Directions to stop #21

318 Essex Street

The next stop is the Ropes Mansion a few doors down at 318 Essex Street.

Directions to stop #22

Lappin Park at Corner of Essex and Washington Streets

Walk just a few blocks on Essex Street, back toward the museum, and make one more stop in Lappin Park at the corner of Washington and Essex Streets. We’ll meet at the Samantha statue.

Thank you for taking the Salem Witch Trials Walk at PEM. This tour was generously supported by the George S. Parker Fund.

Transcript

For more audio tours at PEM, try one of our award-winning PEM Walks, which takes you around Salem to our historic houses. For more behind-the-scenes stories about PEM, listen to our award-winning podcast, the PEMcast.

Join host Dinah Cardin on this tour of PEM’s materials from the Salem witch trials. With walking time, the entire tour should take about 90 minutes, but go at your own pace.

Begin on the ground level of the light-filled atrium, at the tour sign outside the Putnam Gallery of Native American and American Art. Here, you’ll listen to some background about Salem in 1692. Listen with headphones, earbuds or by holding up your phone with the volume on low.

Directions to stop #2

Now it's time to go inside the Putnam Gallery. Go to the halfway point of the Native American and American installation where you'll see a sign on the wall that says Salem Witch Trials. We will meet you at the large dramatic oil painting of a courtroom scene.

Directions to stop #3

Look at the walking stick in the case to the lower left of the painting.

Directions to stop #4

Move to the right of the painting where there is a small cabinet in a case.

Directions to stop #5

Now exit this gallery and join us in the main Atrium to listen to some background on the next part of the tour, which is called The Salem Witch Trials: Restoring Justice.

Directions to stop #6

To get to the next gallery, go up the stairs or take the elevator one flight. Follow the walkway away from the stairs with the Atrium to your right. Follow signs, take your next right and we’ll meet you at The Salem Witch Trials: Restoring Justice. When you get there, enter the gallery and go to the first object, which is an old window.

Directions to stop #7

Now move to your right and find a panel about Tituba. This is where we’ll meet up with Dan Lipcan again who will tell us about Tituba, one of the first Salem community members accused of witchcraft.

Directions to stop #8

The next panel tells the touching story of one of the Towne Sisters.

Directions to stop #9

Now move through the gallery until you see a panel for John and Elizabeth Proctor. We’ll meet you at the sundial.

Directions to stop #10

Now, go a few cases down, until you find a textile.

Directions to stop #11

Now go to the last section of the exhibition marked by a timeline on the wall that traces actions taken by people through the centuries to restore justice. Find the document to the right of that timeline.

Directions to stop #12

Now, to go to our last stop, turn to your right to find the story of Elizabeth Johnson Jr. You will see a petition from 1712 and a recent act that finally exonerated her.

Directions to stop #13

Now we will meet you in an exhibition called Salem Stories. Exit this gallery and take a right. Go to the end of the hallway and take the stairs up to the next level. When you reach Level 3, take a left and then a right into Salem Stories. If you need the elevator, please retrace your steps, take the elevator and we'll meet upstairs in that gallery at the letter O for October.

Directions to stop #14

Look up at a movie poster from a beloved movie that was filmed partly in Salem.

Directions to stop #15

We move to the letter L, which is to the left of where we are now.

Directions to stop #16

Keep moving left to the letter H for historic preservation.

Directions to stop #17

24 Liberty Street

Once you've finished touring Salem Stories, it's time to leave the museum and head outside to some key sites around the Witch City. We begin right behind the museum at the Salem Witch Trials Memorial on Liberty Street.

Exit the front of the museum, turn right and right again to go down the Axelrod Pedestrian Walkway. Make a right at the end and the memorial is on your left.

Directions to stop #18

51 Charter Street

Right next door to the memorial for the Salem Witch Trials is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States. Go now and enter the Charter Street Cemetery at the corner of the memorial. Stay on the gravel path. Keep going at the first little intersection and then stop at the second one, where there's a light stone. We’ll meet you there.

Directions to stop #19

9 Brown Street

Our next stop is the 17th century historic property called the Ward House. We will walk back to the front of the museum on Essex Street and behind the National Park Service Visitor Center to find several historic structures, including the darkly painted Ward House.

Directions to stop #20

310 Essex Street

Now, we’ll walk to another house that looks a lot like the Ward House and is referred to now as The Witch House, located at 310 Essex Street. It’s less than half a mile away.