Salem, Massachusetts

Native Americans lived in northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. The peninsula that would become Salem was known as Naumkeag (alternate spellings Naemkeck,[7] Nahumkek,[8] Neumkeage[9]) by the native people who lived there at the time of contact in the early 1600s. Naumkeag was a major settlement for the indigenous group that controlled territory from the Merrimack to the Mystic rivers. The English and other Europeans referred to them as the Naumkeag people. There are probable indigenous settlement sites near the mouths of the North, South, and Forest rivers in Salem.[10]

The contact period was a disastrous time for the Naumkeag. Many Naumkeag died in a war with the Tarrantine and as a result of a smallpox epidemic in 1617–1619, including their powerful sachem Nanepashemet. The disease had probably been contracted by members who came into contact with European fishermen or explorers. Their strength was reduced just prior to the arrival of English settlers in 1626 to what became modern-day Salem. In 1633, a second smallpox epidemic struck, killing two of Nanepashemet's successors, Montowompate and Wonohaquaham, and leaving his remaining heir Wenepoykin scarred. So it was that English settlers met little resistance on their arrival in Salem. Although Wenepoykin would join Metacomet in King Philip's War in 1675, the English settlers at this point had the numerical superiority to defeat Metacomet's indigenous coalition.

It was not until 1686, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter was recalled by the King in the creation of the Dominion of New England that Wenepoykin's heirs pressed their claim to the land of Salem, for which they were paid twenty pounds.[9]

Colonists settled Naumkeag in 1626 when a company of fishermen[11] arrived from Cape Ann led by Roger Conant. Conant's leadership provided the stability for the settlers to survive the first two years, but John Endecott replaced him by order of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Conant stepped aside and was granted 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land in compensation. These "New Planters" and the "Old Planters"[11][12] agreed to cooperate because of the diplomacy of Conant and Endecott. To recognize this peaceful transition to the new government, the name of the settlement was changed to Salem, the hellenized name of Shalem (שָׁלֵם), the royal city of Melchizedek, that is identified with Jerusalem.[13][14]

In 1628, Endecott ordered that the Great House be moved from Cape Ann, reassembling it on Washington Street north of Church Street.[15] Francis Higginson wrote that "we found a faire house newly built for the Governor" which was remarkable for being two stories high.[16] A year later, the Massachusetts Bay Charter was issued creating the Massachusetts Bay Colony with Matthew Craddock as its governor in London and Endecott as its governor in the colony.[17] John Winthrop was elected Governor in late 1629, and arrived with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, one of the many events that began the Puritan Great Migration.[18]

In 1639, Endecott, among others, signed the building contract for enlarging the meeting house in Town House Square for the first church in Salem. This document remains part of the town records at City Hall. He was active in the affairs of the town throughout his life. Samuel Skelton was the first pastor of the First Church of Salem, which is the original Puritan church in America.[19][20] Endecott already had a close relationship with Skelton, having been converted by him, and Endecott considered him as his spiritual father.[21][22]

Title page of A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by John Hale (Boston, 1702)

Salem's harbor was defended by Fort Miller in Marblehead from 1632 to 1865, and by Fort Pickering on Winter Island from 1643 to 1865.[23] During the 17th and 18th centuries, Salem was involved in the Atlantic slave trade, surpassing Boston in terms of the town's engagement with the triangular trade. Beginning in 1701 there was a steady political and social effort in Massachusetts to end slavery and by 1770 the practice was all but eliminated, with many slaves winning their freedom.[24]

In 1768, Samuel Hall established Salem's first print shop and founded The Essex Gazette Salem's first newspaper, and the third to emerge in Massachusetts.[25][26]

One of the most widely known aspects of Salem is its history of witchcraft allegations, which started with Abigail Williams, Betty Parris, and their friends playing "with a Venus glase & an Egg" to learn "what trade their sweet harts should be of."[27] The infamous Salem Witch Trials began in 1692, and 19 people were executed by hanging because of the false accusations; Giles Corey was pressed to death for refusing to plead innocent or guilty, thus avoiding the noose and instead dying an innocent man.[28] Salem is also significant in legal history as the site of the Dorothy Talbye Trial, where a mentally ill woman was hanged for murdering her daughter because Massachusetts made no distinction at the time between insanity and criminal behavior.[29]

