Everything about Salem Massachusetts totally explained
Salem is a city in
Essex County,
Massachusetts,
United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and
Lawrence are the
county seats of Essex County. Home to
Salem State College, the
Salem Willows Park and the
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem is a residential and tourist area which includes the neighborhoods of Salem Neck, South Salem and North Salem, and Witchcraft Heights.
Many people associate the city with the
Salem Witch Trials of 1692, which the city embraces both as a source of tourism and culture: Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a local public school is known as the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, the
Salem High School football team is named The Witches, and Gallows Hill, a site of numerous public hangings, is currently used as a playing field for various sports. Fictional works concerning the witch trials have been set in Salem.
Salem was one of the most significant seaports in early America. It boasts the first National Historic Site designated by Congress, Salem Maritime National Historic Site, which protects Salem's historic waterfront.
Tourists know Salem as a mix of important historical sites,
New Age and
Wiccan boutiques, and kitschy Halloween or witch-themed attractions. The most recent (and controversial) addition of significance is a bronze statue of the
Samantha Stephens character (played by actress
Elizabeth Montgomery) of the "
Bewitched" television program in Salem's Lappin Park on
June 15,
2005.
History
Salem was founded at the mouth of the Naumkeag River in 1626 by a company of fishermen from
Cape Ann led by
Roger Conant, and incorporated in 1629. The name 'Salem' is related to the
Hebrew word 'shalom' and
Arabic word 'salam', both meaning 'peace'. Conant was later supplanted by
John Endecott, the governor assigned by the
Massachusetts Bay Company. Salem originally included much of the
North Shore, including
Marblehead, set off in 1649. A delusional
Dorothy Talbye was hanged in 1638 for murdering her daughter, as at the time Massachusetts's
common law made no distinction between insanity (or
mental illness) and criminal behavior. Most of the accused in the
Salem witch trials lived in nearby 'Salem Village', now
Danvers. Salem Village also included
Peabody and parts of present-day
Beverly.
Middleton,
Topsfield,
Wenham and
Manchester-by-the-Sea, too, were once parts of Salem. 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 glass and egg.
On
February 26,
1775, patriots raised the
drawbridge at the
North River, preventing
British Colonel Alexander Leslie and his 300 troops from seizing stores and
ammunition hidden in North Salem. During the
Revolution, the town became a center for
privateering. By 1790, Salem was the sixth largest city in the country, and a world famous
seaport—particularly in the
China trade.
Codfish was exported to the
West Indies and
Europe.
Sugar and
molasses were imported from the West Indies,
tea from China, and
pepper from
Sumatra. Salem ships also visited
Africa,
Russia,
Japan and
Australia. During the
War of 1812, privateering resumed.
Prosperity would leave 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 collection of homes and mansions from Colonial America are now the greatest concentrations of notable pre-1900 domestic structures in the United States.
Incorporated a city on
March 23,
1836 (External Link
), Salem adopted a city seal in 1839 with the motto "Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum",
Latin for "To the farthest port of the rich East."
Nathaniel Hawthorne was overseer of the port from 1846 until 1849. He worked in the
Customs House near Pickering Wharf, his setting for the beginning of
The Scarlet Letter. In 1858, an
amusement park was established at
Salem Willows, a
peninsula jutting into the harbor. It should be noted that up until the
War of 1812, the port of Salem Massachusetts was the center of trade in America.
But shipping would decline through the 19th century. Salem and its
silting harbor were increasingly eclipsed by
Boston and
New York. Consequently, the city turned to manufacturing. Industries included
tanneries, shoe factories and the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company. More than 400 homes burned in the
Great Salem Fire of 1914, leaving 3,500 families homeless from a blaze that began in the Korn Leather Factory. The fire ripped into one part of the city but historical places including Chestnut Street and City Hall were spared by the fire, leaving much of Salem's architectural legacy intact, which helped it develop as a center for tourism.
Image:George Peabody House, Salem, MA.jpg|Peabody House, c. 1905
Image:Harbor from Salem Willows.jpg|Salem Harbor in 1907
Image:Lafayette Street, Salem, MA.jpg|Lafayette Street in 1910
Image:Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company.jpg|Naumkeag Mills, c. 1910
Geography
Salem is located at (42.516845, -70.898503).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.1
square miles (46.8
km²), of which, 8.1 square miles (21.0 km²) of it's land and 9.9 square miles (25.8 km²) of it (55.09%) is water. Salem Harbor faces north onto the Danvers River, a tidal inlet of
Massachusetts Bay. There are two ways into Boston, Commuter Rail
(External Link) or Salem High Speed Ferry
(External Link).
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 40,407 people, 17,492 households, and 9,708 families residing in the city. The
population density was 4,986.0 people per square mile (1,926.1/km²). There were 18,175 housing units at an average density of 2,242.7/sq mi (866.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.37%
White, 3.15%
African American, 0.22%
Native American, 2.00%
Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander, 6.74% from
other races, and 2.47% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 11.24% of the population.
