Project Highlight: The Salem Heritage Trail

We are delighted to announce that we will be continuing our historical research and project management for the Salem Heritage Trail.

MuseumTastic is delighted to be working with Destination Salem to continue building the Salem Heritage Trail.

Salem’s trail was created in the 1980s and was in need of an update and community input. Meetings with Destination Salem, local historians, historic site staff, and residents started in 2019. To make the trail more inclusive, the line color changed from red to gold and a north-facing compass represents discovery, direction, and Salem’s connection to the sea.

Before coming on board, the Heritage Trail committee knew that Salem’s history need to “bridge connections from the land’s earliest settlement to the Salem we see today.” The group selected a number of themes to help share Salem’s stories including with focuses 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.

MuseumTastic came on board in 2022 to support project management for the first ten sites on the trail. For each site this included historical research, image research and selection, writing, recording audio, and graphic design. This project also allowed us to bring on two of our amazing partners - David Moffat and Sarah Garriepy. MuseumTastic was also charged with supporting a process for future site selection.

Hundreds of thousands visit Salem each year. Some of those visitors come to Salem every year, some are there for October and Haunted Happenings, some are local and come for off-season events like Salem’s So Sweet, and some are coming for the first time. And, there are residents and local historians who are well-versed in all things Salem. It’s hard to make a history project be something for everyone, but that was the lofty goal of this project.

Using public history and museum best practices, our team got to work. Using museum label writing best practices, hours of research had to be consolidated into 150 words or less of text. The Heritage Trail is available on the web and as an app. For the app, the team worked to create audio files to increase accessibility. Destination Salem staff input all of that research into a welcoming app that visitors can use as an introduction to Salem history and find their way around the city.

In 2023, we’re hard at work helping Destination Salem to add additional sites to the website and app. Our collective goal is to ensure all people feel welcome in Salem by offering accessible, inclusive, and accurate history.