William Hathorne was a prosperous entrepreneur in early Salem and became one of its leading citizens. He led troops to victory in King Philip's War, served as a magistrate on the highest court, and was chosen as the first speaker of the House of Deputies. He was a zealous advocate of the personal rights of freemen against royal emissaries and agents.[30][31] His son Judge John Hathorne came to prominence in the late 17th century when witchcraft was a serious felony. Judge Hathorne is the best known of the witch trial judges, and he became known as the "Hanging Judge" for sentencing accused witches to death.[32][33]

On February 26, 1775, patriots raised the drawbridge at the North River on North Street, preventing British Colonel Alexander Leslie and his 300 troops of the 64th Regiment of Foot from seizing stores and ammunition hidden in North Salem. Both parties came to an agreement and no blood was shed that day, but war broke out at Lexington and Concord soon after. A group of prominent merchants with ties to Salem published a statement retracting what some interpreted as Loyalist leanings and professing their dedication to the American cause, including Francis Cabot,[34] William Pynchon, Thomas Barnard, E. A. Holyoke, and William Pickman.[35]

Salem Harbor, oil on canvas, Fitz Hugh Lane, 1853, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

During the American Revolutionary War, the town became a center for privateering. The documentation is incomplete, but about 1,700 Letters of Marque were granted during that time, issued on a per-voyage basis. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers and are credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships.[36] Privateering resumed during the War of 1812.

Following the American Revolution, many ships used as privateers were too large for short voyages in the coasting trade,[37] and their owners determined to open new avenues of trade to distant countries. The young men of the town, fresh from service on the armed ships of Salem, were eager to embark in such ventures. Captain Nathaniel Silsbee, his first mate Charles Derby, and second mate Richard J. Cleveland were not yet twenty years old when they set sail on a nineteen-month voyage that was perhaps the first from the newly independent America to the East Indies. In 1795, Captain Jonathan Carnes set sail for Sumatra in the Malay Archipelago on his secret voyage for pepper. Nothing was heard from him until eighteen months later, when he entered Salem harbor with a cargo of pepper in bulk, the first to be so imported into the country, and which sold at the extraordinary profit of seven hundred per cent.[38] The Empress of China, formerly a privateer, was refitted as the first American ship to sail from New York to China.

By 1790, Salem had become the sixth-largest city in the country, and a world-famous seaport—particularly in the China Trade. It had a large cod fishing industry, conducted off the Newfoundland Banks. It exported codfish to Europe and the West Indies, imported sugar and molasses from the West Indies, tea from China, and products depicted on the city seal from the East Indies—in particular Sumatran pepper. Salem ships also visited Africa in the slave trade—Zanzibar in particular. They also traveled to Russia, Japan, and Australia.

The sail frigate USS Essex was built at one of Enos Briggs's shipyards on Winter Island in 1799.[39][40]

The neutrality of the United States was tested during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807. President Thomas Jefferson closed all ports, an economic blow to the seaport town of Salem. The embargo was the starting point on the path to the War of 1812. Both the United Kingdom and France imposed trade restrictions to weaken each other's economies. This disrupted American trade and tested the United States' neutrality. Royal Navy ships frequently interdicted U.S. merchant ships trading with France and seized their goods, and at times would impress American sailors.[41]

Map of Salem, c. 1820

The Federal period (1788–1845) marks the beginning of U.S. international relations.[42] Salem had established trade relations with merchants in distant lands, which were a source of livelihood and prosperity for many. Charles Endicott, master of Salem merchantman Friendship, returned in 1831 to report Sumatran natives had plundered his ship, murdering the first officer and two crewmen. Following public outcry, President Andrew Jackson ordered the Potomac on the First Sumatran Expedition, which departed New York City on August 19, 1831.

In another direction, diplomat Edmund Roberts negotiated a treaty with Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman on September 21, 1833.[43] In 1837, the sultan moved his main place of residence to Zanzibar and welcomed Richard Waters, a resident of Salem, as a United States consul of the early years.[41]

The Old China Trade left a significant mark in two historic districts, Chestnut Street District, part of the Samuel McIntire Historic District containing 407 buildings, and the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, comprising 12 historic structures and about 9 acres (36,000 m²) of land along the waterfront in Salem. Elias Hasket Derby was among the wealthiest and most celebrated of post-Revolutionary merchants in Salem. Derby was also the owner of the Grand Turk, the first New England vessel to trade with China and the second, after the Empress of China, to sail from the United States. Thomas H. Perkins was his supercargo and established strong ties with the Chinese and garnered the Forbes fortune through his illegal opium sales.

