Hepzibah is a sixty-year-old woman who has lived essentially alone in the ancestral Pyncheon mansion for decades. Nearsightedness gives her a permanent scowl, but she possesses a tender and generous heart. Raised in wealth, she now faces extreme poverty and forces herself to open a small shop to support herself and her returning brother.

Clifford is Hepzibah's beloved brother who has recently returned home after serving a thirty-year prison sentence. His prolonged confinement has left him deeply traumatized and highly sensitive. He shrinks from the outside world and demands gentle care, finding solace only in beautiful things like flowers and sunshine.

Phoebe is a seventeen-year-old country cousin of Hepzibah and Clifford. She brings a cheerful and highly practical energy to the household, effortlessly taking over shopkeeping duties and providing vital care for Clifford. Her presence transforms the dark interior into a livable space, though the heavy atmosphere eventually begins to affect her sunny disposition.

Holgrave is a twenty-two-year-old boarder living in one of the house's gables. He makes his living as a daguerreotypist but has previously worked in various trades from dentistry to mesmerism. Strongly independent and reform-minded, he despises the way past generations dictate the lives of the present and studies the house with intense curiosity.

Judge Pyncheon is Hepzibah and Clifford's wealthy cousin. He projects an aura of civic respectability and offers a magnetic smile, masking a deeply greedy nature. He maintains a relentless pressure on his vulnerable relatives, seeking to secure a supposedly hidden family land deed at any cost.

Colonel Pyncheon is the seventeenth-century Puritan patriarch of the family. Driven by a desire to expand his estate, he exploited the Salem witch trials to steal land from a poorer neighbor. His intimidating portrait continues to hang in the house, maintaining a physical presence over his descendants.

Matthew Maule is a modest Puritan-era townsperson who carved out a small homestead for himself near a spring of soft water. When he refused to yield his desirable land to a wealthy neighbor, he was falsely accused of witchcraft and executed.

Uncle Jaffrey is a deceased Pyncheon ancestor who previously controlled the family wealth. His sudden death thirty years prior to the story's events led to Clifford's long imprisonment and shifted the family fortunes into the hands of the future Judge Pyncheon.

Uncle Venner is an older town resident who pieces together a living by doing small jobs around the neighborhood. He is a friendly, supportive presence for the isolated Pyncheons, providing practical wisdom and a connection to the outside community.

Thomas Maule is the son of the executed Matthew Maule. Despite the theft of his family's land, he is hired by Colonel Pyncheon to construct the imposing House of the Seven Gables on the very spot where his father's cottage once stood.

Gervayse Pyncheon is the grandson of Colonel Pyncheon, featured in a story written by Holgrave. He desperately desires to claim a massive tract of land in Maine to fund his permanent return to Europe, leading him to negotiate recklessly with a man who holds a grudge against his family.

Matthew Maule is a carpenter and the grandson of the original Matthew Maule, appearing in Holgrave's story. He possesses rumored mystical abilities and uses an opportunity regarding hidden documents to seek revenge against the family that stole his ancestral property.

Alice Pyncheon is a proud young woman featured in Holgrave's story. When her father attempts to bargain with a local carpenter for lost land deeds, she is drawn into a mesmerizing trance, losing her autonomy to a decades-old family grievance.