Salem Village Parsonage — Attraction in Danvers

I'm a Salem resident and I am on a mission to tour all the local attractions AND historical sites.

About this one:

If you are visiting the area to learn more about the Salem Witch Trials, you should make a quick stop at this site. Here, Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village lived with his family and here happened the first afflictions that led to the whole hysteria. His daughter Betty and niece Abigail named their slave Tituba as one of the witches afflicting them and the rest - unfortunately - is history.

Finding the place is not necessarily hard, but if you drive in front of it and you blink, you might miss it! Look for the blue sign between two houses (this is a residential area) and next to a narrow pathway. You cannot park on Centre Street but I typically park on any of the side roads. If you walk the path, you'll find at the end of it the historic site, consisting of the remaining of the cellar of the house and some foundations.

The archeological site was brought back to life in the 70s and it's a place of exceptional historical importance.

If you walk around the same neighborhood and check online their locations, you can also stop by the spots where the Ingersoll tavern was (not an historical site now) and the Meeting House (across the memorial, now a residential lot).

PROs

A remarkable piece of history, a constant reminder of a painful past not to be forgotten.

It is of course free to visit and you can take as many pictures as you want.

CONs

Visiting the Salem Village Parsonage is going to be, understandably, a somber, definitely underwhelming, experience.

It is well maintained but you can't shake the feeling that it is kept "hidden" from the eyes of...

Origin of the Witchcraft Hysteria

My daughter (13) and I visited the Salem Village Parsonage on July 1, 2025. The location is down a path between 67 and 69 Centre street. While the site might not get a lot of notoriety it serves as ground zero for the events of the Salem Witch Trials.

The site is where in 1692 Reverend Samuel Parris was living when the "fits" experienced by his daughter and niece, along with his slave Tituba's stories of witchcraft took place. These events are considered the initial triggers of the hysteria.

While the parsonage no longer stands, its location and the events that transpired there remain a crucial part of the Salem Witch...

This is the location where the girls first suffered their "attacks" and began accusing others of causing it through witchcraft. Their are stakes that show the approximate outline of the house since the cellars were smaller than the building, but when measured it they are a little smaller than they should be. But it was nice to stand on the site & be able to get a visual of how close everything was. This is really close to the memorial, which was across from the original meeting house. The entrance is very small and long and easily missed because it's...