Roger Conant Statue — Attraction in Salem

After reading "The Monuments Men", I've become more interested in sculptures, artwork and architecture. I checked out this statue and it is placed right in the middle of an intersection! You have to cross the street to get an up close look at it! It's a well maintained and crafted statue. After visiting a comic book store and seeing figurines of various movie and comic book characters, I can't help thinking 🤔 that this is a giant size action figure. Roger Conant, born April, 1592 in East Budleigh, Devonshire, England and died at the age of 87 on November 19th, 1679 in Beverly, Massachusetts Bay. Conant is credited for helping to create what would become Salem, Danvers, Peabody and Beverly Massachusetts. All were once Salem before they separated into what we know today. He presided in leadership for two years and was credited for providing stability during that time. Conant worked as a salter around Cape Ann and Nantucket. He was involved in and was stunned by the violence of Myles Standish involving a confrontation with Cape Ann fishermen. Conant became first governor of the English settlers of Cape Ann. He was involved in Salem's politics and legislation, courts, design, land grants, designs of several buildings and civic activities. The statue itself was designed by Henry Hudson Kitson, April 9th, 1863- June 26th, 1947. He also designed the Minute Man statue in Lexington. It was approved and erected by the Conant Family Association in 1913. The statue is 9' tall and of bronze. It sits atop a sixty ton boulder 🪨 from Page Farm, Lynn, Massachusetts. It is located at the intersection of Brown Street and Washington Square. It is not modeled off of Roger Conant due to a lack of information ℹ️ about his appearance. It is modeled from the idea of a Puritan of the time. The statue underwent a restoration of locally raised $30,000 in 2005. Rika Smith McNally was hired for the restoration. It is interesting 🤔 to learn that people think this is a statue of a witch 🧹 or warlock because of the cape and its location in front of the Salem Witch Museum. I 💭 thought it was a statue of a judge who persecuted people during the Salem witch trials. It is a landmark in Salem. It is well cared for and you cannot miss it if...

This is not just a review of the statue, but a review of my experience in Salem...

On a mid-October day in Salem, you can find LOTS of people walking around in disguise. Halloween is everyday it seems. Cute, but creepy at the same time...

If you want to waste money, you can visit the many souvenir shops and buy completely useless and ugly stuff they have...

It is the only place I visited in the whole world where ALL parking lot accesses are sold for 50 USD (this is 70 CAD at the time I visited)!!! Insane! (You could and should find parking on the streets and walk longer if you have to)

There is an old black house where you can read that it was owned by a leathersmith and that it was moved from address A to address B... end of the story!

You can also find the Roger Conant statue, the first settler of Salem... and there is a plaque with his quote: "I was means through grace assisting me to stop the flight of those few that then were here with me, and that by my utter denial to go away with them who would have gone either for England or mostly for Virginia." - In other words, he may have been the idiot of the village that did not want to leave... and that is the end of the story you can "learn" from one of the most important figures of the city.

I found Salem to be a very artificial place and creation of mercantile tourism. It is in many ways the US version of the Canadian Niagara Falls... a total waste of time and money! Or possibly your next "Been...

Best statue of my 9th great grandfather around! Both my mother and father are descendants of his. Consequently, I have his last name as my middle name. He landed originally in Plymouth in 1624 and is referenced in William Bradford's history of the Plymouth colony as "Stranger" (non Pilgrim) who was a salter (someone who salts fish for a living). Finding the Pilgrims too restrictive he removed first to Nantasket and finally to Cape Ann in 1630 with a small band of settlers and founded Salem. He is credited with holding the settlement together as many of the group wished to return to England. He is known for mediating a dispute with Myles Standish and the Pilgrims regarding a fish rack in present day Gloucester. He was also known for his cordial relations with Native Americans. He served as the colony's first governor and was later replaced by John Winthrop when he arrived with about 1000 new settlers. The colony became the Massachusetts Bay Colony which would later found the city of Boston as it's capital. Roger moved to what is now Beverly and lived out his later years here. His burial site is unknown. His hometown in East Budleigh, Devon, England has a peacekeepers festival to promote his...