There were 17,492 households out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.8% were
married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.5% were non-families. 34.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $44,033, and the median income for a family was $55,635. Males had a median income of $38,563 versus $31,374 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $23,857. About 6.3% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Salem State College is the largest state college in Massachusetts (note that State Colleges are separate from the
University of Massachusetts system), with 7,000 undergraduates and 2,500 graduate students; its campus comprises 108 acres and 33 buildings. It hosts a regular
Speaker Series, featuring major invited speakers.
Public elementary schools include the Bates, Bentley, Carlton, Horace Mann, Nathanial Bowditch, Saltonstall and Witchcraft Heights schools. Collins Middle School, Nathaniel Bowditch School, and Salem High School are located on Highland Avenue. Private schools are also located in the city, including two independent, alternative schools, the Phoenix and the Greenhouse, as well as the Catholic St. Joseph's School and the Salem Academy Charter School.
In late 2007 and early 2008, the city's public school system
(External Link) 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.
(External Link) Police were investigating what happened to the money in a search for criminal violations of the law.
(External Link)
Transportation
Salem has a
station on the
MBTA Commuter Rail's
Newburyport/Rockport Line, and is served by numerous
MBTA Bus lines which connect to the train station. The cost of a Commuter Rail ticket to Boston is $5.25.
No
limited-access highways serve Salem, but
Massachusetts Route 1A passes through downtown, and the city is close to
Interstate 95,
Route 1, and
Route 128.
Between late spring and early autumn, the high-speed
Salem Ferry operates between Salem and the
New England Aquarium in Boston. In 2008, a permanent ferry terminal is to be constructed at the Aquarium.
Tourism
Since the decline of the city's industrial base, tourism has become an increasingly important part of Salem's economy. Tourism based on the 1692 witch trials dates back to at least the first half of the 20th Century, when dry goods merchant Daniel Low sold souvenir spoons with witch images. Such tourism expanded significantly in the 1970s, when the television comedy
Bewitched filmed several episodes there. Witch-related tourism expanded significantly in the 1990s, and the city added an official "Haunted Happenings" celebration during the October tourist season. In 2007, the city launched the Haunted Passport program which offers visitors discounts and benefits from local tourist attractions and retailers from October to April. The goal of the program is to get visitors to come back to Salem after Halloween and experience businesses that may not be directly tied to Halloween. Thousands watched in 2007 as Mayor Kim Driscoll started a new trend with a massive fireworks display that kicked off at 10 p.m Halloween.
(External Link)
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. Several steps have been taken in this direction, including the designation of a portion of the city's waterfront as the nation's first
National Historic Site.
In 2000 the replica tall ship
Friendship(External Link) was finished and sailed to Salem Harbor, where she sits today. The Friendship is a reconstruction of a 171-foot three-masted Salem East Indiaman trading ship that was originally built in 1797. The original construction of the Friendship was started in 1796 by shipbuilder Enos Briggs, and registered in 1797 to merchants Jerathmiel Peirce and Aaron Waite.
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's America's oldest continuously operating museum. In 2003, it completed a massive 200 million dollar renovation and expansion, designed by architect
Moshe Safdie, and moved a 200-year-old 16-room Chinese house
(External Link) from
Xiuning County in southeastern
China to the grounds of the Museum. The Museum's
architecture collection also includes a number of historical houses around downtown Salem.
In 2005, the conflict came to a head over plans by the cable television network
TV Land (External Link) to erect a bronze statue of
Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the comic witch 'Samantha' in the 1960s series
Bewitched (External Link). 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. Some felt that the statue trivialized history by encouraging visitors to recall a
sitcom rather than the tragic
Salem witch trials. The statue was later vandalized with red spray-painted "X"s over the face and chest, and flags placed in the statue's hands.
Points of interest
Notable residents
Nehemiah Adams, clergyman & author
Frank W. Benson, artist
Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician & navigator
Robert Ellis Cahill, sheriff, historian & author
Roger Conant, founder of Salem
Crowninshield family, Boston Brahmins who later helped found Salem
Elias Hasket Derby, merchant
Joseph Horace Eaton, artist and military officer
John Endecott, governor
Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer
Jeff Juden, major league baseball pitcher
Samuel McIntire, architect & woodcarver
Richard Mulcahy, executive producer
George Swinton Parker, founder of Parker Brothers
Samuel Parris, minister
Timothy Pickering, secretary of state
Sarah Parker Remond, abolitionist
Samuel Sewall, magistrate
John F. Tierney, U.S. Congressman
Roger Williams, theologian
Laurie Cabot, Wiccan high priestess
Hardcore/metal band Converge (and various associated side projects) are based in Salem.
Singer/Songwriter Mary Lou Lord grew up in Salem
Steve Thomas, former host of PBS's "This Old House"
Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric- Grew up in Salem, attended Salem High School
Rick Brunson, former NBA star, played for Salem High School]]
Scoonie Penn, Professional Basketball player
Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor
Sister Cities
- Oroville, California (USA) 2007
Further Information
Get more info on 'Salem Massachusetts'.
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