Founded in 1626, Salem’s a great, small city with a ton of historical significance: the infamous witch
trials, towering, ocean-going ships and expansive world trade (including the Salem East Indiaman
Friendship with ports of call to India, China, South America, the Caribbean, England, Germany, the
Mediterranean and Russia in 1797), the legendary heroes and landmarks of both the Revolutionary War
(1776) and War of 1812, and Salem’s world-famous literature. Where did this all begin? Laying ground
for thousands of Puritans, the Massachusetts Bay Company arrived in 1628 with a charter issued by the
King of England, and the Puritan pioneers established The First Congregational Society. By 1650, Salem
established itself as a dominant, pre-revolutionary settlement: salted-cod trade with the West Indies
wildly flourished; the First Militia Muster formed, later critical to the American Revolution (1776); Old Burying Point Cemetery was assembled (all witch-hunt victims are buried here); infamous Fort Pickering
was erected, instrumental in both early Wars; and the vital Custom House (1649) marked Salem as a
center of worldwide trade. These landmarks stand today, alongside The House of Seven Gables, or the
Turner-Ingersoll Mansion (1668), one of the most famous historic homes in America (constructed by
relatives of Salem-born Nathaniel Hawthorne, who later scripted The House of Seven Gables in 1851),
and the infamous Witch House (1675), where Judge Jonathan Corwin, who presided over the Salem
Witch Trials, resided and conducted the preliminary questioning for the witch trials. More on that in a
moment.
Now for the heart-racing series of the United States’ historical events: political revolution kicked-off in
1774 when the original colonies’ Provincial Congress moved to Salem from Boston, and the first,
explosive, armed resistance of the American Revolution broke out when the Salem militia and privateer
Navy dramatically blocked British Lt. Colonel Leslie in Salem Sound. Brave Salem privateers captured
and sunk 445 British vessels during the Revolutionary War, and after the war, Salem emerged as the
sixth-largest city in the country, and richest per capita. The Old Courthouse was built in 1785 (replacing
the torn-down Town House where the witchcraft accused were tried and condemned to death), and sea
captains founded the preeminent Peabody Essex Museum in 1799, the oldest, continually-operated
museum in the country (also housing the largest and most significant collection of Asian art in the US).
Salem also can claim the still-standing, stunning Salem Athenaeum, one of the first libraries in the
nation, founded in 1810. Leading to the War of 1812, The 10 th United States Congress in Salem, enacted
The Embargo Act of 1807, the general trade embargo on all foreign nations. In the Salem Harbor, The
War of 1812 with the British started with the vicious Battle of the Frigates supported by the small
privateer U.S. Navy based in Salem, turning the tide for the new America. Completed in 1825, The East
India Marine Hall (for people who actually navigated the seas beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape
Horn) sealed Salem’s leadership in global trade. And let’s not forget that in Salem, the famous author
Nathaniel Hawthorne (the great-great-grandson of the Salem Witch Trials judge, John Hathorne) wrote
and self-published his first novel, Fanshawe (1828) about his ancestors, The House of Seven Gables, and
later, The Scarlet Letter. Wildly acclaimed worldwide, The Scarlet Letter wasn’t positively received in
Salem, where residents didn’t approve of the city’s depiction. Hawthorne changed the spelling of his
name to distance himself from his Witch Trial-connected ancestor.
And yet there’s more captivating Salem history. Alexander Graham Bell made the first public
demonstration of a long-distance phone conversation to the Boston Globe in Lyceum Hall in 1877.
Salem Lyceum, which many consider haunted, stands right over the orchard owned by the first executed
“witch”, Bridget Bishop. In 1938, the National Park Service designated the richly historic Salem
Waterfront a National Historic Site, and several architecturally-significant homes built by Samuel
McIntire from the wealth of Salem’s Old China Trade, made Chestnut Street a designated historic
district. The Witch Trial Memorial for the unfortunate victims finally fronts the Burying Point Cemetery,
and a Bewitched statue commemorates our beloved Samantha’s television character. The entire Salem
area is now a National Heritage Area, and finally recognized as the birthplace of the National Guard.