Salem Heritage Trail
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About
The Salem Heritage Trail guides visitors from around the corner and around the world through over 400 years of Salem history. The themes of the trail bridge connections from the land’s earliest settlement to the Salem we see today with focuses on local Indigenous Peoples, Colonial Salem and the Witch Trials, the Age of Sail, Industrial Heritage, Abolitionism and African American Stories, Immigrant Experiences, Religious Diversity, and Contemporary Salem.
Created in the 1980s, the Salem Heritage Trail was developed to be a self-guided walking trail to help visitors experience Salem’s historic sites and navigate the downtown district. Intended to evoke a brick line like Boston’s Freedom Trail, the Salem Heritage Trail was painted as a red line on the sidewalk. Over time, the trail became known as “The Red Line.”
Click HERE to see the Salem Heritage Trail Mobile App
Step into Salem with our new Virtual 360 Heritage Trail Tour, click to enter.
Today, we recognize the phrase, “Red Line,” has a negative connotation and evokes a dark period in our history when redlining was a discriminatory practice that denied financial services to people based on race, ethnicity, or demographic. As a community that strives for inclusion, maintaining a component of our downtown that makes members of our community uncomfortable is not acceptable.
In 2020 the City of Salem, Destination Salem and partners in the community began a strategic revisioning of the Salem Heritage Trail that will include repainting the line in a new color, removing references to “The Red Line” from publications and digital media, and developing inclusive interpretation of sites along the Salem Heritage Trail. We believe the Trail is an excellent way to introduce visitors and residents to the many layers of Salem’s rich history and look forward to improving on the trail’s original goal: to help people experience and learn about Salem.
For more information, contact Destination Salem at info@salem.org
Historic Sites
The Salem Heritage Trail is a tool for exploring historic Salem on foot. Hop on the trail in the middle or on one of the ends, and follow it through historic downtown Salem to the edge of the McIntire Historic District and along the Essex Street Pedestrian Way to Derby Street and the Salem Waterfront District.
For an immersive experience click HERE to entre our 360 Tour.