Interior House Painter Salem MA

Salem, Massachusetts
City
Left-right from top: Federal Street District, House of Seven Gables, Custom House, Peabody Essex Museum
Flag Seal
Nickname(s):  The Witch City, The City of Witches, Pleasure City
Motto:  Divitis Indiae usque ad ultimum sinum (Latin: To the farthest port of the rich Indies)
Location in Essex County, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts Location in the United States
Coordinates: 42°31′10″N 70°53′50″W / 42.51944°N 70.89722°W / 42.51944; -70.89722Coordinates: 42°31′10″N 70°53′50″W / 42.51944°N 70.89722°W / 42.51944; -70.89722
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Essex
Settled	1626
Incorporated	1629
City	1836
Founded by	Roger Conant
Government
• Type	Mayor-council city
• Mayor	Kim Driscoll (D)
Area
• Total	18.30 sq mi (47.40 km2)
• Land	8.29 sq mi (21.48 km)
• Water	10.01 sq mi (25.92 km2)
Elevation	26 ft (8 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	44,480
• Density	5,362.91/sq mi (2,070.66/km)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Code	01970
Area code(s)	351, 978
FIPS code	25-59105
GNIS feature ID	0614337
Website	www.salem.com

Salem ( SAY-ləm) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, 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.

Today Salem is a residential and tourist area that is home to the House of Seven Gables, Salem State University, Pioneer Village, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem Willows Park, and the Peabody Essex Museum. It features historic residential neighborhoods in the Federal Street District and the Charter Street Historic District. The city’s population was 44,480 at the 2020 census.

Much of the city’s cultural identity revolves around the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692, depicted in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible (1953). Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a public elementary school is known as Witchcraft Heights, and the Salem High School athletic teams are named the Witches. Gallows Hill is believed to have once been the site of many public hangings, including of persons convicted as witches. It is now a park and used as a playing field for various sports.

History

Naumkeag

Native Americans lived in northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas. The peninsula that would become Salem was known as Naumkeag (alternate spellings Naemkeck, Nahumkek, Neumkeage) by the native people who lived there at the time of contact in the early 1600s. Naumkeag was a major settlement for the indigenous group that controlled territory from the Merrimack to the Mystic rivers. The English and other Europeans referred to them as the Naumkeag people. There are probable indigenous settlement sites near the mouths of the North, South, and Forest rivers in Salem.

The contact period was a disastrous time for the Naumkeag. Many Naumkeag died in a war with the Tarrantine and as a result of a smallpox epidemic in 1617–1619, including their powerful sachem Nanepashemet. The disease had probably been contracted by members who came into contact with European fishermen or explorers. Their strength was reduced just prior to the arrival of English settlers in 1626 to what became modern-day Salem. In 1633, a second smallpox epidemic struck, killing two of Nanepashemet’s successors, Montowompate and Wonohaquaham, and leaving his remaining heir Wenepoykin scarred. So it was that English settlers met little resistance on their arrival in Salem. Although Wenepoykin would join Metacomet in King Philip’s War in 1675, the English settlers at this point had the numerical superiority to defeat Metacomet’s indigenous coalition.

It was not until 1686, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter was recalled by the King in the creation of the Dominion of New England that Wenepoykin’s heirs pressed their claim to the land of Salem, for which they were paid twenty pounds.

English colonization

Colonists settled Naumkeag in 1626 when a company of fishermen arrived from Cape Ann led by Roger Conant. Conant’s leadership provided the stability for the settlers to survive the first two years, but John Endecott replaced him by order of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Conant stepped aside and was granted 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land in compensation. These “New Planters” and the “Old Planters” agreed to cooperate because of the diplomacy of Conant and Endecott. To recognize this peaceful transition to the new government, the name of the settlement was changed to Salem, the hellenized name of Shalem (שָׁלֵם), the royal city of Melchizedek, that is identified with Jerusalem.

In 1628, Endecott ordered that the Great House be moved from Cape Ann, reassembling it on Washington Street north of Church Street. Francis Higginson wrote that “we found a faire house newly built for the Governor” which was remarkable for being two stories high. A year later, the Massachusetts Bay Charter was issued creating the Massachusetts Bay Colony with Matthew Craddock as its governor in London and Endecott as its governor in the colony. John Winthrop was elected Governor in late 1629, and arrived with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, one of the many events that began the Puritan Great Migration.

In 1639, Endecott, among others, signed the building contract for enlarging the meeting house in Town House Square for the first church in Salem. This document remains part of the town records at City Hall. He was active in the affairs of the town throughout his life. Samuel Skelton was the first pastor of the First Church of Salem, which is the original Puritan church in America. Endecott already had a close relationship with Skelton, having been converted by him, and Endecott considered him as his spiritual father.

Salem’s harbor was defended by Fort Miller in Marblehead from 1632 to 1865, and by Fort Pickering on Winter Island from 1643 to 1865. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Salem was intimately involved in the Atlantic slave trade, surpassing Boston in terms of the town’s engagement with the triangular trade.