A Forgotten Man in a Haunted City

I don't sell enough t-shirts or knick knacks, which is why you know nothing about me.

It's Halloween week, which reminds me of my trip to Salem, Massachusetts.  About five springs ago, I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Connecticut.  Being a lover of anything history, we saw many of the typical historic sites.  On my last day, we visited Salem and I was sorely disappointed.  Besides some good Thai food, Salem was a typical, over commercialized tourist attraction.

When most people think of Salem, they think of dour, self righteous Puritans and the witch trails of 1692.  I, however, think of one person, Roger Conant.  Conant was a simple fisherman, who set sail from England in 1623 and lived for several years with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.  Finding the Pilgrims to strict and their religious sentiments to confining, he founded Salem, Massachusetts in 1626 and served as it's first governor.

Besides a tall, imposing statute of Conant in Salem's square, there is nothing of him that remains.  His house is gone, his name erased and even his burial place is uncertain.  Instead, everything in Salem focuses on witches. There is a Salem Witch Museum, a wax museum and a 17th century grave yard featuring the judges at the Salem witch trails (one of whom was Nathaniel Hawthorn's ancestor).

A judge in the Salem Witch Trails and an ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne

 While Salem's official website mentions other historic attractions, which focus on its maritime and literary history, Salem has created the image as the Disney World of Halloween.  Now, I have nothing wrong with a city trying to attract tourists, but it is sad when a city perverts its own history to attract visitors.  The fact that it was and is a thriving metropolitan, maritime city, founded by a man courageous enough to disagree with the Pilgrim's religious beliefs, is all but forgotten.  Americans like history, but only if it sells.

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