The Derby Summer House, Sometimes called the Mcintire Tea House, was designed by Samuel Mcintire for Elias Hasket Derby of Salem in 1793 and was constructed by Mcintire in July 1794 on Derby's farm on Andover Street (Route 114) in Danvers, (Now Peabody). The farm was located where route 114 now intersects route 128, and included the area that is now the North Shore Shopping Center.
Samuel Mcintire was Salem’s most prominent wood carver, house builder, and cabinetmaker during the Federal period in American architecture. Likewise, Elias Hasket Derby was Salem’s most prominent merchant. His ships were the first to land in China to buy spices, silks and other goods.
In 1901, Ellen Peabody Endicott (Mrs. William Crowninsheild Endicott, Sr.), purchased the Summer House and had it moved to Glen Magna Farms. It was so well built that not even the plaster cracked during the move.
The Derby Summer House is unique. There is no other building like it in the United States today, and it is considered a national historical landmark.
To learn more about this national historic landmark, please visit danvershistory.org. To continue with the tour, turn right on the path in front of the Derby Summer House. You will then find yourself under the historic Weeping Beech tree.
