Thanks to the town’s 1692 Witch Trials, Salem, Massachusetts, has become one of New England’s most popular tourist destinations. When my husband I first arrived, there were so many attractions, and we didn’t know where to begin. If you’re planning a trip, here are the best museums to visit in Salem.

The Salem Witch Museum

Founded in 1972, the Salem Witch Museum was one of the first attractions to center on the 1692 Witch Trials. Inspired by the popularity of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the Bewitched TV series, the museum provides a historical overview of the trials, as well as information about modern witchcraft.

There are two sections to the Salem Witch Museum. In the first, visitors sit in a darkened room and listen to a narrated history of the witch trials. Near the ceiling, dioramas have been placed into the wall. Each one depicts a different scene (e.g. the courtroom or the gallows) and lights up as the narration describes the characters and events it represents. The combined darkness, unseen/godly narrator, and mannequin scenery make for a creepy, yet captivating, experience.

In the second section, a tour guide walks visitors through a gallery that shows the evolution of public perception about witches. This includes the reason why witches are green (The Wizard of Oz‘s filmmakers thought it would be the most striking color for their movie) and the negative use of the term witch in politics (e.g. Senator McCarthy’s Communist ‘witch hunts’).

As a first-time Salem visitor, I began my sight-seeing at the Salem Witch Museum, and I recommend you do the same. It provided an informative overview of the 1692 trials and set a serious, but still spooky, tone for my trip. For more information, visit: https://salemwitchmuseum.com.

The Salem Museum (Town Hall)

If you want to learn more about Salem’s cultural and economic history, head to the Salem Museum. Located in the Old Town Hall (the oldest surviving municipal building in Salem), the museum showcases artifacts and large, magazine-style banners that detail a history of Salem. On your self-guided tour, you will learn about Salem’s involvement in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, maritime trade with China and India, Parker Brothers board games, and more.

My husband and I stumbled upon the Salem Museum by accident, and I’m glad we did. We learned a lot about Salem’s non-witchy history, and I got to see a first-edition copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun! For more information, visit http://www.thesalemmuseum.org.

The Witch House

Also known as the Johnathan Corwin House, the Witch House is the historical home of 1692 Witch Trials judge Jonathan Corwin. The judge lived in the home from 1640-1718, and it remains the only structure in Salem with direct ties to the trials. Visitors can walk through both floors of the home to view historical artifacts and reproductions that show what homes looked like in the late seventeenth century. Of course, the museum also provides ample information about Judge Corwin and his role in the trials, along with examples of the kinds of folk magic the witch trial victims would have been accused of performing.

One of my favorite “witchcraft” artifacts was a brown, jug-shaped “witch bottle” with a flower embossing. According to the museum, practitioners placed fingernails and urine from a home’s residents, along with sharp pins and nails, in the witch bottle. Then, they put the bottle upside down beneath the fireplace to keep bad spirits away from the home. Gross, but cheaper than a security system! For more information, visit https://www.thewitchhouse.org.

The House of the Seven Gables

Locally known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, the House of the Seven Gables rose to fame as the inspiration for the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The House of the Seven Gables. Built in 1668 for sea Captain John Turner, the house was eventually purchased by Captain Samuel Ingersoll. His daughter, Susana, inherited the home in 1804. Susana was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s second cousin, and he visited her at the house often.

Today, visitors can tour the mansion to see how Salem’s wealthy sea merchants lived, as well as learn about the Turner and Ingersoll families. The property also features a beautiful garden and three more historic buildings: the Retire Beckett House (built in 1655, now the museum’s gift shop), the Hooper-Hathaway House (built in 1682), and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birth home, which contains biographical information about the author, along with many of his personal belongings.

As an author and Hawthorne fan, the House of the Seven Gables was one of my favorite parts of Salem. Fun fact: at the gift shop, you can buy a special edition of The House of the Seven Gables. It features exclusive content and a unique stamp, which shows that you purchased the book at the house itself. It’s the one-and-only Salem souvenir I bought! For more information, visit https://7gables.org.

The Peabody Essex Museum

The Peabody Essex Museum dates back to 1799, when a group of sea captains founded the East India Marine Society. The society’s charter included provisions to establish a museum, which became the first incarnation of the Peabody Essex Museum. Located in a modern building (architecturally speaking), the museum features art, natural specimens, memorabilia, and more from Salem and wider Essex County. While the 1692 Witch Trials are not a key feature, the museum’s library contains records from the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which oversaw the trials. 

Full disclosure: I have not visited the Peabody Essex Museum yet. However, I’ve heard that it is one of the best museums to visit in Salem. I’ll confirm and add my experiences the next time I’m in town! For more information, visit https://www.pem.org.

Even if you can’t visit Salem, Massachusetts, in person, I highly recommend checking out these museum’s websites. They provide great information about the town’s history and will help you learn more about Salem. If you’d rather visit historical sites related to the Salem Witch Trials, check out my guide to visiting Danvers, Massachusetts. 

What do you consider the best museums to visit in Salem? Want to know more about my experiences at these sites? Leave a comment below.

Want a FREE short story set in Salem? Join Kate’s Coven to read The Witch and discover whether Salem’s one true witch can save the town from the devil.