in a long piece on saving endangered colonial houses, with photographs of the blue-green 1748 paneling and the concealed shoe beside the kitchen chimney.
— Old House Quarterly, "The Ones That Almost Got Away," Winter 1998
Ran a real wedding from the Widow's Walk elopement package, and said the couple's sunset vows on the roof, with ten guests watching from the garden below, were "the most romantic thing we've published that didn't involve a castle."
— Vows by the Sea (wedding blog), 2023
Recommended the Lantern Ghost Walk as a "grown-up" alternative to Salem's jump-scare tours, noting that the guide spent more time on the pepper trade than on ghosts, and that nobody minded.
— Wayfarer New England, "October in Salem, Without the Screaming," 2022
Spent an episode in the Nursery and reported "two unexplained rolling sounds and one extremely confident cat," concluding that the house was haunted chiefly by good taste.
— Things That Go Bump (podcast), episode 114, 2021
Listed the brown-butter johnnycakes in a roundup of the best breakfasts in Massachusetts, advising readers to arrive before 8 on weekends "or bring a book."
— The Morning Plate, "Worth Getting Up For," 2023
Included the inn in a weekend itinerary for train travelers from Boston, calling the nine-minute walk from the station "the easiest arrival in New England, if you pack light."
— Rails & Rambles, "Car-Free Weekends: The North Shore," 2024
Described the Undertaker's Parlor as "the coziest room in Salem in which to drink something called an Embalmer's Old Fashioned," and gave the Pell's Remedy a perfect score.
— Last Call Quarterly, 2025
Quotes are short excerpts or paraphrases. We've linked nothing because half of these publications have redesigned their websites since, and the other half are on paper in a drawer in the office.
Recognition
- Readers' Preservation Prize, Old House Quarterly, 1998, for the Fairweather restoration
- "Best Breakfast, North Shore," The Morning Plate readers' poll, 2023 and 2024
- Guest Favorite, The Coastal Weekender Inn Awards, 2019
For writers, editors and producers
We're happy to help with stories about the house's history, Salem's maritime past, Chef Dee's cooking, old-house preservation and, yes, the ghosts. We can arrange interviews with Maren and Theo Alcott, Chef Dee Okafor or Samuel Teague, our head innkeeper and resident historian, and we can open the archive (the Crane account book, Abigail Crane's letters, Dr. Pell's daybook) for research by appointment.
A few things we ask: please visit outside October if you can, when we have the time to show you around properly; please don't film guests, or in guest rooms that are occupied; and please don't describe the house as having any connection to the 1692 trials. It was built in 1748, and the people of 1692 deserve better than to be someone's plot device.
We do not host paranormal investigation crews, though we're flattered to be asked.
Press contact
Maren Alcott
The Crane & Lantern House, 14 Mercy Lane, Salem, Massachusetts 01970
press@cranelantern.example · (978) 555-0148
High-resolution illustrations, the fact sheet and the history in brief are available on request.
