Salem Still Shines: A Brief Introduction to What Makes Salem, Massachusetts So Special
Salem is the county seat of Essex County in Boston’s historic North Shore; a city but feels more like a small New England harbor town, replete with a clipper ship in its harbor. Yet it’s a mini metropolis teeming with superlatives in culture, history, restaurants of every ethnicity, hotels, guesthouses, and some haunted B&Bs. The nightlife, museums, sports and games, philanthropy, and a church on one corner, a synagogue on the other, and sometimes in between, a Wiccan meetinghouse is always close by. From the abundant seers and their crystal balls, to its illustrious maritime history and China trade; its literary heritage and favorite son, Nathaniel Hawthorne; its architecture by the extraordinary Samuel McIntire; the fusion of its fading maritime legacy into its leather tanning industry; and its Fire of 1914, a conflagration that leveled one-third of the city and some of its historic buildings. And oh yes, the witches … always the illusion of witches!
But Salem is adept at reinventing itself and clearly, the vestiges of the witchcraft hysteria of 1692 draw most tourists to Salem. However, the draw is far from the historic tragedy that it was, but more for its latter-day merry-making and macabre mischief, a veritable Mardi Gras of the north on Halloween. With a sense of bygone humor, even Salem’s official logo today is a smiling, saucy witch aloft on a broom. More than 300 years have separated Salem from the horrors of that witchcraft debacle and today is looked upon by some as something that happened so very long ago and a nonchalant attitude ... less so, however, to historians and sages.
After the American Revolution, Salem prospered commercially, beyond imagination even, creating boundless opportunities and enormous fortunes for merchants and mariners living within the borders of this (then a) town due mainly to the China and East Indies trade. That earlier wealth is prevalent and still preserved today in its houses, indeed entire streets and neighborhoods. The world-class Peabody-Essex Museum has permanent exhibits devoted to Salem’s China trade and accounts of seafaring adventures funneling tremendous wealth, or at a minimum, significant prosperity into the town and its merchant class. All that good fortune and wealth may have been more than 200 years ago, but the legacy it’s left behind is evident all over Salem.
And to make Salem even more enjoyable, it’s a small city, eminently walkable and “open” year round. Just follow the red stripe down Salem’s sidewalks (careful, some are brick and some are cobblestone) and you’re on your way to seeing just how brightly Salem shines.
