Historical Society

Specialized

History, Historic House, Specialized

Located in the Historic District of Danvers (once Salem Village, infamous for the Witchcraft Delusion of 1692), primarily constructed in 1670, acquired by our chapter for a meeting place, recorded in the National Register as significant to the Historic District in 1979, declared a National Historic Site in 1986, commended for careful restoration by the Danvers Historical Commission in 1989, the Judge Samuel Holten House bears the name of our Representative to and former President of the First Continental Congress, a physician, patriot, judge, and statesman. The grounds also contain a PRIVY, circa 1823 , featured with a picture and text in Richard S. Barlow's book, The Vanishing American Outhouse.

Historic House, Historical Society, Library

The Jason Russell House, built in 1740, still bears bullet holes as the site of bloody fighting on the first day of the American Revolution. British soldiers, in retreat from Lexington and Concord, shot and bayoneted Jason Russell on his own doorstep. Eleven other area Minute Men, who had gathered in Arlington, due to its strategic location, also lost their lives here in the April 19, 1775 skirmish.

Library