Salem was incorporated as a city on March 23, 1836,[44] and adopted a city seal in 1839 with the motto "Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum", Latin for "To the rich East Indies until the last lap." Nathaniel Hawthorne was overseer of Salem's port from 1846 until 1849. He worked in the U.S. Custom House across the street from the port[45] near Pickering Wharf, his setting for the beginning of The Scarlet Letter. In 1858, an amusement park was established at Juniper Point, a peninsula jutting into the harbor. Prosperity left the city with a wealth of fine architecture, including Federal-style mansions designed by one of America's first architects, Samuel McIntire, for whom the city's largest historic district is named. These homes and mansions now make up the greatest concentrations of notable pre-1900 domestic structures in the United States.

Shipping declined throughout the 19th century. Boston and New York City eclipsed Salem and its silting harbor. Consequently, the city turned to manufacturing. Industries included tanneries, shoe factories, and the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company. The Great Salem Fire of 1914 destroyed over 400 homes and left 3,500 families homeless but spared the historic concentration of Federal architecture on Chestnut Street. A memorial plaque on a drugstore building marks the former site of the Korn Leather Factory, which burned in the fire.

First Muster, Spring 1637, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

In 1637, the first muster was held on Salem Common, where for the first time a regiment of militia drilled for the common defense of a multi-community area,[54] thus laying the foundation for what became the Army National Guard. In 1637, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the organization of the Colony's militia companies into the North, South and East Regiments. The colonists adopted the English militia system, which obligated men between the ages of 16 and 60 to own arms and take part in the community's defense.[55][56]

Each April, the Second Corps of Cadets gather in front of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where the body of their founder, Stephen Abbott, is buried. They lay a wreath, play "Taps" and fire a 21-gun salute. In another annual commemoration, soldiers gather at Old Salem Armory to honor soldiers who were killed in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. On April 14, 2012, Salem celebrated the 375th anniversary of the first muster on Salem Common, with more than 1,000 troops taking part in ceremonies and a parade.[57]

Samuel McIntire was one of the first architects in the United States, and his work is a prime example of early Federal-style architecture. The Samuel McIntire Historic District is one of the largest concentrations of 17th and 18th century domestic structures in America.[58] It includes McIntire commissions such as the Peirce-Nichols House and Hamilton Hall. The Witch House or Jonathan Corwin House (c. 1642) is also located in the district. Samuel McIntire's house and workshop were located at 31 Summer Street in what is now the Samuel McIntire Historic District.

Veterans Memorial Bridge between Salem and Beverly

The connection between Salem and Beverly is made across the Danvers River and Beverly Harbor by three bridges, the Kernwood Bridge to the west, and a railroad bridge and the Essex Bridge, from the land between Collins Cove and the North River, to the east. The Veterans Memorial Bridge carries Massachusetts Route 1A across the river. Route 1A passes through the eastern side of the city, through South Salem towards Swampscott. For much of its length in the city, it is coextensive with Route 114, which goes north from Marblehead before merging with Route 1A, and then heading northwest from downtown towards Lawrence. Route 107 also passes through town, entering from Lynn in the southwest corner of the city before heading towards its intersection with Route 114 and terminating at Route 1A. There is no highway access within the city; the nearest highway access to Route 128 is along Route 114 in neighboring Peabody.

Salem has a station on the Newburyport/Rockport Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail. The railroad lines are also connected to a semi-abandoned portion of freight lines which lead into Peabody, and a former line into Marblehead has been converted into a bike path.

Several MBTA Bus routes pass through the city.

The City of Salem launched a microtransit network called the Salem Skipper in December 2020.[70][71] The on-demand transit network is operated by Via and allows riders to share the same vehicle for approximately the same price as a MBTA Bus ticket. Passengers can hail a ride on their mobile device with the Salem Skipper app, or by calling a dispatcher.[71]

The nearest general aviation airport is Beverly Municipal Airport, and the nearest commercial airline service for national and international flights is at Boston's Logan International Airport.

