Salem Death Cafe
Please join Meg Nichols (she/her) and Joey Phoenix (they/them) of the Mycelium Network for a Death Cafe on Thursday May 2nd from 6-8pm at the Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center. Light refreshments will be provided.
Death Cafe is an opportunity for people to gather, drink tea, and talk about their experiences with death and grief. It is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. Please note that it is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session.
Please note that RSVP's are required to attend as we have limited capacity. Click here to RSVP.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at mycel.network@gmail.com
About Meg Nichols
Meg Nichols (she/her) is a Salem-based artist, owner of Painted Lady Sign Co. and Mortuary Science student at North Shore Community College. She is also a funeral director / embalmer apprentice, and trained death doula. She is passionate about death care education, advocacy and removing the stigma around addressing this inevitable part of life.
About Joey Phoenix
Joey Phoenix (they/them) is a transfae artist, performer, and intuitive energy worker. Grief work is at the center of both their creative and magical practice. They are also the lead organizer of the Camberville based mutual aid network the Mycelium Network.
Memento Mori: The Puritan Funeral in New England
The Puritans of New England were a people very well acquainted with death and their idiosyncratic relationship with it led to a rich funeral culture that persisted for years after the collapse of the Puritan movement. A ritual that involved copious alcohol, but no sermons, the 17th Century funeral is at once very similar and completely different from the funerals of today. Join Carl Schultz as he walks through the history of the colonial funeral, burials, and why someone might need a “double-coffin”.
This event is free, but space is limited. Reservations may be made here
Rose Remedies: Medicine in Early Massachusetts
Rose Remedies: Medicine in Early Massachusetts
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center
12:00-4:00, Ongoing
Known for centuries as a symbol of love, roses have become permanently entwined with Valentine's Day. However, in Colonial America this flower could just as well have been given to cure disease as to convey affection.
Join historian Dan Marshall as he explores the wide variety of medicinal uses of roses recorded in seventeenth-century American and European sources. Lend a hand as Dan makes some of the medicinal vinegars, oils, teas, waters, and conserves used in the past. They say love conquers all, but did rose cure all?
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
Painting Demo at the Witch House
Visit the Witch House to see local artist Nick Demakes create an original painting as part of the Salem So Sweet festival. Free and open to the public, no reservations required!
Gentlemen Bat artist Nick Demakes is a graduate of Monserrat College of Art, with a BFA in illustration, and paints his animal portraits with coffee and acrylic paint. Nick is featured in the Peabody Essex Museum’s Bat exhibit and has prints available locally in Salem as well as New Orleans, Buffalo, New York, and Oregon.
Ghost Stories at the Witch House (Sold Out)
Historian and storyteller Rory O'Brien reads a a selection of classic ghost stories as the sun sets in the historic Witch House. The event is free, but space is limited, so advance reservations will be required to attend.
Reservations are available here
Merry Medicine: Colonial Cures from Holiday Greenery
The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Come join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.
Space is limited. Reservations are required. Reservations may be made here.
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
SOLD OUT!-TRAILS AND SAILS EVENT: GRAVESTONE CLEANING
Join Epoch Preservation for an early evening stroll through Charter Street Cemetery, where they will demonstrate how to clean a slate stone using D2 Biological Solution and answer your gravestone conservation questions.
Space is limited. Reservations are required. Spots may be reserved here.
The Protestant and Puritan Way of Death
Professors Donna Seger and Emerson “Tad” Baker of the Salem State University History Department discuss the impact of the Protestant Reformation on death and funeral customs, in 16th, 17th, and 18th century Europe and America, with specific reference to the Old Burying Ground on Charter Street.
The event is free and online. Tickets may be reserved here
If These Stones Could Speak: The History and People Of The Old Salem Burying Point
Join us on August 8th at 2pm, the last Sunday of Heritage Days, for a special book signing, talk, and Q&A with Daniel Fury for his new book, "If These Stones Could Speak: The History and People of The Old Salem Burying Point", at the new Charter Street Welcome Center.
This book is the culmination of over a decade of research into Old Burying Point, one of, if not the oldest, maintained Colonial cemetery in the United States. It is a record of the lives and loves of those who rest there eternally, as well as the history of the site, intimate details of funerals in old Salem, an index of all known burials, and information about the people victimized by the Salem Witch Hysteria and the Memorial erected in their honor.
Daniel Fury is a resident of Salem, owner and operator of Black Cat Tours, and co-author of Black Cat Tales: History and Hauntings of Old Salem.
Books will be available for purchase on site. We hope you can join us!
Salem’s Dead:Learning History from Charter Street Cemetery
Emerson “Tad” Baker, Salem’s Dead: Learning History from Charter Street Cemetery
In celebration of the restoration work nearing completion on Salem’s Charter Street Cemetery and its reopening to the public this summer, this talk will explore what we can learn about early Salem’s history by looking at this cemetery, its gravestones and colonial burying practices.
Laid out in 1637 on what would come to be known as the “Burying Point,” Charter Street is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States. It is the resting place of many famous Salem residents, ranging from two witch trials judges and Governor Simon Bradstreet to architect and carver Samuel McIntire. Her lies Giles Corey’s first wife, as well as a young man allegedly bewitched by Bridget Bishop. The gravestones at Charter Street are remarkable works of art whose elaborate decoration tells us much about the evolving nature of society and belief in early Salem.
Emerson "Tad" Baker is vice provost and a professor of History at Salem State University. He is the award-winning author of many books on the history and archaeology of early New England, including A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience, and The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England. Baker has served as an advisor and on-camera expert for PBS-TV’s American Experience and Colonial House, as well as for documentaries on many networks. His current book project explores material life in seventeenth-century New England.
This event is free. Donations to Voices Against Injustice are strongly encouraged.
REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE.