Salem Quicky Witchy Tour

06/15/2025

Upham was one of the Victorian writers who popularized the Witch Trials in the nineteenth century. He also popularized many false notions of the times, like the dancing in the woods stuff. But he wasn't always wrong.

Charles Upham, "Salem Witchcraft," 1867

06/12/2025

This photo of the hotel was taken in 1935 when the Crowninshield-Bentley House sat where our parking lot is today. The house was moved to its current location (just across the street from our front doors) in 1959. Just a year earlier, in 1958, the Hawthorne Hotel donated the house to the Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum) with the condition that it be moved to make way for the parking lot you see behind the hotel today.

06/11/2025

Odd they don't mention that the First Church in Salem, which built the original building on this site, was the church that persecuted the "witches." Or that the carts that took the poor wretches to Gallows Hill departed from this spot. Or that the First Church remains the oldest extant congregation in the U.S., though they built a "new" church a couple of blocks away.

**** From 1629 to Today: The Story Behind Rockafellas****

Before Rockafellas became Salem’s go-to for handcrafted cocktails and unforgettable meals, this building held centuries of stories.

Located in the historic Daniel Low Building (est. 1867), our walls have seen it all:

🔹 1629 – Salem’s First Church held services upstairs while local shops buzzed below.
🔹 1860s–70s – The National Exchange Bank moved in (you can still dine inside the original vault today).
🔹 1867+ – Daniel Low & Co. launched one of America’s first mail-order catalogs—featuring the iconic witch spoon souvenir.
🔹 2003–Today – Rockafellas opened its doors with a mission to serve great food, fine cocktails, and even finer vibes.

Restored during the 2020 pandemic by owners Kevin Marchino & Dave McKillop, today’s Rockafellas honors its roots with preserved architecture and a bold, art deco-inspired bar that brings new energy to a historic space.

🍸 Ever seen the Lady in Blue in our basement tunnels? Or felt the stern minister watching from the corners? You're not alone.

Have a ghost story or memory to share?
👇 Drop it in the comments or visit rockafellasofsalem.com

06/10/2025

DON'T YOU DARE SIT OR LIE on the tombstones! 😱 Otherwise great nostalgia. "You'll scree-um. At the Witch Mu-seum."
Thanks Salem History Exchange.

05/14/2025

A lesser known Witch Trials judge buried at Charter St. Burying Point.

05/14/2025

A peculiar little rainbow cloud spotted above our museum this afternoon

05/04/2025

In 1784, Benjamin Nurse became the last member of the Nurse family to reside in the Rebecca Nurse House when he sold the property to Phineas Putnam. More than a century later, in 1908, Salem resident Sarah Hunt launched a campaign to purchase the homestead to preserve it as a museum, eventually entrusting it to the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association. In 1909, renowned preservation architect Joseph Everett Chandler, known for his restorations of the Paul Revere House and the House of the Seven Gables, carried out a historical restoration of the property. The homestead was transferred in 1926 to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England). In 1981, the Danvers Alarm List Company took over stewardship of the site and has continued to operate and preserve the historic landmark ever since. This photograph captures the home as it appeared before their acquisition.

04/19/2025

The Salem Witch Trials
On this day April 18, 1692

With the girls in fits, Ezekiel Cheever and John Putnam Jr. traveled to Salem Town to file official complaints against the newly identified tormentors. Arrest warrants were issued for Giles Corey, Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, and Mary Warren. By the end of the day, the Marshal had brought all four to Ingersoll's Ordinary.

04/10/2025

04/07/2025

The owners of this 1740s saltbox farmhouse in Weston knew they needed a push to fill their home with color and pattern. “We didn’t want a traditional beige house,” the wife says. And so interior designer Katie Martinez created a colorful story for the interiors, one that looks as though it unfolded over the years. See more inside this 18th-century Massachusetts home at the link: https://bit.ly/41hfqof

Photo by Sian Richards

04/03/2025

It's worth a trip across the bridge to the town of Beverly. And maybe take in a lecture in one of their historic houses. And before you cross the bridge, grab coffee and a pastry from Coffee Time, a Salem institution, open early and late!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AgKnFmPF9/

Historic Beverly’s mission is to share Beverly’s history with everyone through our collections which encompass 3 houses, 5 centuries and 1000s of stories.

03/13/2025

Thanks New England Curiosities page.

Anyone who has ever taken a field trip to Salem will recognize the name tied to 252 Essex Street in Beverly, which is currently on the market.