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Let Destination Salem be your guide to exploring the city of Salem, MA. Experience Salem art, culture, unique shops & boutiques, and delicious fine dining. Dive into Salem’s Witch Trials, maritime, architecture, and literary history and explore museums and a National Heritage Site.
Salem (/ ˈ s eɪ l ə m / SAY-ləm) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one of the most significant seaports trading commodities in early American history.
- 26 ft (8 m)
- Essex
- 01970
- Massachusetts
- Address: 115 Derby St. 2 hours to Half Day. TIME TO SPEND. Built in 1668 for Capt. John Turner I, this waterfront mansion was home to three generations of Turners before being sold to Capt.
- Address: 161 Essex St. Museums, Historic Homes/Mansions. TYPE. Half Day to Full Day. TIME TO SPEND.
- Address: 24 Liberty St. Free, Monuments and Memorials. TYPE. Less than 1 hour. TIME TO SPEND.
- Address: 310 Essex St. Museums, Historic Homes/Mansions. TYPE. 1 to 2 hours. TIME TO SPEND.
- Salem Maritime National Historic Site
- Peabody Essex Museum
- The Witch House
- The Mcintire District
- Salem Witch Trials Memorial
- Charter Street Cemetery
- The House of The Seven Gables
- Guided Walking Tours
- Salem Trolley
- Oceanfront Parks
The sea has been an integral part of Salem’s identity for as long as people have been living here. In fact, the original Native American name for the area, Naumkeag, derives from an Algonquian word meaning fish. With the arrival of the first English colonizers, Salem eventually grew into one of the leading seaports in the Americas, sending tall shi...
The oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, the Peabody Essex Museumbegan as the East India Marine Society, an organization founded by a group of Salem sea captains and merchant ship officers in 1799. The Society’s charter established a “cabinet of natural and artificial curiosities” filled with objects members had collected in f...
The popular name for this houseon the corner of Essex and North Streets is a misnomer: no one accused of witchcraft ever lived here. It was actually home to the Corwin family, whose patriarch, Jonathan Corwin, purchased the house in 1675 and served as one of the judges during the witchcraft trials 17 years later. One of the oldest houses in Salem, ...
Located west and south of the Witch House, this residential district is renowned for its concentration of 18th and 19th-century homes, many of them built by Salem-born woodcarver and architect Samuel McIntire (1757-1811), including the Peirce-Nichols House (80 Federal Street) from around 1782. Overall, the McIntire Districtcontains examples of buil...
Just off Liberty Street, a small plaza with four-foot-high stone walls on three sides honors the victims of the 1692 witchcraft trials. This simple but moving memorial consists of 20 rough stone benches, each carved with the name of one of the victims together with his or her execution date and means of execution. Nineteen people were hanged, while...
Also known as the Old Burying Point, this is Salem’s oldest cemetery, dating from 1637. Early wooden markers have rotted away, so the oldest identified grave is that of Doraty Cromwell, who died in 1673. Though rather incongruously surrounded by modern brick buildings, the cemetery’s worn, crooked gravestones are an intriguing reminder of Salem’s l...
Built in 1668 for the wealthy merchant and shipowner John Turner, this beautifully preserved historic housestands among lovely gardens overlooking Salem Harbor. Also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, it was home to three generations of Turners before being sold to Captain Samuel Ingersoll and eventually passing to his daughter Susanna. Her sec...
A guided walking tour is one of the best ways to see Salem and learn about the city’s history. Skilled local guides bring Salem’s dramatic past to life in a way that the various witch-related attractions struggle to do with dioramas and recorded presentations. There are many good tour options to choose from, depending on your specific interests and...
For a good general overview of Salem, take the hour-long trolley tourthat begins at Armory Park outside the Salem Visitor Center. The route travels through downtown, the historic waterfront and the McIntire District, passing most of the city’s major points of interest. The trolley route makes two different loops with a return to the Visitor Center ...
About a mile and a half northeast of downtown Salem lie two city parks with beautiful waterfront views, both stops on the Salem Trolley route. Overlooking Beverly Harbor and the Salem Channel, Salem Willows Park has several small beaches, plenty of picnic tables and grassy areas shaded by the park’s massive namesake trees. The scenic setting and re...
Things to Do in Salem, Massachusetts: See Tripadvisor's 112,577 traveler reviews and photos of Salem tourist attractions. Find what to do today, this weekend, or in May. We have reviews of the best places to see in Salem. Visit top-rated & must-see attractions.
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Salem, Massachusetts is home to a world of enchantment, history, and culture found nowhere else on Earth. Follow the narrow streets of the Witch City and discover unique shops, award-winning restaurants, haunting and historic sites, and a world-class art museum.
Salem National Historic Site. Salem Maritime National Historic Site at Derby Wharf is an easy walk from the center of town. These of wharves and buildings on Salem harbor trace the history of seaside Colonial towns and early maritime trade. Exhibits bring these salt-drenched times to life.
