For over two hundred years Hamilton Hall on Salem’s scenic Chestnut Street has served as a gathering place for the community. The building dates to 1805, when Samuel McIntire was commissioned to design a meeting place for Salem’s Federalist Party. It was named to honor Federalist Party leader Alexander Hamilton.
As the 19th century progressed, the Hall became an ideal place for dance studios due to Samuel McIntire’s signature spring floors. Lorenzo Papanti, a master dance instructor from Boston regularly held classes at Hamilton Hall, attended by the children of Salem’s elite. The dance classes later gave way to grand debutante presentations and balls. In the 20th century, local instructors Henry O. Upton and Harriet James continued the tradition of providing lessons at the Hall, which lasted into the 1970s.
One of the Hall’s oldest traditions and its largest fundraiser is the annual Christmas Week Dance, which can be traced back to the 1880s. Money is also raised for the Hall through a lecture series sponsored by the Ladies Committee. The series has been in place for seventy years and features a variety of speakers, discussing domestic and foreign affairs.
In 1970, Hamilton Hall was designated as a National Historic Landmark and today is regularly rented for banquets, weddings and, as its original intention, a meeting place.
There have been claims of seeing an apparition of a male on the stairwell, then just disappear. Visitors have claimed to have felt unusual cold spots throughout the house.
Sorry I’m a little late with this Presidents Day post, but I woke up this morning with an earnest desire to take a walk around Salem, an urge I haven’t felt for quite some time. And since it was Presidents Day, I had a walking theme, which is always nice. We had a lovely weekend in New Hampshire with old friends and a equally lovely dinner with my brother and brother-in-law when we returned last…
Ok I get that you should not make fun of people interpretation of characters and that character playlist are not that deep but whoever put a god damn Taylor swift song on a spiderpunk playlist should never be allowed near spotify ever again
Alex had seen the guy around campus, sure. He was hard to miss, but Alex never said out loud why. For everyone else, being the son of the famous James Bond actor made him a celebrity enough.
But for Alex, Henry Fox just…stood out.
[non-royal au. University au. Cool guy x nerd trope.]
All Over Again (finished)
Alex and Henry's first kiss goes a little differently.
[one shot. Canon-divergence. New Year's kiss.]
Salt Follows the Moon (unfinished)
Vampires exist, and it's no secret.
What is a secret, is that Henry Hanover-Stuart Windsor needs a blood donor.
Alex Claremont-Diaz just can't leave well enough alone.
[vampire!Henry x blood donor!Alex. Canon-divergence.]
Moonburn (unfinished)
Alex Claremont-Diaz is everything a wolf should be. Tall, long-limbed, strong, and most of all: charismatic. Community and pack oriented. Some would also say he’s loud, overeager, and has his head up the moon’s ass.
Again: werewolf. It’s like blaming water for being wet.
As for Henry Hanover-Stuart Windsor Fox…his mother is a wolf. She comes from a long and prestigious line—many lines—of wolves. She fell in love with a human. Despite the initial shock and disdain for marrying outside of tradition, having two children born as healthy, strong wolves calmed several of the loudest, bigoted voices.
And then Henry came along. The youngest. The favorite. The human. But nobody else knows that last part.
[werewolf!Alex x human!Henry. Canon-divergence.]
Satellites (unfinished)
Alex is in England for a year studying abroad. To his both relieved and annoyed surprise, the whole school is in a tizzy over something other than the American president’s son enrolling…except it’s Henry.
Prince Henry. He’s enrolled too.
[university au. Ceramicist!Henry x dancer!Alex. Still royal and FSOTUS.]
Alexander Hamilton Hall (unfinished)
It started with a group project.
Well, Alex supposed it started when Henry Fox moved to town, or perhaps when Alex’s parents succeeded enough in their political careers that he and June were transferred to the most prestigious high school in Texas.
Alexander Hamilton Hall.
[high school au. Non-royal au. Arthur lives au.]
Burning (unfinished)
Henry did manage to tell Alex to leave that night in Kensington.
Now it’s two years later, and Alex is over it. He has a girlfriend. His mother has been reelected. He’s going to the Swanky Soiree of Something Important in Paris, because he’s over it. Henry can be there and it’s fine.
Henry is there. And it’s most definitely not fine.
[canon-divergence. Whump and angst. Getting back together fic.]
Codename: Rapunzel (unfinished)
Acquiring the Prince of Wales’ name in his Burn Book, so to speak, had not been a surprise in Alex’s line of work. What had been a surprise, was that someone wanted the fourth in line for the throne dead.
[assassin/hitman!Alex x Prince Henry.]
What was the relationship between the LMS Pacifics and the GWR Kings, halls, etc?
This is considering William stander was a swine on man and worked on the GWR before hand.
5025: Depends on the GWR engine. Most of us here in the LMS have close familiarity with bonds with those who share the same designer. Almost all of the King Class’s don’t bother with us.
PENDENNIS: Oh the King Class’s don’t bother with anyone, they’ll all a bunch of CUNTS!
I’ve learned a lot about Salem’s African-American history while writing this blog; I don’t think I would look at the city the same way otherwise. I associate Chestnut Street, where I live, much more with the Remond family and their myriad activities centered on Hamilton Hall than with any particular Salem merchant or sea captain. When I walk to work down Lafayette Street, I pass a neighborhood of…