# Salem, Essex, Massachusetts in the 1710s

> A crowded Puritan seaport lived by fish, ships, roads, meetinghouses, and the still-raw memory of 1692.

- Place: Salem, Essex, Massachusetts (42.520, -70.896)
- Years: 1710 to 1719
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-essex-massachusetts/1710s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Salem%2C%20Essex%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20USA&at=42.5198,-70.8955&year=1715

## Looking around

You stand on Queen’s Highway, the chief thoroughfare[1], widened here in 1711[1]. Turn toward the water and the town’s work runs outward: cod fishing, commerce, shipbuilding[2], and the making of voyages from a port where most mariners are recruited from within Salem[4]. Inland ways lead south to Marblehead[1] and north through Peabody/Danvers toward Cape Ann[1]. Around the meetinghouse world, Puritan Congregational worship dominates[1], but Quaker meetings have their own meetinghouse[1] and the East Church is being finished half a mile east on Essex Street[1]. The settlement is growing fast from about 2,300 people in 1709[1]. News from Boston comes by rider, vessel, or traveler, because Salem has no newspaper yet[5]. The courts and General Court still cast a shadow: reparations for witch-trial victims begin in 1711[3].

## Work: Ships shaped work

The waterfront economy rested on cod fishing, commerce, shipbuilding[2], though households still kept ties to agriculture and husbandry[2]. Many crews were local: most mariners on Salem-owned vessels came from Salem itself[4].

## Faith: Meetinghouses divided time

Puritan Congregational worship dominated[1] public religious life, but Quakers had met in their own meetinghouse since 1688[1]. In 1718 the East Church meetinghouse was completed on Essex Street[1], showing growth and division inside the town’s Congregational world.

## Law & power: Town and province ruled

Roads, meetinghouses, courts, and taxes were governed through town and provincial authority; the General Court still touched Salem directly when pardons and reparations for witch-trial victims began in 1711[3].

## In the air: The trials still mattered

The witch trials were not distant folklore: 1711 brought pardons and reparations[3], and some households were still living with legal, financial, and moral consequences from 1692.

## What people feared: Sea, war, and law

Men working from Salem faced the hazards of ocean labor in a town where cod fishing and commerce dominated[2]. As across coastal Massachusetts in Queen Anne’s War, war with France and Native allies was part of the background.

## Money: Shillings for hard labor

A Salem laborer’s account book shows about three to four shillings for a day’s work[6]. Piece tasks could be small and exact: two shillings four pence for dismantling a barn[6] or four shillings for washing fish[6].

## Who lived here: A growing English town

The town held about 2,300 people in 1709[1] and was growing quickly. The population was still mainly of English descent, while the wider town report notes Scots, Irish, French, Quakers, and enslaved or free Black residents later in the colonial period.

## Roads & news: Roads before newspapers

News moved by road, water, ferry, and travelers, not a local press, because Salem’s first newspaper did not begin until 1768[5]. The main ways led south to Marblehead[1], north toward Cape Ann[1], and by Ferry Lane to the Beverly Ferry[1].

## Year by year

- **1710** (nearby): Port Royal in Acadia fell to British and colonial forces during Queen Anne’s War, news that would have mattered in Massachusetts ports.
- **1711** (here): Essex Street, then Queen’s Highway, was widened between Washington and Summer Streets.[1]
- **1711** (here): The Massachusetts General Court began pardons and reparations for people harmed by the Salem witch trials.[3]
- **1713** (the world): The Treaty of Utrecht ended Queen Anne’s War between Britain and France.
- **1713** (nearby): More than 200 people rioted in Boston over the high price of bread.
- **1714** (the world): Queen Anne died and George I became king, putting the Hanoverian line on the British throne.
- **1718** (here): The East Church meetinghouse was completed on Essex Street, about half a mile east of the First Church.[1]

