You are bidding on a package of behind-the-scenes tours of three of Essex County's premier historic houses: the Amos Blanchard House in Andover, the Sargent House Museum in Gloucester, the Heard House in Ipswich.

You and a guest will go behind the scenes to see the usually hidden attics and basements, and nooks and crannies, of three Essex County historic sites.

Amos Blanchard House is home to the Andover Historical Society.  A stately country style Federal home, the Blanchard house was built in 1819 as the home of Amos Blanchard, his wife, and two sons. Blanchard was a witness to the Constitution of the Andover Theological Seminary, a founder of Andover National Bank, and a deacon of South Church.  

For over 100 years, the Sargent House Museum was the home of sea merchants, patriots and community leaders. A fine example of high-style Georgian domestic architecture, the house was built in 1782 for Judith Sargent Stevens (1751-1820), a philosopher, writer and an early advocate of women's equality.

The Heard House is operated by the Ipswich Museum.  Between the years 1795 and 1800, John Heard (1744-1834) built a mansion that served as a testimony to his wealth and stature. It is thought that he personally oversaw its construction while living in another house just down the hill. As a young man, Heard worked as a “housewright,” or house builder, before making his fortune as the owner of a distillery, as the financer of privateering vessels during the Revolutionary War, as a land owner, and in trade with the West Indies. His own house would have to be exceptional - and it is.