Salem Maritime NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Salem Maritime National Historic Site
Brown M and Hammond JW. 2025. Salem Maritime NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650052. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Salem Maritime National Historic Site is situated on Salem Harbor in Salem, Massachusetts, fifteen miles to the northeast of Boston. Established as a historic site in 1937 and designated in 1938, the park is the country’s first national historic site and the first designation under the Historic Sites Act of 1935. The park’s buildings, structures, archeological sites, and landscape illustrate the important role that Salem played in the development of international maritime trade from the late seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, the region’s industrial evolution from the colonial period to the twentieth century, and role of Salem Maritime National Historic Site in the nation’s efforts to preserve and administer nationally significant historic properties. The 8.93-acre property draws over 700,000 visitors a year. Located within an urban setting just south of Salem’s downtown core, the park encompasses land on both sides of Derby Street and is roughly bounded by Salem Harbor, Pickering Wharf, and Orange, Essex, and Kosciusko streets. The waterfront offers open views to Salem Harbor and is popular walking destination for visitors and Salem residents. The property retains many of the buildings and surrounding landscape features associated with the maritime, industrial, and preservation history of Salem including the Custom House-Public Stores, Scale House, Hawkes House, Derby House, Derby Garden, Narbonne House, West India Goods Store, St. Joseph Hall, and Derby Wharf Lighthouse. The reconstructed Friendship of Salem and relocated Pedrick Store House and Central Wharf Warehouse provide physical representations of the history and maritime spirit of Salem waterfront. The remnants of Forrester’s Warehouse plus Central, Hatch’s, Derby, and Tucker wharves allow visitors to see and experience the vestiges of the working landscape.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Brown, Margie; Hammond, John
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- SAMA
- Keywords
- American Scenic And Historic Preservation Society-A Pattern For Private Action, Archeology-Historic-Non-Aboriginal, Architecture, Civic (Community Center), Colonial (1600-1730), Colonial Revival Landscape Design, Commerce, Conservation Architecture, Creating Social Institutions and Movements, Customhouse, Derby Wharf National Historic Site, Developing the American Economy, Development of the Colonies, Dock), Ethnic Communities (Including The Immigration Phenomenon), Expressing Cultural Values, Federal (1780-1820), Garden, Georgian (1730-1780), Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Movement, Historic Site, Landing (Wharf, Landscape Architecture, Leisure-Passive (Park), Maritime History, Peopling Places, Physical Development, Politics – Government, Protection Of Natural And Cultural Resources, Renaissance Revival (1830-1920), Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Shipping and Transportation by Water, Ships-Boats-Lighthouses And Other Structures, Single Family House, Social and Humanitarian Movements, Social History, Specialty Store (Shop), The 1930's: Era Of Public Works, The Federal Government Enters The Movement, Transforming the Environment, View, Warehouse (General Supply Storage), Ways of Life