# Salem, Village, Massachusetts in the 1680s

> A farming parish on poor roads, five miles from Salem Town, divided over ministry, taxes, land, and church authority.

- Place: Salem, Village, Massachusetts (42.520, -70.896)
- Years: 1680 to 1689
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-village-massachusetts/1680s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Salem%2C%20Village%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20USA&at=42.5198,-70.8955&year=1685

## Looking around

You stand in Salem Village, five to seven miles inland from Salem Town[1], in a place that is still only a parish, not a town[5]. The center is the meetinghouse built in 1672 on Joseph Hutchinson’s acre[2], near what will later be Hobart and Forest Streets. Around it are farm households rather than the merchants and mariners of Salem Town[1]. The road back to town is long on foot or horseback and less than adequate[1], which is why this parish exists at all. Near the center lies the parsonage land given by Joseph Houlton[4], with a house built for the minister in 1681. Inside the meetinghouse, status has a visible order: elders, deacons, officers, and heavier taxpayers sit forward[7]. The decade ends with Samuel Parris’s new covenant church of twenty-seven members[3][11], but also with arguments over salary, firewood, and who controls church property[8][9].

## Work: Farms, not wharves

The ordinary economy here is agricultural: most villagers are farmers[1], not the merchants and mariners of Salem Town[1]. Parish taxes and ministerial payments make farm households part of church finance as well as field work.

## Faith: A parish becomes a church

The meetinghouse has stood since 1672 on Joseph Hutchinson’s acre[2]. Until late in the decade it is a parish meetinghouse with ministers, but no separately covenanted congregation[5]; that changes on November 19, 1689[3][11].

## Law & power: Salem still governs

Salem Village can hire a minister, build a meetinghouse, and collect taxes[6], but it is not an independent town[5]. Power is also visible inside worship, where elders, deacons, officers, and large contributors sit forward[7].

## In the air: Covenant and property

Arguments about religion are also arguments about ownership: the village disputes ministerial rates, salary obligations, firewood, and ministry lands[8][9]. The new church covenant of twenty-seven members[3][11] promises order, but it begins inside a divided community.

## What people feared: War still shadows Essex

Adults remember the 1670s, when many Salem Village soldiers had died[5] and the community had fortified the meetinghouse[5]. In the 1680s the fear is not only wilderness war but political uncertainty after the Massachusetts Bay charter was revoked in 1684[1].

## Home & table: Parsonage at the center

The minister’s house stands on land given by Joseph Houlton near the village center[4]. Even that official house is practical and vulnerable: part rested on wooden beams directly on the ground[4].

## Money: Sixty pounds and firewood

Parris’s support shows how money worked here: sixty pounds, one third in money and two thirds in provisions[12]. Firewood is a separate sore point, with six pounds voted for firewood[12] and then relinquished.

## Roads & news: Five miles to town

News, courts, trade, and strangers come along the road to Salem Town, but five miles by foot or horseback over poor roads[1] is a real separation. That distance is the reason villagers pressed for their own meetinghouse and minister[6].

## Year by year

- **1680** (here): George Burroughs began his short ministry among the Salem Village farmers.[1]
- **1681** (here): The parsonage was built on Joseph Houlton’s ministerial land near the village center.[4]
- **1683** (here): George Burroughs left after conflict with the congregation over his salary.[7]
- **1684** (the country): The Massachusetts Bay charter was revoked, unsettling the legal and political frame of the colony.[1]
- **1684** (here): Villagers voted to add end galleries and a sounding board over the meetinghouse pulpit.[10]
- **1688** (the world): The Glorious Revolution in England helped trigger resistance to royal government in Massachusetts.[5]
- **1689** (the country): Massachusetts colonists overthrew Andros’s Dominion government and revived government under the old charter tradition.[5]
- **1689** (here): The Church of Christ at Salem Village was organized with twenty-seven covenant members.[3][11]

