Document Salem_doc_7914b6a260

Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. 4/11 FORM A - AREA MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Photo 1. (L to R) Blacksmith shop, Governor’s Fayre House, and Blacksmith Cottage, looking northwest. Assessor’s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area 33_0743 Salem SAL. GM See Data Table Town/City: Salem Place (neighborhood or village): Forest River Park Name of Area: Pioneer Village; Salem 1630 Present Use: Museum Construction Dates or Period: 1930, 1976–1988, ca. 2018 Overall Condition: Good Major Intrusions and Alterations: Arbella destroyed in 1954 hurricane; Ruck House and Arbella cottage destroyed by fire, 1976; reconstruction of cottages 1986; palisade fence ca. 2018 Acreage: 3.5 acres Recorded by: G. Pineo, J. Chin, V. Adams; PAL Organization: City of Salem Date (month/year): September 2021 Locus Map see continuation sheet ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 SAL.GM See Data Table Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. This inventory form has been prepared to update documentation for Pioneer Village (SAL.GM) prepared in 1988 by Claire Dempsey for the City of Salem. Since 1988, mid-twentieth century reconstructed buildings have become 50 years old, and thus potentially eligible for listing in the National Register. This documentation updates building descriptions and expands the historic narrative to place Pioneer Village in context with other sites associated with the early twentieth century Colonial Revival and the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary celebrations in 1930. A revised National Register eligibility evaluation is at the end of this form. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Pioneer Village (1930; SAL.GM) is a reproduction First Period village constructed in 1930 under the direction of George Francis Dow for the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary celebrations. The area, in the northeast corner of Forest River Park in Salem, encompasses seven buildings, two structures, and numerous landscape features across a 3.5-acre, sloping lot. The buildings are arranged in a rough line leading to Salem Harbor. The village, which is enclosed by a ca. 2018 wood palisade fence on the west, south, and east, is surrounded by residential buildings on the north, a baseball field on the west, Salem Harbor to the east, and a manufactured pond on the south. An asphalt paved parking lot is south of the pond. The site is accessed via a composite causeway (ca. 2018) that runs northwest from a curving concrete sidewalk adjacent to the parking lot. The causeway terminates at a double-leaf, vertical-board gate, which is the primary entrance into the site. A second entrance is at the east edge, near the harbor, and is also composed of a double-leaf, vertical board gate within the perimeter fence. Both gates are secured with large horizontal board. The upper slope of the site is generally covered with successional growth forest; some of the larger trees may have been planted in 1930 as part of the site landscaping and have matured in place. The upper slope originally had three English wigwams at the northwest edge and three dugout huts in the west side of the slope, along with a saw pit. One dugout and one wigwam remain extant. Camp Harbor Quest, a summer day camp run by the Salem YMCA, now occupies the upper slope. The lower slope generally consists of buildings running roughly east-west, and gardens and the main walking path through the site to the south. A small, manmade brook runs south through the center of the site, terminating in the pond. A small, wood bridge crosses the brook southwest of the Governor’s Fayre House. The pond is the southernmost element in the site and is south of the palisade fence. Resources in the area are described roughly from west to east, south to north. The Admission and Gift Shop (ca. 1960–1970; SAL.4473, Photo 2) is immediately to the northwest as visitors enter the site. The building is a southeast-facing, single-cell, one-story, rectangular building constructed in 1986. The building has a steeply pitched side-gable roof sheathed in wood shingles and pierced by a wattle and daub, half-timbered chimney at the west bay. The walls are clad in wide clapboards, and the building rests on wood piers. The southeast (facade) elevation has an entrance at the west bay that consists of a vertically laid wide-plank door with narrow modern metal hinges and a narrow plain wood surround. A small window opening is a off center between the center and east bays and has a wood shutter with wrought-iron hinges. A secondary entrance is in the south bay of the northeast elevation, and is filled with a vertically laid wide-plank door with wrought-iron hinges. A small window is centered on the northeast elevation and is covered by a wood shutter with wrought-iron hinges. The interior of the cottage has gypsum board walls. East of the Admission and Gift Shop is the Woodbury Cottage (1930; SAL.4474, Photo The cottage is a southeast- facing, one-story, single-cell, rectangular building. The building has a steeply pitched side-gable thatched roof pierced by an interior end chimney covered in clapboards at the east bay. The entrance is in the east-bay of the southeast (facade) elevation and has a narrow plain wood surround filled with a vertically laid wide-plank door that is accessed by a granite block step. A window opening is centered on the east half of the facade and is covered with a wood shutter with wrought- iron hinges. The interior of the cottage has wood plank floors and walls, and a sleeping loft opposite the chimney. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 SAL.GM See Data Table A Dugout Shelter (ca. 1980, SAL.9069, Photo 3) is northwest of the Admission and Gift Shop. Facing southwest, the dugout, a reproduction of a 1930 dugout, is built into the hill and has an end-gable wood plank and earthen roof with overhanging eaves and exposed beams. The walls are composed of vertical bark-covered logs. The dugout is built into the earth and the northeast end rests on a mortared stone fireplace. The entrance is centered on the southwest elevation and is framed in dimensional lumber. A small square window opening is east of the entrance and is also framed in dimensional lumber. An English Wigwam (1930, 1987; SAL.9070, Photo 4) is north of the Admission and Gift Shop. The Wigwam faces southwest and is constructed with wattle and thatching, which was replaced in 1987. An entrance is centered at the southwest elevation and is framed in plain wood and filled with a vertically laid wide-plank door. A square stone hearth, constructed in 1930, is at the northeast elevation and is nearly as tall and as wide as the wigwam. The Governor’s Fayre House (1930; SAL.4475, Photos 1 and 5–8) is in the approximate center of the row of buildings; ‘fayre’ is a pseudoarchaic spelling of fair, likely referring to the style and quality of the house and its finishes. The house is a southeast-facing, three-bay-by-one-bay, two-and-a-half-story, Colonial Revival reproduction of a First Period-style house. The building has a side-gable roof covered in wood shingles with overhanging eaves and a wide facia. A brick chimney pierces the roof east of center. The walls are clad in wood planks, and the building rests on stone piers. The southeast (facade) elevation consists of a central entrance flanked by windows. The entrance has a narrow plain wood surround and is filled with a wood door consisting of narrow vertical wood. Window openings are on the east and west bays and have plain wood shutters. A group of three diamond-pane casement windows is in the west bay at the second story and flush with the cornice. A narrow diamond pane fixed window is at the second story above the entrance and a pair of diamond-pane casement windows are in the east bay. Window openings are at the first and second stories in the southwest elevation, and a small window is centered in the gable peak. The interior of the house has a typical First Period hall-and-parlor configuration, with stairs in front of the center chimney bay. To the east of the Governor’s Fayre House are the Blacksmith Cottage (ca. 1986, SAL.4476, Photos 1, 5, and 8) and the Arbella Cottage (1930, SAL.4477, Photo each a southeast-facing, one-story, single-cell, Colonial Revival reproduction of a 1600s Colonial house. The buildings have a steeply pitched side-gable thatched roof pierced by an interior end half- timbered, wattle and daub chimney at the west bay. The walls are clad in wide wood clapboards, and the building rests on wood piers. The southeast (facade) elevation has an entrance at the west edge that consists of a vertically wide-plank door with narrow modern metal hinges and a narrow plain wood surround. A small window opening is a off center between the center and east bays and has a wood shutter with wrought-iron hinges. According to newspaper reports, the original Arbella Cottage was destroyed by arson in 1976, but this has been disputed by park staff. If true, the extant building would have to be a reproduction, and there is no know record of the Arabella Cottage being rebuilt, It is possible that the newspaper referred to the original Blacksmith Cottage that was destroyed but misnamed in the newspaper (Johnson 1976). The Blacksmith Shop (ca. 1986; SAL.4478, Photos 1 and 9) is across the walking path from the Blacksmith Cottage and is a northwest-facing, one-story, two-bay-by-one-bay, wood-frame building. The building has a side-gable roof with a wide facia that is covered in wood shingles and pierced by a half-timbered, wattle and daub chimney at the center of the southeast slope. The walls are clad in wood clapboards, and the building rests on wood piers. The northwest (facade) elevation consists of two large wood swinging doors with wrought-iron strap hinges. A one-story, one-bay-by-one-bay, shed roof ell with exposed rafter ends projects from the south center of the south elevation. A small window is off- center in the southwest elevation and has a wood shutter and wrought-iron hinges. The original blacksmith shop was built in 1930 and sited near the dugouts along the fence line at the northwest corner of the complex, remaining in place until ca. 1988. In ca. 1986 