## What the sources say

- About 2,300 people lived in Salem in 1709, just before the decade opened. (from the sources)[1]
- Salem's population then rose rapidly in the early eighteenth century, according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission town report. (from the sources)[1]
- By 1711, Essex Street was widened between Washington and Summer Streets. (from the sources)[1]
- That part of Essex Street was then called Queen’s Highway and was Salem’s chief thoroughfare before 1727. (from the sources)[1]
- A main land route out of Salem ran south to Marblehead. (from the sources)[1]
- Other main routes ran north through the Peabody and Danvers area toward Cape Ann and northern settlements. (from the sources)[1]
- A new road to the Beverly Ferry had been laid out in 1701 and was known as Ferry Lane before 1754. (from the sources)[1]
- Native trails around Salem had likely been upgraded into horse paths or cart ways by this period. (from the sources)[1]
- At the beginning of the eighteenth century Salem’s economy was still dominated by maritime trade: cod fishing, commerce, shipbuilding, and related waterfront work. (from the sources)[2]
- From the turn of the century to 1775, the majority of mariners on Salem-owned vessels were recruited from within Salem rather than from the countryside or outside the colony. (from the sources)[4]
- Early in the eighteenth century, seafaring became a family tradition in many Salem households, with sons following fathers or uncles to sea. (from the sources)[4]
- Salem people still practiced agriculture and husbandry in the early eighteenth century, despite the dominance of maritime work. (from the sources)[2]
- Puritan Congregationalism characterized most worship in Salem during the colonial period. (from the sources)[1]
- The East Church meetinghouse was completed in 1718 on Essex Street, about half a mile east of the First Church. (from the sources)[1]
- Quakers were present throughout Salem’s colonial period, and their first meetinghouse had been built in 1688. (from the sources)[1]
- In 1689, Salem Village, later Danvers, was formally separated from Salem’s First Church for religious purposes. (from the sources)[1]
- In 1711 the Massachusetts General Court began pardons and reparations for survivors and families harmed by the Salem witch trials. (from the sources)[3]
- Salem had no local newspaper in the 1710s; the first newspaper published there, the Essex Gazette, began in 1768. (from the sources)[5]
- A Salem day laborer’s account book from 1708 to 1729 often recorded a day’s work at about three to four shillings. (from the sources)[6]
- The same Salem account book listed two shillings four pence for dismantling a barn, one shilling two pence for killing two lambs, and four shillings for washing fish. (from the sources)[6]
- As across coastal Massachusetts during Queen Anne’s War, news of fighting with France and its Native allies would have mattered in Salem’s seafaring and militia world. (inferred)
- No online source opened here gives a street-by-street description of ordinary Salem houses in the 1710s. (not known)

## Sources

1. MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Salem. Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1985. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/mhc/preservation/survey/town-reports/archives/sal.pdf
2. Historic Overview of Salem. City of Salem. https://www.salemma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2169
3. The Aftermath. Massachusetts Archives Digital Repository. https://digitalarchives.sec.state.ma.us/the-aftermath/
4. Recruitment and Promotion: The Merchant Fleet of Salem, Massachusetts, 1670–1765. Cambridge University Press, 1994. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/market-for-seamen-in-the-age-of-sail/recruitment-and-promotion-the-merchant-fleet-of-salem-massachusetts-16701765/44DA1412C8D86030D4AE08EC7AC9B1B0
5. The Essex Gazette. Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dy2rqx6q
6. Cockerl Reeves account book, 1708–1729. Harvard Library HOLLIS for Archival Discovery. https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/catalog/bak00838

## The same place in other decades

- [Salem Village in the 1680s](https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-village-massachusetts/1680s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Billerica, Massachusetts in the 1710s](https://yorehistory.com/place/billerica-massachusetts/1710s/md) (31 km)
- [Londonderry, Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/londonderry-rockingham-county-new-hampshire/1730s/md) (55 km)
- [Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/duxbury-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1730s/md) (56 km)
- [Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1680s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-county-massachusetts/1680s/md) (61 km)
- [Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1710s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plympton-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1710s/md) (63 km)
- [Townsend, Massachusetts in the 1740s](https://yorehistory.com/place/townsend-massachusetts/1740s/md) (68 km)
- [Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/middleborough-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1730s/md) (70 km)
- [Hillsborough County, New Hampshire in the 1730s](https://yorehistory.com/place/hillsborough-county-new-hampshire/1730s/md) (80 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-24 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Salem, Essex, Massachusetts in the 1710s", https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-essex-massachusetts/1710s