Salem, Massachusetts turns 400 this year and it’s so much more than the witches

It’s not all about the witches

Salem, Massachusetts, hits its 400th anniversary in 2026, and the city is throwing a year-long party to prove it.

Roger Conant founded the settlement back in 1626, and four centuries later, you can still walk the same streets where the colony took root.

Most people know Salem for one thing, but this city packs a world-class art museum, a national park on the waterfront, and literary landmarks into a few walkable blocks. The witch trials are just where the story starts.

How fear and suspicion gripped a colony in 1692

More than 200 people faced accusations of witchcraft in Salem and the surrounding communities in 1692. A special Court of Oyer and Terminer heard the cases, and its acceptance of spectral evidence sealed many fates.

Nineteen people hanged. One man, Giles Corey, died under the weight of stones.

At least five more died in jail. Religious extremism, social tensions, and factional disputes all fueled the panic.

By September, public opinion turned against the trials, and authorities dissolved the court the following month.

Stone benches carry the victims’ names

The Salem Witch Trials Memorial sits in the open air, dedicated in August 1992 to mark the 300th anniversary. Maggie Smith and James Cutler designed it.

You walk in past statements of innocence engraved at the entrance, words the accused actually spoke. Inside, stone benches line the space, each one inscribed with a victim’s name and execution date.

The volunteer organization Voices Against Injustice maintains the site. It is a quiet place that lets the facts speak without decoration.

The only trial-era building still standing in Salem

The Witch House on the corner of Essex and North Streets is the last structure in Salem with a direct connection to 1692. Judge Jonathan Corwin bought it in 1675 and lived there for more than 40 years.

He sat on the Court of Oyer and Terminer, the same court that sent 19 people to the gallows. Workers restored the house to its 17th-century appearance in the 1940s and opened it as a museum in 1948.

The City of Salem owns and operates it today.

Life-size stage sets bring the hysteria back

The Salem Witch Museum puts you inside 1692 with life-size stage sets and narrated presentations. You see and hear how neighbors turned on neighbors as the hysteria spread through the colony.

A second exhibit traces how the image of witches has shifted across centuries, from colonial fear to Halloween costume.

The museum also digs into where the phrase “witch hunt” came from and how it moved beyond Salem into the broader vocabulary we use today.

850,000 objects and a 200-year-old Chinese house

The Peabody Essex Museum opened in 1799 as the East India Marine Society, making it the oldest continuously operating museum in the country.

Its collection holds more than 850,000 objects spanning American, Asian, African, Native American, and Oceanic art and culture.

Inside, you can walk through Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old Chinese home and the only example of Chinese vernacular architecture on display in the United States.

A new exhibition called “Pressing Importance: Salem and the Declaration of Independence” opens May 2, 2026, with two of the earliest surviving broadside editions of the Declaration.

Hawthorne’s cousin told him the story that started it all

Captain John Turner, a wealthy sea captain and merchant, built the House of the Seven Gables in 1668.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s cousin Susannah Ingersoll lived there years later and shared its history with him, sparking his 1851 novel.

Philanthropist Caroline Emmerton bought the house in 1908, restored it, and opened it as a museum in 1910. Today the campus includes seaside gardens and Hawthorne’s birthplace, relocated to the grounds.

One note: the “secret staircase” inside came from Emmerton’s restoration, not the original colonial build.

A free national park right on the waterfront

Salem Maritime became the first National Historic Site in the United States in 1938. Nine acres and twelve historic structures line the Salem waterfront here.

You can step inside the Custom House, built in 1819, where Nathaniel Hawthorne once worked, or visit the 1762 Derby House.

Derby Wharf stretches out into Salem Harbor from that same era, and you can walk it all the way to a small lighthouse at the end. Every tour and program in the park is free.

A replica merchant ship that sailed to four continents

The Friendship of Salem sits at Derby Wharf, a full-size replica of an original 1797 merchant ship built right here in Salem.

The original Friendship made 15 voyages to China, Indonesia, India, and Russia before the British captured it during the War of 1812. Builders completed the replica in the late 1990s.

The ship has been going through a multi-year restoration with deck and hull repairs, so check the National Park Service site for the current boarding schedule before you visit.

A Mayflower passenger rests in Salem’s oldest graveyard

Charter Street Cemetery dates to before 1637, making it the oldest European burial ground in Salem. About 700 headstones fill its 1.47 acres, with the oldest belonging to Doraty Cromwell from 1673.

You can find the only surviving headstone of a Mayflower passenger here, Captain Richard More. Witch trial judge John Hathorne, Governor Simon Bradstreet, and architect Samuel McIntire also rest in this ground.

One thing to know: none of the convicted witches from 1692 are buried here.

200-year-old willows and a lighthouse from 1871

Salem Willows Park gives you an oceanfront stretch lined with willow trees that have been growing for 200 years.

A historic carousel still runs here, two beaches face the water, and the whole place feels like a neighborhood hangout away from the downtown crowds.

Nearby, Winter Island Marine Park opens up views of Salem Harbor with its own small beach and access to Fort Pickering.

The fort’s lighthouse went up in 1871 as part of a three-lighthouse system guiding ships into the harbor.

One trail connects four centuries of history on foot

You can hit nearly every major site in Salem without getting in a car.

The Salem Heritage Trail links witch trial sites, the waterfront, museums, and historic homes in one walkable route.

The city is compact enough for a full day of sightseeing on foot, and most stops sit within a few blocks of each other.

If your legs need a break, the Salem Trolley runs between April and November and covers the same ground with stops along the way.

Get to Salem by train, ferry, or car

Salem sits about 16 miles north of Boston on the Massachusetts coast, and getting there is simple. You can catch the MBTA commuter rail from North Station in Boston and arrive in roughly 30 minutes.

From mid-May through October, a seasonal high-speed ferry runs from Boston’s Long Wharf straight to Salem.

Once you step off the train or ferry, most downtown attractions, museums, and historic sites are within walking distance, so you can leave the car behind and cover the city on foot.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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