The Nathaniel Bowditch is a 92-foot (28 m) high-speed catamaran that travels from Salem to Boston in 50 minutes from May to October and had its maiden voyage on June 22, 2006. The Salem Ferry is named after Nathaniel Bowditch, who was from Salem and wrote the American Practical Navigator.[72] Ridership increased every year from 2006 to 2010, when it peaked with 89,000, but in 2011 service was cut back because of the dramatic rise in fuel prices.[73][74] The Salem Ferry is docked at the Derby Waterfront District.[75]

The ferry was purchased by the City of Salem with the use of grant money that covered 90 percent of the $2.1 million purchase price.[76] Because of the cutback in service during the 2011 season, Mayor Kim Driscoll is now seeking a new operator who can run the ferry seven days a week from May to October.[77]

For the 2012 season Boston Harbor Cruises took over the running of the Salem Ferry with seven-day service and a Monday to Friday 7 a.m. commuter ferry to Boston.[78] The Salem Ferry will be running seven days a week for the 2012 season starting the first weekend in June and going through to Halloween.[79]

Boston Harbor Cruises, the contractor that operates the city's commuter ferry to Boston, runs their largest and fastest vessel between Salem and Hingham for the last two weekends in October. The company's high-speed ferry service to Provincetown concludes in October, freeing up its 600-passenger boat for service between Salem and Hingham. The ferry ride between Hingham and Salem takes one hour. With traffic, especially around Halloween, the drive between Salem and Hingham could be three hours or more.[80][81]

For the 2013 season, service was expected to start in the last week of May. The Salem City councilors approved a five-year contract with Boston Harbor Cruises to operate the city's commuter ferry from 2013 to 2017.[82] Also new for the 2013 season, Boston Harbor Cruises will offer a 20 percent discount to Salem residents for non-commuter tickets. The City of Salem has approved a seasonal restaurant with a liquor license at The Salem Ferry dock to be operated by Boston Harbor Cruises. The plan is to build a 600-square-foot (56 m²) building plus patio seating.[83]

The latest data from 2015 point to 61,000 riders, with around 11,000 being commuters,[84] according to Boston Harbor Cruises, which runs the Salem Ferry.[75]

Salem has eight stations where drivers can charge their electric cars. Four are located at the Museum Place Mall near the Peabody Essex Museum and the other four are in the South Harbor garage across the street from the Salem Waterfront Hotel.[85] The program started in January 2013 and will be free of charge for two years, allowing people to charge their electric cars and other electric vehicles for up to six hours. This program was paid for by a grant from the state of Massachusetts due to Salem's status as a Massachusetts Green Community.[86]

North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) is located in Salem and is the second largest community hospital system in Massachusetts. It offers comprehensive medical and surgical services and includes emergency/trauma departments, advanced cardiac surgery, and a birthplace. It includes NSMC Salem Hospital and NSMC Union Hospital, as well as outpatient care and urgent care. NSMC's medical staff includes nearly 600 affiliated physicians representing primary care, family practice and 50 additional sub-specialties.

The Salem NSMC is a general medical and surgical hospital, which has 395 beds. The hospital had 19,467 admissions in the latest year for which data are available. It performed 4,409 annual inpatient and 7,955 outpatient surgeries. Its emergency department had 90,149 visits in 2012. The helipad at North Shore Medical Center is a helicopter transportation hub, with multiple daily flights to hospitals all over Boston.[87][88]

Captain John Bertram (1796–1882) lived in Salem and is the founder of Salem Hospital, which was later renamed North Shore Medical Center (NSMC). In 1873, Captain John Bertram gave a gift of $25,000 in cash, plus a brick mansion on Charter Street to create Salem Hospital. From the original building on Charter Street, Salem Hospital moved to the current location on Highland Avenue in 1917. After John Bertram died in March 1882, his widow donated their home, a mansion built in the High Style Italianate with brick and brownstone for materials at 370 Essex Street,[89] and this became the Salem Public Library.[90] In addition, the John Bertram House is now a home for the elderly.[91]

Salem State University[128] is the largest of the nine schools comprising the state university system in Massachusetts (the five University of Massachusetts campuses are a separate system), with 7,500 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students;[129] its five campuses encompass 115 acres (0.47 km²) and include 33 buildings. The Salem State Foundation hosts an annual lecture series, featuring high-profile speakers from around the world.[130][131] was originally built in the 1950s and in January 2014 a $18,600,000 project was announced with development.[132][133][134]

The university was founded in 1854 as the Salem Normal School (for teacher training) based on the educational principles espoused by Horace Mann, considered to be the "Father of American Public Education."[135]

Salem State University enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 27 states and 57 foreign countries and is one of the largest state universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university also offers Continuing Education courses for credit or non-credit. Situated on five campuses totaling 115 acres (0.47 km²). Currently, the university houses 2,000 students in its five residence facilities. In 2013 the $74 million, 122,000-square-foot library is going to open on the Salem State University campus.[136] The new library will have more than 150 public computers and 1,000 seats of study space, from tables and desks to lounge chairs scattered throughout the building.[137]