## What the sources say

- Salem Village was inland and agricultural; unlike Salem Town’s merchant and mariner population, most villagers were farmers. (from the sources)[1]
- The village lay roughly five to seven miles from the coast and from Salem Town, close to the modern Danvers area at the mapped coordinates. (from the sources)[1]
- In the 1680s Salem Village was a parish of Salem, not an independent town; full town independence came much later, in the 1750s with Danvers. (from the sources)[5]
- The first Salem Village meetinghouse was built in 1672 on an acre of land given by Joseph Hutchinson, near the later corner of Hobart and Forest Streets in Danvers. (from the sources)[2]
- The practical complaint behind the parish was that five miles to Salem Town was a long trip to church by foot or horseback over poor roads. (from the sources)[1]
- Since 1672 the villagers had authority to hire a minister, build a meetinghouse, and collect taxes for public improvements, but under Salem Town’s wider authority. (from the sources)[6]
- The parish ran through four ministers in sixteen years: James Bailey from 1672 to 1679, George Burroughs from 1680 to 1683, Deodat Lawson from 1684 to 1688, and Samuel Parris from 1688–1689 onward. (from the sources)[1]
- George Burroughs left in 1683 after difficulties with the congregation over his ministerial salary. (inferred)[7]
- Joseph Houlton gave five and a half acres near the village center for ministerial use, and a parsonage was built there in 1681. (from the sources)[4]
- The 1681 parsonage was partly built without a full stone cellar, with part of the house resting on wooden beams directly on the ground. (from the sources)[4]
- Seating in the meetinghouse expressed rank: the oldest inhabitants sat near the front with deacons, followed by governmental and military officials and then those who contributed most to parish support. (inferred)[7]
- Village disputes in the 1680s often centered on money and church property, including ministerial rates, salary obligations, firewood, and whether ministry lands could be conveyed to a particular person. (from the sources)[8][9]
- On March 6, 1684, villagers voted to add two end galleries to the meetinghouse and a canopy or sounding board over the pulpit. (inferred)[10]
- On November 19, 1689, the Church of Christ at Salem Village was organized as a separate covenant congregation with twenty-seven original covenant members. (from the sources)[3][11]
- Before 1689, Salem Village had a meetinghouse and minister but no separately covenanted congregation of its own. (from the sources)[5]
- Samuel Parris’s 1689 settlement was controversial because some villagers objected to the benefits he received, including claims involving the parsonage. (from the sources)[9]
- A 1690 village record, reflecting the terms negotiated in 1689, set Parris’s salary at sixty pounds, with one third in money and two thirds in provisions. (from the sources)[12]
- The same 1690 record says Parris had relinquished six pounds that had been voted for firewood. (from the sources)[12]
- The Massachusetts Bay charter was revoked in 1684, and by the middle of the decade villagers could wonder about the legal security of land titles under changing imperial authority. (from the sources)[1]
- In 1689 Massachusetts colonists overthrew Governor Edmund Andros’s Dominion government and re-established a commonwealth based on the old charter. (from the sources)[5]
- Essex County people in these years remembered King Philip’s War of the mid-1670s, when many Salem Village soldiers had died and the village had erected a watch house and fortified the meetinghouse. (from the sources)[5]
- No online source opened here gives a street-by-street description of ordinary Salem Village houses in the 1680s beyond the meetinghouse and parsonage sites. (not known)
- No local price list for ordinary food, cloth, tools, or livestock in Salem Village in the 1680s was found in the opened sources. (not known)

## Sources

1. Welcome to Danvers. Salem Witch Museum. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/welcome-to-danvers/
2. First Meetinghouse of Salem Village, Site of. Salem Witch Museum. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/first-meetinghouse-of-salem-village-site-of/
3. Records of the Salem-Village Church from November 1689 to October 1696. University of Virginia Library, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, 2015. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/villgchurchrcrd.html
4. Foundation of Salem Village Parsonage. Salem Witch Museum. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/site-of-salem-village-parsonage/
5. A Documentary History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Outbreak of March 1692. University of Virginia Library, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/introTraskBook.html
6. Danvers, Massachusetts: Historical Sites. University of Virginia Library, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Danvers.html
7. The Meetinghouse at Salem Village. Danvers Archival Center / Peabody Institute Library, 2014. https://www.danverslibrary.org/archive/meetinghouse-at-salem-village/
8. Standard History of Essex County, Massachusetts. Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1878. https://ldsgenealogy.com/books3/standardhistoryo00trac.pdf
9. Introduction. Colonial Society of Massachusetts. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1464
10. Salem Village Meetinghouse. History of Massachusetts Blog, 2025. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-village-meetinghouse/
11. Village Church Record Book. Danvers Archival Center / Peabody Institute Library, 2015. https://www.danverslibrary.org/archive/village-church-record-book/
12. At a Generall meeting of the Inhabetance of this vilage 28th october 1690. University of Virginia Library, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, 1690. https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/d1e4425.html

## The same place in other decades

- [Salem in the 1710s](https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-essex-massachusetts/1710s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Billerica, Massachusetts in the 1670s](https://yorehistory.com/place/billerica-massachusetts/1670s/md) (31 km)
- [Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1670s](https://yorehistory.com/place/duxbury-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1670s/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)
- [Plymouth in the 1650s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1650s/md) (65 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, Village, Massachusetts in the 1680s", https://yorehistory.com/place/salem-village-massachusetts/1680s