In 1692, there were two Salems: the bustling seaport, Salem Town, and the rural farming community, Salem Village. Salem Village remained a rural precinct of greater Salem until January 28, 1752, when it was renamed Danvers, Massachusetts. But it was here, in sleepy 17th-century Salem Village, that Abigail Williams and other ailing adolescent girls were first declared bewitched, a completely legitimate diagnosis in 1692, prompting witchcraft accusations to fly.
Today, Salem, Massachusetts, (the former Salem Town) has become a Halloween mecca, attracting 100,000 daily tourists in October who visit Hocus Pocus filming sites and a sculpture honoring the 1960s sitcom Bewitched. While modern Salem capitalizes on costumed October crowds, Danvers avoids the limelight and feels like any sleepy New England neighborhood. How could these once-intertwined communities bear hardly a resemblance now? Well, the two Salems were at odds from the start.
The Beginnings of Salem Village
In 1640, a group of farmers migrated west and north, away from Salem Town’s thriving seaport and wealthy merchants in search of arable lands. This new rural settlement became Salem Village, and was still part of greater Salem.
The villagers sought their independence early on, but the Salem Town magistrates refused to reduce the town’s land holdings or tax base. The village remained stubborn, objecting to traveling the five difficult miles required to attend church or military watch (both requirements of these early Puritan communities).
Villagers especially resented the compulsory military service. Precariously situated on the frontier, Salem Village faced many threats, including potential attacks from Native American and French forces. Many villagers did not understand why the larger Salem Town wasn’t instead sending militia to protect them.
Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches: Salem, 1692, noted via email, “The town and village repeatedly annoyed each other. The village because the town adjudicated on its behalf. The town because the villagers seemed a quarrelsome lot, who over and over appealed to the town to resolve their disputes.”
One of the longest-spanning disputes was the generational feud between Salem Village’s Putnam and Towne families, where Salem Town had to repeatedly step in to solve what were, in their minds, petty matters of inheritance and land disputes. “At one point,” Schiff continued, “a justice from Salem Town essentially asked that the villagers keep their antipathies to themselves.”
The weary Salem Town magistrates eventually loosened their hold on the village, granting Salem Village its own parish in 1672. In 1689, Samuel Parris became the village’s first ordained minister.