the current blacksmith shop was constructed as part of rehabilitation work in the village. The Visitor Center (1976; SAL.4479, Photo 10) is a west-facing, one-story, one-bay-by-four-bay, rectangular, wood-frame building. The building has a front-gable roof with overhanging-eaves and a wide facia. The roof is sheathed in wood shingles and is pierced by a wood chimney near the west end of the south slope. The walls are clad with wood planks, and the building rests on wood piers. The primary entrance is in the south edge of the east elevation, filled with a vertical-plank wood door affixed with strap hinges. A small window covered by wood shutters is to the north. A secondary ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 SAL.GM See Data Table entrance is centered at the west elevation that consists of a wood door with wrought-iron strap hinges. Four window openings are evenly spaced in the south elevation and have wood plank shutters with wrought-iron strap hinges. Immediately outside the palisade wall, adjacent to the Visitor Center, is a small, wood Ticket Booth (ca. 1970, SAL.4480, Photo 11), constructed of vertical boards surmounted by a side-gable roof. The ticket booth is typically only used for special events. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Pioneer Village was conceived by George Francis Dow (1868–1936) as a reproduction of the 1600s English Settlement in Salem, to commemorate the 1930 tercentenary of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dow was an antiquarian, museum innovator, and architect who championed the Colonial Revival concept of living history in America (Korieth 1990). He was the secretary of the Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum) in Salem from 1898–1918, then filled various roles at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), based in Boston, from 1920 until his death in 1936 (Stillinger 1980:152; Dempsey 1988). He was a prolific writer and editor, publishing numerous books and articles about colonial-era New England, including Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1935) which was illustrated with photographs of Pioneer Village (Dow 1935; Stillinger 1980:154). Dow was an important and influential figure in the American fields of history, historic interpretation and historic preservation during the formative decades of the early twentieth century. His obituary in the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society for October 1936 called him “one of the leading historians and antiquarians of New England,” and noted that “because of his knowledge of early New England architecture he was often consulted, and had charge of the restoration of a number of eighteenth-century houses for individuals and historical societies throughout New England” (American Antiquarian Society 1936:124–125). Dow was influenced by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901), a Swedish antiquarian who established period rooms at museums, and built the Skänsen outdoor museum in 1891 on Stockholm harbor. Skänsen was the first recorded outdoor living history museum, consisting of a collection of buildings and structures from across Sweden, and included a windmill, whipping post, and iron master’s house, as well as an amalgamation of farm buildings. The museum was staffed by costumed interpreters that demonstrated traditional crafts and skills as a way of preserving what Hazelius saw as a disappearing way of life (Stillinger 1980:150; Pineo 2013:14). While at the Essex Institute, Dow introduced the ideas of period rooms and created an outdoor museum on the institute property in 1910–1913 (now the Essex Institute Historic District, SAL.HQ, NRDIS 1972) based on the Scandinavian model. The seventeenth-century John Ward House (SAL.2454, NHL 1978) was moved three blocks to the site, along with the Lye-Tapley shoe shop (SAL.2513, NRDIS1976, 1976), two porches, and a cupola from a local house. The Ward House was restored by Dow and interpreted to the year 1700, and guides were required to wear period dress (Stillinger 1980:151; Snell et al. 1968). Pioneer Village represented the next evolution of Dow’s philosophies toward reconstruction and interpretation (Chase-Harrell et al. 1993:10–11). In the late 1920s, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prepared for the tercentenary celebration of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s establishment. Two other historical reconstructions were built for the tercentenary: Aptucxet Trading Post Museum (BOU.AG, NRDIS 2021) in Bourne, constructed by Percival Lombard and the Bourne Historical Society, and Fort Massachusetts (no longer extant) in North Adams, constructed under the auspices of the North Adams Historical Society (Glassberg 1987:974; Dow 1931). Fort Massachusetts, built in North Adams, was a reconstruction of a Colonial Era fort that was attacked by a combined force of French troops, Canadian militiamen, and their Abenaki allies during King George’s War (1744–1748). The men, women, and children taking shelter in the fort were taken as captives to Canada and exchanged for French prisoners held by the British. The North Adams