Salem Maritime National Historical Park

PARK OVERVIEW

Salem Maritime National Historical Park is located in Salem, Massachusetts. It was established in 1938 to preserve three wharves and a collection of buildings associated with the city’s maritime industry. At its peak between 1776 and 1812, Salem was the busiest trading port in the United States and the sixth largest city. In the days when taxes on imported goods accounted for 97 percent of federal revenue, taxes collected in Salem in the early 1800s made up as much as 7 percent of the total. However, when the War of 1812 started, foreign trade was seriously impaired, and afterwards Salem never recovered. To make matters worse, ships were being built larger and larger, and Salem Harbor was not deep enough to accommodate them. Trade gradually moved to the bigger and deeper ports of cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. As the maritime industry declined, Salem became an industrial city full of textile mills.

Begin your visit to the park at the Salem Armory Visitor Center. Here you can get a park brochure and speak with a Ranger about what there is to see and do. There are eight historical buildings within the park, and visitors are welcome to tour the interiors of the Custom House, the Public Stores, the Scale House, the Derby House, and the Narbonne House. The rest of the buildings are closed to the public and can only be viewed from the outside.

There are also exhibits on Derby Wharf, the longest of the three existing wharves. A lighthouse sits at the end, and when in port, visitors will find the Friendship of Salem docked along the wharf. The Friendship is a late-1990s replica of an East Indiaman cargo ship built in Salem in 1797. The public is welcome to come aboard and tour the top and middle decks of the ship.

PARKING

There is no designated visitor parking lot at Salem Maritime National Historical Park, so guests must either park in metered spots along the street or in a public parking garage. Street parking at the wharf is easy to find if you arrive first thing in the morning, but later in the day you’ll end up playing an extended game of musical chairs as you drive endlessly in circles waiting for somebody to leave. There is also a four-hour time limit, and when this expires you must move to another spot. If, like most people, you plan to visit Salem for the witch history as well, you can easily spend much longer than four hours.

The parking garage option is ultimately the best way to go. There is a garage across the street from the Salem Armory Visitor Center at the corner of New Liberty and Church streets. While convenient for stopping at the Visitor Center, it is a half-mile walk to Derby Street where all of the attractions at the park are located. There is another parking garage at the corner of Congress and Derby streets that is more centrally located—.2 mile to the wharf and .3 mile to the Visitor Center.

OPERATING HOURS

The publicly accessible historical buildings at Salem Maritime National Historical Park are typically open from mid-May through the end of October. The Salem Armory Visitor Center and the Waite and Peirce Information Center and Park Store are open daily. The other buildings are usually open on Wednesdays through Sundays. Operating hours for all locations except the Narbonne and Derby houses are from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The Narbonne and Derby houses are only open until noon. Also, the Derby House is not open in October.

When the Friendship of Salem is docked at Derby Wharf, it is also open on Wednesdays through Sunday, but only from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM.

The grounds and any outdoor exhibits at the park are open 24 hours a day, year-round. All other facilities are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

Times can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Basic Information web page for Salem Maritime National Historical Park.

FEES

There are no fees associated with a visit to Salem Maritime National Historical Park.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

While the park is a collection of three wharves, two visitor centers, and eight historical buildings, everything but the Salem Armory Visitor Center is packed closely together on Derby Street along Salem Harbor (the entire park is only nine acres). If you schedule it right, you can see everything in three to four hours. However, if you throw in some of the witch-related tourist attractions that Salem is known for—and most visitors come for the witches, not Salem Maritime National Historical Park—you can spend a full day in Salem and not run out of things to do.

Salem Armory Visitor Center
allow 30 to 90 minutes

Waite and Peirce Information Center and Park Store
allow 15 minutes

Custom House, Scale House, and Public Stores
allow 45 minutes

Derby House
allow 45 minutes

Narbonne House
allow 15 minutes

Friendship of Salem
allow 30 minutes

Derby Wharf
allow 30 minutes

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