Salem | Witch Trials, Maritime Trade & Architecture (2024)

Salem, city, Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Salem Bay Harbor (an inlet of Massachusetts Bay), 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Boston. Salem was incorporated as a town in 1626 by Roger Conant, who emigrated from Cape Ann, 14 miles (22 km) northeast. The first Congregational Church in America was organized there in 1629, and Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island colony, served as an early pastor. The town’s name is probably the shortened form of the biblical Jerusalem (“City of Peace”). Salem’s early history was clouded by religious intolerance that led to the witchcraft trials of 1692. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it developed as one of New England’s leading maritime and shipbuilding centres, and during the American Revolution (1775–83) and the War of 1812 its port served as a privateers’ base. After the decline in foreign commerce, due mainly to the shallowness of its harbour, the community turned to the production of textiles, leather, and shoes. The economy is now based on health care, financial services, tourism, retail trade, and higher education; diversified light manufacturing is also important.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (1804) in Salem and made it the setting for several of his novels, notably The House of the Seven Gables, which immortalized the house built (1668) by Captain John Turner. On the house’s grounds are several other historic buildings that were moved to the site, including Hawthorne’s birthplace (about 1740), the Hathaway House (1682), and the Retire Beckett House (1655). Hawthorne used the home of his wife’s family, Grimshawe House, as a setting in several works as well. He was employed (1846–49) as a port surveyor and worked in the Custom House (1819), which, together with the old wharves, is maintained within the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Other outstanding buildings include the John Ward House (1684), the Witch House (1642; where Judge Jonathan Corwin lived during the witchcraft trials), the Pickering House (1651), and the Federal-style masterpieces designed by Samuel McIntire, the “architect of Salem,” notably the Pierce-Nichols (1783) and Gardner-Pingree (1804) houses. Collections of art and history are displayed at the Peabody Essex Museum. The campus of Salem State College (founded in 1854 as Salem Normal [teachers-training] School) includes an art gallery, an observatory, and The Chronicle of Salem, a 50-sequence mural. The city’s Pioneer Village is a reconstruction of early Salem. Inc. city, 1836. Pop. (2000) 40,407; (2010) 41,340.