The Puritans of New England were a people very well acquainted with death and their idiosyncratic relationship with it led to a rich funeral culture that persisted for years after the collapse of the Puritan movement. A ritual that involved copious alcohol, but no sermons, the 17th Century funeral is at once very similar and completely different from the funerals of today. Join Carl Schultz as he walks through the history of the colonial funeral, burials, and why someone might need a “double-coffin”.

This event is free, but space is limited. Reservations may be made here

Rose Remedies: Medicine in Early Massachusetts

Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center 45 Charter Street

Known for centuries as a symbol of love, roses have become permanently entwined with Valentine's Day.  However, in Colonial America this flower could just as well have been given to cure disease as to convey affection.

Join historian Dan Marshall as he explores the wide variety of medicinal uses of roses recorded in seventeenth-century American and European sources.   Lend a hand as Dan makes some of the medicinal vinegars, oils, teas, waters, and conserves used in the past.  They say love conquers all, but did rose cure all? 

Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.

Visit the Witch House to see local artist Nick Demakes create an original painting as part of the Salem So Sweet festival. Free and open to the public, no reservations required!

Gentlemen Bat artist Nick Demakes is a graduate of Monserrat College of Art, with a BFA in illustration, and paints his animal portraits with coffee and acrylic paint. Nick is featured in the Peabody Essex Museum’s Bat exhibit and has prints available locally in Salem as well as New Orleans, Buffalo, New York, and Oregon.

Historian and storyteller Rory O'Brien reads a a selection of classic ghost stories as the sun sets in the historic Witch House. The event is free, but space is limited, so advance reservations will be required to attend.

Reservations are available here

The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Come join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.

Space is limited. Reservations are required. Reservations may be made here.

Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.

Ghost stories shared amidst glowing jack-o-lanterns and candlelit cottages.

Ticket sales for Friday will go to support Collins Middle School. Tickets for Friday may be purchased here

Tickets for Saturday may be purchased here

Come to the Village and learn about Midsummer Solstice traditions. Vendors, food, demonstrations and craft activities will be featured.

Thomas Green, representative of the Massachusett Tribe, shares the ancient practice of weir-fishing and fish smoking.

Space is limited. To make a free reservation click here

Come to the Village and learn about Spring Equinox traditions. Craft activity and food demo will be featured. Weather and access permitting!

A Holiday Event at Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center

The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Come join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.

Space is limited. Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased here.

Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.

Black Veil Tattoo hosts their annual Night Market in the village. Artists wares, food and beer garden will be featured. Admission is $5.00 at the door.

Black Veil Tattoo hosts their annual Night Market in the village. Artists wares, food and beer garden will be featured. Admission is $5.00 at the door.

Black Veil Tattoo hosts their annual Night Market in the village. Artists wares, food and beer garden will be featured. Admission is $5.00 at the door.

Black Veil Tattoo hosts their annual Night Market in the village. Artists wares, food and beer garden will be featured. Admission is $5.00 at the door.

Jack-o-lanterns line the pathways of the village. Ghost stories are told by the fire. Hot cider and donuts are available for purchase. Tickets are available here:

Jack-o-lanterns line the pathways of the village. Ghost stories are told by the fire. Hot cider and cider donuts are available for purchase. Purchase your tickets here:

Saturday, September 24, 10-11:30AM Hosted By City of Salem Sustainability and Resiliency Department, Massachusett Tribe, and Pioneer Village

Explore Indigenous ways of knowing and doing with Thomas Green of the Massachusett Tribe to learn how his people still use some of the plants in this area. Then make pemmican, the original “protein bar,” and a dandelion salve. 32 Clifton Avenue, Salem (meet on wooden footbridge at entrance to Pioneer Village) Reservations: Link on TrailsAndSails.org

Join Epoch Preservation for an early evening stroll through Charter Street Cemetery, where they will demonstrate how to clean a slate stone using D2 Biological Solution and answer your gravestone conservation questions.

Space is limited. Reservations are required. Spots may be reserved here.

Join author Dan Gagnon at the Witch House as he talks about his book A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse.

Space is limited and reservations are required. Please email info@witchhouse.info to secure your seat.

How do we celebrate the Fall Equinox? Join us at the Village for crafts and cooking demo to usher in the fall season!

Help us gather materials and build a functional fishing weir for the Massachusett Tribe. Location to be announced.

Professors Donna Seger and Emerson “Tad” Baker of the Salem State University History Department discuss the impact of the Protestant Reformation on death and funeral customs, in 16th, 17th, and 18th century Europe and America, with specific reference to the Old Burying Ground on Charter Street.

The event is free and online. Tickets may be reserved here

Come to the Village and celebrate the Fall Equinox with crafts, lectures and food demonstrations.

