Museums and galleries in Salem

15 museums and galleries in Salem, from the big collections to small independent spaces.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

See
Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery
Salem's only monster/sci-fi/fantasy museum. Haunted house every October.
Fri-Sun 10AM-5PM
See
Friendship of Salem
This replica ship usually functions as a floating museum; however, the vessel is fully functional and Coast Guard certified. She was designed after a model of the original (on display at PEM), and is occasionally taken out under full sail for crew trainings and tall ship events. The original was a three-masted trading ship built in Salem in 1797. After circumnavigating the world over a dozen times, she would eventually be taken by British forces during the War of 1812, then stripped and sold for parts.
Irregular dockside tours via Waite & PeirceFree
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New England Pirate Museum
The museum includes a walking tour that consists of an artifacts room, a recreation of life down by the docks where the pirates did their recruiting, and reenactments and representations of such famous pirates as Sam Bellamy, Captain Kidd, and Blackbeard. You can get $5 off tickets when you buy with Witch Dungeon Museum and Witch History Museum.
10AM-5PM with extended hours in OctoberAdults $8, children 4-13yr $6, seniors $7
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Old Town Hall
Salem Museum
Built in 1816, this is the earliest surviving municipal building in Salem. First floor used as a space for public art. Museum closed until further notice.
See
Peabody Essex Museum
PEM
The Peabody Essex Museum is a leading museum of Asian art and culture and early American maritime trade and whaling; its collections of Indian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese art, and in particular Chinese export porcelain, are among the finest in the country. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States. The museum owns and exhibits a number of historic houses in downtown Salem. In 2003, it completed a massive $100-million renovation and expansion, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, and moved a 200-year-old 16-room Chinese home from Xiuning County in southeastern China to the grounds of the museum. Gift shop available in person and online.
Thu-Mon 10AM-5Mon. Caféː 10AM-4PMAdults $25, seniors $23, students $15, youth (under 16), veterans/military and Salem residents admitted free; the 200-year-old Yin Yu Tang Chinese merchant's house is included in basic admission but requires a separate timed reservation
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Peirce-Nichols House
One of McIntire's earlier commissions, this home was built in the Georgian style for Jerathmiel Peirce and completed around 1784. It was later transformed by the architect into a Federal masterpiece, celebrating the marriage of daughter Sarah Peirce to George Nichols. The home has been owned by Peabody Essex Museum since 1917, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.
Irregular tours offered by PEM
Do
Pioneer Village
Created in 1930, this is America's first living-history museum. Based around a recreated Puritan village, it gives visitors the opportunity to observe how the lives of Salem's earliest English settlers might have been lived. Holds space for the Naumkeag and other Massachusett peoples. You'll get some amazing pictures, but overall it's quite small, you'd be hard pressed to spend 30 minutes here.
Sat Sun noon-4PM$5
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Punto Urban Art Museum
The Punto Urban Art Museum was founded as a social justice art program. Designed to promote and feature Dominican artists in an effort to reduce stigma against those who reside there. Over 75 large scale murals featuring a variety of global and New England-based artists. If your group has 15 or more people, sign up for an educational tour. Tours last about 90 minutes and cover topics like: the immigrant experience, street art, and local cultural highlights.
24 hours dailyFree
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Ropes Mansion
Built from 1727–1729 in the Georgian style, major restorations were done in 1894, and the handsome back garden was added in 1912. Three generations of Ropes called this mansion home, until it was given to a trust in 1907. The building has seen many renovations and restorations over its life, but generally maintains its original form. Today the mansion is open to the public and controlled by the Peabody Essex Museum.
Sat Sun noon-4PM; gardens sunrise-sunset daily
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Salem Art Gallery
The Satanic Temple
Opened in 2016 in the former Dubiel Funeral Parlor. This art space doubles as the world headquarters for the Satanic Temple. Offering a rotating selection of events, screenings, and artworks by local practitioners. The giant statue of Baphomet is always quite popular. Other permanent exhibits are dedicated to Satanism, witch hunts, and moral panics. Stop by the gift shop for t-shirts and merch you just can't get anywhere else.
Wed-Sat 11AM-5PM, Sun noon-5PMVaries, free to $25
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Salem Wax Museum
Not great. Same owners as Salem Witch Village, just next door.
10AM-6PM daily
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Salem Witch Museum
The museum includes a narrative on the history of the trials in 1692 and also an exhibit on witchcraft through the ages.
Daily 10AM-5PM (until 7PM July, August)$16.50, under 14 $14.50
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Witch Dungeon Museum
Has witch trial reenactments. You can get $5 off tickets when you buy with New England Pirate Museum and Witch History Museum.
10AM-5PM with extended hours in OctoberAdults $8, children 4-13 yr $6, seniors $7
See
Witch History Museum
The Salem Witch Museum is dedicated to the Salem witch trials. You can get $5 off tickets when you buy with New England Pirate Museum and Witch Dungeon Museum.
10AM-5PM with extended hours in OctoberAdults $8, children 4-13yr $6, seniors $7
Do Not mapped
Salem Trolley
Your standard issue tourist trolley bus. Offers one hour narrated historical tours of Salem, stopping at all the main sites in town. Not a hop-on, hop-off service. Museum admission not included. Heated cars. Buy tickets in person day of at the National Park Service Visitor Center.
Apr-Oct 10AM-5PM daily$22

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Salem (CC BY-SA 4.0).