Salem 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 would become one of the most significant seaports trading commodities in early American history.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging as well as 2 dogs. One other man, Giles Corey, died under torture after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the beaches of Gloucester and Revere. Originally known as Salem Village, the town is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials. It was also the site of Danvers State Hospital, one of the state's 19th-century psychiatric hospitals. Danvers is a local center of commerce, hosting many car dealerships and the Liberty Tree Mall. As of the 2020 United States Census, the town's population was 28,087.
John Hathorne was a merchant and magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Salem, Massachusetts. He is best known for his early and vocal role as one of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials.
John Proctor, Jr. was a landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the son of John Proctor Sr. (1594–1672) and Martha Harper (1607–1667). John and his 3rd wife were tried on August 5, 1692. He was hanged on August 19, 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Salem Witch Trials after being falsely accused and convicted of witchcraft.
The North Shore is a region in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, loosely defined as the sea coast between Boston and New Hampshire. Its counterpart is the South Shore region extending south and east of Boston.
Ann Putnam was a primary accuser, at age 12, at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann Putnam (1661–1699).
Elizabeth Proctor was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed.
Samuel Parris was the Puritan minister in Salem Village, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials. He was also the father of one of the afflicted girls, and the uncle of another.
The Danvers State Hospital, also known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, and The Danvers State Insane Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts. It was built in 1874, and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital designed and built according to the Kirkbride Plan.
The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a historic colonial house built ca. 1678 located at 149 Pine Street, Danvers, Massachusetts. It had many additions through the years, eventually being historically restored and turned into a museum in 1909. Today it is owned and operated by the Danvers Alarm List Company, a volunteer non-profit organization of Revolutionary War reenactors, and is part of the Salem Village Historic District.
The General Israel Putnam House in Danvers, Massachusetts, United States, is a historic First Period house recorded in the National Register of Historic Places. The house is also sometimes known as the Thomas Putnam House after Lt. Thomas Putnam (1615–1686), who built the home circa 1648. His grandson, Israel Putnam, the famous general of the American Revolution, was born in the house. Lt. Thomas Putnam was the father of Sgt. Thomas Putnam Jr.,, a notorious figure in the Salem witch trials. The Putnam House is now owned by the Emerson Family, the same owners of Putnam Pantry.
Rebecca Nurse was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later.
Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. The literary and dramatic depictions are discussed in Marion Gibson's Witchcraft Myths in American Culture and see also Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692
George Jacobs Sr. (1609–1692) was an English colonist in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was accused of witchcraft in 1692 during the Salem witch trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts. He was convicted and hanged on August 19, 1692. His son, George Jr., was also accused but evaded arrest. Jacobs' accusers included his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Margaret.
The Rea-Proctor Homestead is a historic First Period house at 180 Conant Street in Danvers, Massachusetts. It is notable not only for its age, but its association with a number of well-known individuals. The oldest part of the house was built c. 1692 by Joshua Rea Sr., whose son, Joshua Jr., testified at the Salem witch trials on behalf of John Proctor. It remained in the Rea family until 1803, and from 1804 to 1806 it was owned by one of Massachusetts's leading statesmen, Timothy Pickering. The house was updated to a Federalist style by Isaac Rea, the last of that family to own the property. Pickering was a gentleman farmer, running agricultural experiments on the farm and taking detailed notes of his work. He helped found the Essex Agricultural Society, the first organization of its type. In 1812 the property was purchased by Daniel Proctor, and it has since remained in the hands of his descendants.
Beebe Homestead, also known as the Lucius Beebe House and Beebe Farm, is a historic Federal period home at 142 Main Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts, which was built during the federal era that extended from the late 18th-century into the 1820s. It is suspected to have been remodeled into the federal style from an earlier home built in circa 1727. It overlooks Lake Quannapowitt, and according to a 1989 study of historic sites in Wakefield, the house is "one of Wakefield's most imposing landmarks." The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
This is a timeline of the history of the city of Salem, Massachusetts, United States.