12:00: The fire is lit!

1:00: Exploring the history of the Autumn Equinox with Dr. Al Cummins

2:00:Personalize your Fall Equinox celebration

3:00: Autumn Harvest Food Demonstration

Folklore and Folk Magic of the Autumnal Equinox

The poet John Keats described the coming of Fall in the opening of his ode To Autumn by as ‘a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’, going on to marvel at the ripening fruits, nuts, and vegetables from their vines, trees, and soil. This season’s equinox – where the mighty Sun briefly balances directly atop the earth’s girdling equator and the measures the day and night as equal in duration – sees many examples of harvest festivities, folklore, and customs surrounding honouring the earth.

In the folk catholic calendar of medieval Europe, around a week after the equinox comes Michaelmas – indeed, a feast of All Angels – replete with various yearly customs of social and economic import as well as plenty of folk magics for calling upon the strength of the Archangel Michael. In contemporary Pagan practices, the Autumnal Equinox is celebrated as Mabon, as Alban Elfed, as Harvest Home, and by many other names, as one of the centrally significant cross-quarter days. A time of in-gathering, and perhaps of preparing for our journey to the wintery lands of the dead for hallowed Samhain later in the year…

In this workshop, contemporary cunning-man and historian Dr Alexander Cummins will lead us in exploring and celebrating the folklore and folk magics of this season: from the many cultural observations of autumn festivals and customs, to omens divined from the turning of the climate. We will discuss the sorcerous uses of Fall’s bountiful fruits: how to use an apple to dream of a future lover or even to try to make a boy kiss you; how to use a nutshell to heal a wound; and so on.

Along with historical considerations, we will discuss ways of further celebrating and exploring the Autumnal Equinox in your home, daily life, and personal spiritual practice for the coming days of Fall. And we will end with some meditations, discussion, and a little light ritual to set forth and celebrate the coming of autumn’s blessings.

In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692

By Richard Hite

Despite its significance in the witch hunt of 1692, Andover has always labored “in the shadow of Salem.”  The reality is that 45 residents of Andover were accused of witchcraft in that fateful year, more than from any other town.  No fewer than twenty-three inhabitants of Andover involved themselves in accusations in one way or another and that spilled over into neighboring towns – including Billerica, Boxford, Haverhill, Reading, and Rowley.  Numerous books have been written about the events of 1692, but this one is the first to illuminate the major role that Andover played in the process.

This will be a Zoom event. Tickets are free. Registration is required here:

Join us on August 8th at 2pm, the last Sunday of Heritage Days, for a special book signing, talk, and Q&A with Daniel Fury for his new book, "If These Stones Could Speak: The History and People of The Old Salem Burying Point", at the new Charter Street Welcome Center.

This book is the culmination of over a decade of research into Old Burying Point, one of, if not the oldest, maintained Colonial cemetery in the United States. It is a record of the lives and loves of those who rest there eternally, as well as the history of the site, intimate details of funerals in old Salem, an index of all known burials, and information about the people victimized by the Salem Witch Hysteria and the Memorial erected in their honor.

Daniel Fury is a resident of Salem, owner and operator of Black Cat Tours, and co-author of Black Cat Tales: History and Hauntings of Old Salem.

Books will be available for purchase on site. We hope you can join us!

Emerson “Tad” Baker, Salem’s Dead: Learning History from Charter Street Cemetery

In celebration of the restoration work nearing completion on Salem’s Charter Street Cemetery and its reopening to the public this summer, this talk will explore what we can learn about early Salem’s history by looking at this cemetery, its gravestones and colonial burying practices.

Laid out in 1637 on what would come to be known as the “Burying Point,” Charter Street is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States. It is the resting place of many famous Salem residents, ranging from two witch trials judges and Governor Simon Bradstreet to architect and carver Samuel McIntire. Her lies Giles Corey’s first wife, as well as a young man allegedly bewitched by Bridget Bishop. The gravestones at Charter Street are remarkable works of art whose elaborate decoration tells us much about the evolving nature of society and belief in early Salem.

Emerson "Tad" Baker is vice provost and a professor of History at Salem State University. He is the award-winning author of many books on the history and archaeology of early New England, including A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience, and The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England. Baker has served as an advisor and on-camera expert for PBS-TV’s American Experience and Colonial House, as well as for documentaries on many networks. His current book project explores material life in seventeenth-century New England.

This event is free. Donations to Voices Against Injustice are strongly encouraged.

Register for the event here.

DONATE HERE

Do you have Indigenous Ancestry amongst the New England Tribes? We would love to hear from you! Share your stories with us at pioneervillagesalem@gmail.com.