Salem Witch Trials

Salem - 1 City (1990 pop. 38,091), seat of Essex co., NE Mass., on an inlet of Massachusetts Bay; inc. 1629. Its once famous harbor has silted up. Salem has electronic, leather, and machinery industries, and tourists are drawn to its many historical landmarks. Many colonial buildings remain. Nathaniel Hawthorne's birthplace dates from the 17th cent., and the House of Seven Gables (1668) is preserved. Also of interest are Pioneer Village, a reproduction of early Salem; the Witch House (1642), where witch trial hearings were held; the Peabody Essex Museum, whose origins date to 1799, with outstanding art, historic buildings, and the Phillips Library's historical collections; and Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Salem State College is there.

In 1626, Roger Conant led a group from Cape Ann to this site, called Naumkeag by the Native Americans. Salem's early history was darkened by the witchcraft trials of 1692, in which Samuel Sewall was a judge; many of the victims came from the part of Salem that now is Danvers. Massachusetts exonerated all those accused in the trials in 1711. From colonial days through the clipper ship era, Salem was world famous as a port and a wealthy center for the China trade. It was a privateering base in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. Shipping declined after the War of 1812, and the city turned to manufacturing. Hawthorne was overseer of the port from 1846 to 1849.

See history by J. D. Phillips (1937, repr. 1969); E. E. Elliot, The Devil & the Mathers (1989); L. W. Carlson, A Fever in Salem (1999); M. B. Norton, In the Devil's Snare (2002).

2 Town (1990 pop. 25,746), Rockingham co., SE N.H.; settled 1652, inc. 1750. It is a marketing and distribution center, with steel-fabricating, printing, electronic, shoe, and wood-product industries. Nearby is a racetrack, a glider airport, and Canobie Lake Park. Of interest is Mystery Hill, site of large stone structures believed to date from 2000 b.c.

3 City (1990 pop. 12,233), Columbiana co., NE Ohio, in a coal region; inc. 1806. Tools and dies, industrial machinery, appliances, and pumps are among its many diverse manufactures. Settled (1803) by Quakers, Salem was an early abolitionist center and an important station on the Underground Railroad. A branch of Kent State Univ. is there.

4 City (1990 pop. 107,786), state capital and seat of Marion co., NW Oreg., on the Willamette River; inc. 1857. In a dairying, stock-raising, and farming area, the growing city has numerous food-processing plants and electronics, wood, paper, metal, and cloth industries. Founded 1840–41 by Methodist missionaries, it became capital of Oregon Territory in 1851 and remained the capital when Oregon became a state in 1859. Salem is the seat of Willamette Univ., various state and federal government buildings, state hospitals, and the state penitentiary. Of note is the Neoclassic state capitol building (1937). The annual state fair is held in Salem.

5 City (1990 pop. 23,756), seat of Roanoke co., SW Va., on the Roanoke River, between the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny Mts.; first inc. 1806, inc. as a city 1967. A variety of products, such as electrical equipment, steel items, and machinery, are manufactured there. Roanoke College is in the city.

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