Women’s Club purchased the site of the fort in 1895. The North Adams Historical Society dedicated a reconstruction of the fort in 1933, but funding ran out and it was forced to close the site after only a few years. The fort was torn down in the mid- to late 20th century, and only the chimney is extant (NAM-HA-12; PVMA 2018; Pineo et al. 2020). The Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary was celebrated across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and included band concerts, pageants, parades, historical plays, and the dedication of numerous permanent markers, monuments, memorials, and structures, all commemorating the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Boston Globe 1930a–d). The majority of tercentenary activities did not result in permanent built structures or buildings and were, thus, ephemeral ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 4 SAL.GM See Data Table on the landscape. Although the Pioneer Village has had a small number of buildings reconstructed or replaced, the replacements were done in kind, and reflect Dow’s original layout of the site, and is thus one of two intact sites associated with the Tercentenary, along with Aptucxet Trading Post. In February 1930, Salem’s City Council appropriated $5,000 “for the purpose of celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.” The funds were to be under the control of the Board of Park Commissioners (City of Salem 1930:269). Prior to constructing the site, Dow researched seventeenth-century documents, building contracts, journals and primary resources to design the reproduction as accurately as possible. The selected location in present-day Forest River Park was likely chosen for its proximity to the harbor. The Guide to Salem, 1630 indicates that the site “was entirely barren of trees or shrubs or water features,” other than the harbor, and was landscaped to create a pond and two islands, with a constructed shoreline and a spring. Hundreds of boulders were brought to the site to add to the portrayal of the barren, rocky coast of New England (Board of Park Commissioners 1930:7). Builders used materials and techniques that were historically accurate to seventeenth-century construction in order to represent the settlement at Naumkeag, as this area of Salem was known during the settlement period, as accurately as possible (Korieth 1990; Dempsey 1988; Carpenter 1987). The preface to Dow’s Every Day Life describes the recreated scenes as sketched,” noting that many details of everyday life were never recorded as they would have been familiar to everyone involved. Dow further notes that a “comprehensive, well-balanced narrative of daily life” was an impossibility due to temporal distance (Dow 1935:v). The buildings and structures built for Pioneer Village were intended to reflect the adaptation of English building techniques to the materials the settlers found in Salem. Initial construction included wood chimneys, as the colonists did not have sufficient lime for making mortar for stone chimneys. The Guide To Salem, 1630 provides basic details about the construction of each type of building or structure, including the houses, dugouts, and English wigwams. The Governor’s Fayre House was constructed with a hall-and-parlor floor plan, modeled on the Fairbanks house (511 East Street, Dedham, DED.391, 1641, NHL 1966), while the single-cell buildings were based on contemporary scholarly understanding of First Period construction. The houses had hewn oak or pine frames, unplaned pine weatherboards that bore the vertical marks of the pit saw, and hand-wrought nails. The English Wigwams and dugouts (Figures 1, 2 and 3) were intended to represent where the colonists may have lived at first, prior to constructing more permanent cottages. In the Guide to Salem, 1630, the structure of the wigwams is described as “sides and roof of poles stuck in the ground on line of outer wall and bent inward to form a dome like the wigwams built by the Naumkeag Indians” (Board of Park Commissioners 1930:10). Both were influenced by the Native Americans the colonists came in contact with, but with English adaptations, like the plank door and stone fireplace in the extant wigwam. Utilitarian buildings and structures, such as the Blacksmith Shop (Figure 4, in its original location) and saw pit (see Figure 3, not extant), were also constructed, both near the dugouts, allowing for more interpretation of how the first settlers might have constructed buildings or made necessary iron goods. Landscaping for the site, including planting more than 2,000 trees and shrubs, and nearly as many plants, was overseen by landscape architect, nurseryman, and conservationist Harlan P. Kelsey (1872–1958). Historian Raymond H. Odell assisted Dow with research, and Rose L. Briggs of Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth was the costumer for the project. The village was documented with large-format black and white photographs taken by an unknown photographer. The collection includes group and individual photos of buildings and the overall setting of the village. Images are held