Witch House/Corwin House

Essex Street, which runs beside you, was once an indigenous pathway along the peninsula of Salem from the woods to the sea. The earliest parts of this house were built in the mid-late 1600s, likely the early 1660s. Wealthy merchant Jonathan Corwin purchased the home in 1675 and made extensive modifications.In 1692, Corwin acted as a local magistrate during the early phases of the Salem Witch Trials and later served on the Court of Oyer and Terminerwhich sentenced 28 innocent people to death, of whom 19 were executed. The home was inhabited by generations of the Corwin family and the people they enslaved, for almost 200years. In 1856, the last descendant to live here, Sarah Ward Cushing, sold it to the apothecary George Farrington, who then popularized the house’s past and made it into a landmark. The preservation organization Historic Salem, Inc. rescued the house and restored it between 1944 and 1948, when it was transferred to the City of Salem. Visitors can tour the home seasonally to see a glimpse of what life in Salem was like during 1692.