Proctor's Ledge Memorial — Attraction in Salem

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

About this one:

For a long time, it was believed that the executions of the 19 victims of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 happened at the top of Gallows Hill. More recently, historians realized that the actual place of the executions was at the bottom of said hill, and they did that by triangulating the testimonies of people who left writings, in which they mentioned that they could see the executions from their windows.

It does make sense that the authorities didn't cart the condemned to the top of the hill, but that they performed instead the executions at a more easily reachable place, where back then they could also toss the bodies into water.

The actual place of the executions is called "Proctor's Ledge". Not because John Proctor - one of the executed - lived here, but because his grandson bought this land, probably not coincidentally (it is worth noting that the Witch Museum website doesn't support this theory behind the location's name).

In 2017, the city of Salem built a memorial at Proctor's Ledge to commemorate the victims of the mass hysteria. The memorial is a simple, minimalistic, no-frills monument consisting of a small square surrounded by the names of all the executed. There are no additional signs or "explanations" as the place doesn't really need any.

I would call this more a "marker", a way to mark the land to never forget and give chance to people to pay their respects to the victims, than an actual monument of sorts.

And I don't think one can truly rate with stars a place of this historic relevance.

Proctor's Ledge is located in a residential area of Salem about 15/20 minutes away - if you walk - from downtown. There are a couples of ways to get here by foot but I do recommend just to stay on Essex Street (and then take a right and a left) as this would make a prettier walk than walking on Bridge Street. Federal St makes a nice walk too.

If you drive, there is really no place to park or even pull over on the street, but you can quickly park at the Walgreens parking lot which is just next to the memorial.

PROs

This memorial marks a place of extreme relevance and poignancy, not only in the history of Salem but of all America.

CONs

If you are looking for something memorable or picture-worthy, I'm not sure walking all the way from downtown to get here is really worth it. There is a memorial, downtown - on Liberty Street - where you can read the names of all the victims all the same.

Honestly, if you have limited time to spend in Salem, I don't necessarily recommend to visit this location, in spite of its remarkable...

We have lived in Danvers for three years now and this was the one memorial to the Salem Witch Hangings we had not visited. We happened to be in Salem attending the Lafayette Celebration and realized this memorial was about a mile from us so decided to swing over to it. We parked about a block away near a park(unnecessarily as it turned out) and walked down the narrow street to the memorial. When we left we actually drove down the same hill past the memorial we had just visited so we very clearly could have parked in the Walgreens parking lot that was in sight of the memorial itself. We noticed that most people drove down the street and snapped a picture from their car as they passed which seemed a little rude frankly. The site is a bit of a disappointment actually and smacked of being a bit of a long awaited PR Stunt. Let me explain: Unlike most we had done our research before visiting and are fairly well informed not only on the subject but the chosen sight as well and what I personally took away from the information provided by the “researchers for the location” is that they picked a spot that was NOT where the hangings took place but WAS very likely where the bodies were dumped. According to the researchers they based their guess as to the location off of one witnesses documented account: a woman who was accused herself and in a house awaiting her own execution. Her testimony states that she could see out the back of the house and up the hill to where the hangings were happening. The researchers went to that house’s location and peered around the front of the house and up the hill. Do you know what they saw? They saw an apartment complex on the Hill. I believe they realized how inconvenient it would be to place a memorial on the actual hill that the hangings took place and decided instead to place it on the small spit of land the city had purchased down the hill and to the right of the actual location. Both locations are visible from the back of the houses location but only one of them(The apartment complex) is “on the hill” as described by the witness. But you can certainly do your own research on the subject and come to your own conclusions. The site is pleasant enough and like most of Massachusetts the area drips with history...

The memorial is small but worth seeing. You can park at Walgreens and walk a short distance to the site. Behind the actual memorial is a patch of woods that is part of the empty lot that the memorial is on. Go one street over and there are signs marking it. It is undeveloped but has dirt trails. There are giant bolders and you can look down on the memorial from behind. There is an area with a large chain link fence that closes off what may be an archaelogical site. There is an opening in the fence. The story is that after they hanged the accused witches they rolled their bodies down the hill into the enclosed area. Then in the dark their familes retreived them. The lot has been empty for decades. Looks like a local play area and may have been used for drinking. You should probably have others with you. The city may develop it one day. The giant boulders are cool and you will most likely have it to yourself. Definately...