On July 28, 2010 Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick signed into law a bill that transforms Salem State College into Salem State University.[138]

Salem State University plans to build a $36 to $42 million dorm for 350 to 400 students. Construction starts in the spring of 2014.[139][140] In April 2014, Salem State University announced a $25,000,000 fund, and at the time of the announcement, there was already $15,000,000 committed from donations and the money will be used for a variety of things from expanding international study programs, more faculty, brand new computers, scholarships and continued support of professional development for the staff.[141]

Public elementary schools include the Bates, Carlton, Horace Mann, Saltonstall and Witchcraft Heights schools. Collins Middle School is located on Highland Avenue.[142]

Horace Mann and Salem High School are located on Wilson Street. The Nathaniel Bowditch School closed in 2018 and the Horace Mann School relocated to their previous location. Salem Academy Charter School and Bentley Academy Charter School are also public schools.[142] Private schools are also located in the city, including two independent, alternative schools, The Phoenix School[143] and the Greenhouse School.

In late 2007 and early 2008, the city's public school system garnered regional and even national attention after officials announced a $4.7 million budget shortfall that threatened the jobs of teachers and other staff members. The Massachusetts General Court passed legislation, and residents raised enough money, that averted teacher layoffs. Several dozen support workers were still laid off.[144] Police were investigating what happened to the money in a search for criminal violations of the law.[145]

Salem also once had a very strong Roman Catholic school system. Once home to almost a dozen schools, the last school in the city, St. Joseph School, closed in July 2009 after over 100 years of providing Catholic education. St. James High School, St. Chretienne Academy, St. Chretienne Grammar School and St. Mary's School closed in 1971, St. James Grammar School closed in 1972, St. Thomas the Apostle School closed in 1973, St. Anne School closed in 1976, St. John the Baptist School closed in 1977 and St. Joseph High School closed in 1980.[146]

The Pickman House, built c. 1664, abuts the Witch Memorial and Burying Point Cemetery, the second oldest burying ground in the United States.

The Gedney House is a historic house museum built c. 1665 and is the 2nd oldest house in Salem.

One of the most popular houses in Salem is The Witch House, the only structure in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692. The Witch House is owned and operated by the City of Salem as a historic house museum.[147]

Hamilton Hall is located on Chestnut Street, where many grand mansions can be traced to the roots of the Old China Trade. Hamilton Hall was built in 1805 by Samuel McIntire and is considered one of his best pieces. It was declared a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 1970.

In recent years, tourism has been an occasional source of debate in the city, with some residents arguing the city should downplay witch tourism and market itself as a more upscale cultural center. In 2005, the conflict came to a head over plans by the cable television network TV Land to erect a bronze statue of Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the comic witch "Samantha" in the 1960s series Bewitched.[148] A few special episodes of the series were actually filmed in Salem, and TV Land said that the statue commemorated the 35th anniversary of those episodes. The statue was sculpted by StudioEIS under the direction of brothers Elliott and Ivan Schwartz. Many felt the statue was good fun and appropriate to a city that promotes itself as "The Witch City", and contains a street named "Witch Way". Others objected to the use of public property for what was transparently commercial promotion.[149]

There is also a memorial to the victims of the infamous Witch Trials at Proctor's Ledge, the execution site from that time. The memorial is "meant to be a place of reflection" for the city, a reminder that we are capable of these things. This according to Shea, Andrea (July 19, 2017). "Salem, Mass., Dedicates Memorial to Witches Who Died On the Gallows". NPR.org. National Public Radio.

The Friendship of Salem[150] replica docked off of Derby Street

In 2000, the replica tall ship Friendship of Salem was finished and sailed to Salem Harbor, where she sits today. The Friendship of Salem[151] is a reconstruction of a 171-foot (52 m) three-masted East Indiaman trading ship, originally built in 1797, which traveled the world over a dozen times and returned to Salem after each voyage with goods from all over the world. The original was taken by the British during the War of 1812, then stripped and sold in pieces.[152][153][154]

In 2006, with the assistance of a 1.6 million dollar grant and additional funds provided by the City of Salem, Mayor Driscoll launched The Nathaniel Bowditch, a 92-foot catamaran with a top speed of 30 knots which makes the trip between Salem and Boston in just under an hour.[78][79][80][82][83]

Waterfront redevelopment – The first step in the redevelopment was in 2006, when the State of Massachusetts gave Salem $1,000,000.[92] Bowditch, who was born in Salem and had a home on North Street, is considered the founder of modern maritime navigation. His book, Bowditch's American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is still carried on board every commissioned U.S. naval vessel.

