Samuel Parris Archaeological Site, Massachusetts, United States
5.0 (7 reviews) Spent < 1 hour Ranking #6 in Danvers Historic Sites
Worth Finding
Difficult to find as the sign marking the pathway is small and the pathway itself is between two private residences. There is no parking in the area. BUT that aside, this was probably my favorite site in the Salem/Danvers area BECAUSE it is so hard to find, because no one else makes the effort, because it's isolated. While everyone else was in Salem proper visiting the "big name" sites here I was alone at the site where all the hysteria really began, the place from which the entire episidoe of history grew. I didn't expect to be so affected as I was. There isn't much to see as the foundation is truly just stones in the ground now but just standing there, thinking... Amazing.
Address
Centre Street, Danvers, MA 01923
Website
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=48719
Current local date and time now
Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 13:09
User Ratings
5.0 based on (7 reviews)
Reviews
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5gormer 5:00 PM Oct 4, 2018
Forget Salem. This is where it happened.
Nobody thinks about Danvers anymore (and frankly, I think Danvers prefers it that way) - but it used to be Salem Village, and this is ground zero for the 1692 panic. Tucked in between two houses in a quiet residential street is a little stone-flanked path that will lead you to the site of the parsonage where in early 1692, two young girls exhibited signs of what was later deemed witchery. Interestingly, just a few years prior, the parsonage was home to a reverend that himself would be accused of and hanged for witchcraft in Salem. It's eerily quiet here and the trees block out much of the sun. A neighborhood cat with a twitchy tail and sharp eyes hangs out in the area. Suitably spooky in its own way and way off the beaten path.
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5willisEHJr 5:00 PM Jul 18, 2022
Solemn and spiritual experience
This important site is at the opposite extreme of the tourist experience in Salem, where "witch tourism" has become a commercial enterprise. Learn the history about "Salem Village" which became "Danvers" a couple of generations after the witch trials, even though, as the town motto says, "The King Unwilling". What a great way to learn local history! The site is as quiet and remote and inspiring as a churchyard burying ground. Prepare to bear witness silently to the consequences of "mass hysteria" and think about contemporary analogies.
