Visit to Salem and Danvers

Last week I made a trip to Salem, MA to visit the location of the real events seen in this play. If anyone else is planning a similar visit, let me warn you that Salem's off season is roughly Nov-Early April. Check out the links on the side for more information about some of the places I visited. Here's what's available to see in the "off seasons".

This memorial was built in 1992 on the border of the Old Burying Point to commemorate the deaths of the accused in the 1692 witch trials. The Old Burying Point is Salem's oldest cemetery and the resting place of John Hathorne, one of the judges who presided over the witch trials. Please note that this is only a memorial and not actual graves.

  Rebecca Nurse Homestead



Because of their crimes, witches were considered unfit to be given a proper burial. According to tradition, the executed witches were buried unceremoniously in a pit near the gallows. In secret, some families retrieved the bodies of their loved ones to bury them at home. Both Rebecca Nurse and George Jacobs were reburied in this way. Rebecca's grave remained unmarked but is known to be somewhere on her family's homestead where the original house is still standing in Danvers, MA. In 1885 a memorial was built for Rebecca in the graveyard on her home. An additional memorial with the names of those who petitioned Rebecca's innocence was added in 1892.

A very kind women at The Trolley Depot in Salem told me the following story about George Jacobs:

After his execution, George Jacob's family secretely stole his body from its mass grave for a proper burial at home. The site remained unmarked but its location was passed down from generation to generation. When photography developed, the tradition evolved, each family was photographed pointing to the same spot on the family farm. In the 1950s when the property was sold to developers, George Jacob's body was found in this spot. In 1992 he was given a funeral and reburied in the graveyard of the Nurse Homestead.