14 Mercy Lane, Salem, Massachusetts(978) 555-0148Gift cardsJournalContact
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October 2025 is nearly full: a few midweek rooms remain. Planning an October visit?

Separate building · King + kitchenette · Dogs welcome

Carriage House Suite

Across the garden from the main house, in the building that once held a doctor's gig and later a hearse, there is a bright suite with its own patio, a kitchenette and a water bowl by the door. Bring the dog. Bring the kids. Bring paddles, if you like.

Book a room Bringing your dog

The Carriage House Suite: a king bed under exposed beams, a small kitchenette, and French doors open to a brick patio

From horses to hearses to you

The carriage house went up around 1840, built for Dr. Pell's horse and the light two-wheeled gig he drove on house calls; you can still see the outline of the wide double doors in the clapboards on the lane side. When Hollis & Vane took over the main house as a funeral parlor in 1889, the carriage house held their black-plumed hearse and the two horses that pulled it, and after 1919 the motor hearse that replaced them. The oil stain on the old floor was so stubborn that the Fairweathers simply laid new boards over it.

The Alcotts converted the ground floor into a guest suite in 2016, and they live upstairs, in the old hayloft, with a three-legged cat named Ledger. That makes the Carriage House Suite the only room on the property where the innkeepers are, quite literally, around. It's also the only place we can welcome dogs and children of every age, because its walls are its own and its noise doesn't travel up a 1748 staircase.

The carriage house from the garden, with its brick patio, a bench, and a dog lying in the sun
The carriage house from the garden. The dog is a regular; she comes every September.

What's in the suite

The suite is one long, high room with the old hayloft beams overhead, divided by a half wall into a sleeping end and a living end. The king bed has a linen headboard and a cotton quilt that is machine washable, because we've met dogs. At the other end are a queen sleeper sofa (for children, or for the friend who snores), two armchairs and a big farm table that seats four.

The kitchenette runs along one wall: a two-burner induction cooktop, a microwave, a full-size refrigerator, a sink, a coffee maker and an electric kettle, with plates, glasses and a few good pans for four. It is the only room on the property where you can make your own toast at midnight. Breakfast in the Lantern Room is still included, and the walk across the garden takes about forty seconds.

French doors open onto a private brick patio with a low wall, a café table, two chairs and a pair of Adirondack chairs that face the garden. The bathroom has a tiled walk-in shower with a low curb and a handheld shower head that is very good for rinsing muddy paws.

Bringing your dog

Dogs are welcome in the Carriage House Suite and nowhere else on the property overnight. The fee is $50 per night, and we can take up to two dogs of any size. You'll find a dog bed, bowls, a towel by the door, a jar of biscuits from the Lantern Room kitchen and a map of the nearest good walks, including the waterfront, about eight minutes away on foot.

  • Please tell us when you book that you're bringing a dog, and how many.
  • Dogs on a leash in the garden and grounds, and please clean up after them.
  • Dogs may not be left alone in the suite. Samuel keeps a short list of local sitters and walkers if you'd like to go to dinner.
  • Dogs are welcome on the patio at breakfast in summer (we'll bring your plates out), but not inside the Lantern Room, The Ledger or the bar. Service animals are, of course, welcome everywhere.
  • Ledger the cat lives upstairs in the loft and never comes into the suite. He has opinions about dogs and keeps them to himself.

Suite facts

Location
The carriage house, a separate building across the garden
Bed
King, plus a queen sleeper sofa
Sleeps
2 adults, plus children of any age
Kitchen
Kitchenette: two-burner cooktop, microwave, fridge, sink, coffee
Bath
Private, walk-in shower with a low curb
Outdoors
Private brick patio facing the garden
Stairs
None inside; one low step at the door
Dogs
Welcome, up to two: $50 per night
Also
Wi-Fi, air conditioning, television, robes, pack-and-play on request

Rates

SeasonDatesFrom, per night
WinterJanuary – March$329
SpringApril – May$369
Summer & early fallJune – September$419
OctoberAll month$489
Late fall & holidaysNovember – December$389

Rates vary by season and day of the week. Taxes not included; dog fee ($50 per night) extra. Breakfast included for everyone staying in the suite.

Good to know

  • The courts are next door. Our two pickleball courts sit on the old kitchen-garden lot just behind the carriage house. They are open from 8 am, and on a busy Saturday morning (clinic 9 to 10:30) you will hear the pock of paddles from the patio. Play stops at dusk. Guests play free, and paddles and balls are free to borrow. See our Pickle & Pint Getaway.
  • No ghosts, as far as we know. Nobody has reported anything in the carriage house, ever, which given its history surprises us. Maren says the horses took the bad feelings with them.
  • Families. This is the only room where children under 10 can stay. A pack-and-play and a high chair for the Lantern Room are available on request.
  • Walk from the parking area. About thirty yards along a brick path through the garden, lit at night. We have a wagon for luggage.
  • Garden weddings. On some summer Saturdays there's a wedding in the tented garden; the patio looks onto it. Music stops at 10:00 pm. We'll tell you when you book if there's an event on your dates.

Our beagle had the time of her life. We had coffee on the patio, the kids played pickleball before breakfast, and Maren gave the dog a biscuit every time she walked past. I've never felt less like a nuisance traveling with a dog.

— A guest, the Carriage House Suite, August 2024