The original Fame was a fast Chebacco fishing schooner that was reborn as a privateer when war broke out in the summer of 1812. She was arguably the first American privateer to bring home a prize, and she made 20 more captures before being wrecked in the Bay of Fundy in 1814.

The new Fame is a full-scale replica of this famous schooner. Framed and planked of white oak and trunnel-fastened in the traditional manner, the replica of Fame was launched in 2003. She is now based at Salem's Pickering Wharf Marina, where she takes the paying public for cruises on Salem Sound.[155]

Salem Harborwalk opened in July 2010 to celebrate the rebirth of the Salem waterfront as a source of recreation for visitors as well as the local community. The 1,100-foot (340 m) walkway extends from the area of the Salem Fire Station to the Salem Waterfront Hotel.[156][157]

The Peabody Essex Museum

The Peabody Essex Museum is a leading museum of Asian art and culture and early American maritime trade and whaling; its collections of Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese art, and in particular Chinese export porcelain, are among the finest in the country. Founded in 1799, it is one of the oldest continuously operating museums in the United States.[158] The museum owns and exhibits a number of historic houses in downtown Salem. In 2003, it completed a massive $100 million renovation and expansion, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, and moved a 200-year-old 16-room Chinese home from Xiuning County in southeastern China to the grounds of the museum.[159]

In 2011, the Peabody Essex Museum announced it had raised $550 million with plans to raise an additional $100 million by 2016.[3] The Boston Globe reported this was the largest capital campaign in the museum's history vaulting the Peabody Essex into the top tier of major art museums.[4] The Peabody Essex Museum trustees co-chairs Sam Byrne and Sean Healey with board president Robert Shapiro led the campaign.[5]$200 to $250 million will fund the museum's 175,000-square-foot expansion bringing the total square footage to 425,000 square feet.[160]

The Misery Islands is a nature reserve located in Salem Sound that was established in 1935. It is managed by the Trustees of Reservations. The islands' name come from shipbuilder Robert Moulton who was stranded on the islands during a winter storm in the 1620s. The islands, in the past, have been home to a club with a golf course and about two dozen cottages. The islands are now uninhabited.[161]

The Pioneer Village, created in 1930, was America's first living-history museum. The site features a three-acre re-creation of a Puritan village and allows visitors the opportunity to participate in activities from the lives of Salem's earliest English settlers.[162]

Old Salem Jail after renovations

The Old Salem Jail, an active correctional facility until 1991, once housed captured British soldiers from the War of 1812. It contains the main jail building (built in 1813, renovated in 1884), the jail keeper's house (1813) and a barn (also about 1813). The jail was shuttered in 1991 when Essex County opened its new facility in Middleton. In 2010, a $12 million renovation was completed.[163] One feature of the reconstruction is the jail keeper's house, a three-story brick, Federal-period building originally built in 1813. The project went into a long phase of stagnation when in 1999 the county government was dissolved, resulting in the sale of Salem Jail by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the City of Salem for $1.[164] The Old Salem Jail complex was renamed 50 Saint Peter Street and is now private property, with private residences.[165]

Salem Willows

Salem Willows is an oceanfront neighborhood and amusement park. It is named for the European white willow trees planted there in 1801 to form a shaded walk for patients convalescing at a nearby smallpox hospital. The area became a public park in 1858, and in the twentieth century became a summer destination for residents of Boston's North Shore, many of whom escaped the heat of the city on newly popular streetcars. The beaches are also a common place to watch the 4th of July fireworks since you can see three sets of fireworks; Salem, Beverly, and Marblehead. The Willows also has a famous popcorn stand, Hobbs, which is known around the North Shore as one of the best places to get popcorn and ice cream.

In 1855, located on 210 Essex Street, was founded the Salem Five Cents Bank, one of the oldest still functioning American banks. [166]

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  The House of the Seven Gables
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  Gallows Hill Park. Popular legend places the execution of the Salem Witches near this site.
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  The Pickman House, built c. 1664, believed to be Salem's oldest surviving building
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  The Gedney House (1665) on High Street
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  Salem Common bandshell in 2005
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  Hamilton Hall (1805), 9 Chestnut Street
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  Peirce-Nichols House (1782), 80 Federal Street
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  Phillips House (1800), 34 Chestnut Street
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  John Ward House (1684)
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  Pioneer Village, a re-creation of the first Puritan settlement in 1630