in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archive, the Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library, and the Salem Public Library, among other. Once the Pioneer Village was completed, on June 12, 1930, a 30-act play was performed there, viewed by 40,000–50,000 spectators (Boston Herald 1930). The cast included descendants of the original Arbella passengers, with John Winthrop played by a Winthrop, Roger Conant played by a member of the Conant family, and so on (Boston Herald 1930). The first 29 acts, spanning about an hour, showed vignettes of life in the village, including salt making, unloading the day’s catch of fish, thatching a roof, and chasing an escaped pig. In episode 29, an unidentified Native American runner brings word of the approach of the Arbella, after which the replica Arbella arrives Salem harbor, carrying descendants of John Winthrop, John Endecott, and Reverend George Philips. After landing on the shore, Frederick Winthrop, playing Governor John Winthrop, led the costumed reenactors into Pioneer Village where the final scene, episode 30, of the play was performed. In episode 30, the residents of the village are presented to the governor, while “the Indians have stationed themselves on the highest point and are watching the proceedings;” there is no detail given as to who portrayed the Native Americans, ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 5 SAL.GM See Data Table and they are not included in a cast list published in the Boston Herald (Board of Park Commissioners 1930:30–31; Bremer 2004:52–53; Boston Herald 1930). In 1932–1933, the ca. 1650 Ruck House was moved to Pioneer Village from 8 Mill Street, near the site of the first Salem Post Office (Goff September 2007). The house was placed near the shore and the replica of the Arbella (Figure The house was interpreted as a maritime warehouse until it was destroyed by fire in 1976 (Goff September 2007). After Dow’s death in 1936, the firm of Smith and Walker took over as project architects. There is some evidence that architect Joseph Everett Chandler consulted on the “warehouse,” possibly the Ruck House, in 1940 (Orwig 2010:639). Chandler had visited the site in 1930 while in Salem for another project, calling the reconstructions “very interesting,” suggesting that he was not involved in the original project as has been sometimes asserted (quoted in Orwig 2010:398; Goff June 2008). Pioneer Village was intended as temporary installation for the tercentenary celebrations and play, but it became so popular that it remained a tourist attraction until the 1950s (Figure Notable visitors included President Calvin Coolidge in 1931, movie stars Frances Dee, Bette Davis, and Arthur Treacher, and geologists from Admiral Richard Byrd’s expedition to Antarctica (Koreith 1990:48). Visitors from around the world were logged in the registration book in 1945, but by the late 1950s, visitation began to wane, resulting in reductions in staffing by the City, and fewer costumed volunteers in the summers. Concurrent with the decline, local residents who had grown frustrated with the traffic and throngs of tourists, did not protest the reductions (Koreith 1990:48–49). The Arbella was damaged by Hurricane Carol in September 1954 and was subsequently burned by the City (Koreith 1990:49). By the 1960s, the site became an attractive nuisance, and vandals destroyed three wigwams and a cottage. The Ruck House and a cottage, reported in local newspapers as the Arbella Cottage, but possibly the Blacksmith Cottage, burned down in 1976 (Johnson 1976; Peterson 2022). The Ruck House was quickly replaced by a one-story building, the Visitor Center; the cottage was not replaced until ca. 1986. In ca. 1980, one dugout was rebuilt, and in ca. 2007, Peabody Eagle Scout Bryan LaRochelle rebuilt another (Goff 2007). By 1966, the Pioneer Village site was well-known in preservation circles and was widely documented. The site was noted in the seminal text With Heritage So Rich, which provided the impetus for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, prepared by the United States Conference of Mayors. The site was described as “a serious attempt to reconstruct, in a public park, examples of the rude huts, dugouts, wigwams and houses that sheltered the first settlers. The village was planned by George Francis Dow, a knowledgeable antiquarian; the planting arranged by Harlan P. Kelsey, a historically minded nurseryman. At the time of the Tercentenary, it stimulated the popular imagination, and for the succeeding 35 years it has been decently maintained by the Salem Park Commission” (US Conference of Mayors 1966:52). The site was further lauded in 1981 by Charles Hosmer in his Preservation Comes of Age, which states, “[Harold] Shurtleff was also aware that some reconstructions, such as the Aptucxet Trading Post and George Francis Dow’s Pioneer Village in Salem, correctly displayed 17th century buildings with post-and-lintel construction, not the log cabins of popular myth” (Hosmer 1981:1055). In 1983, the City closed the site, which by then was regarded as little more than a safety hazard. Two years later, the Park Commission determined that restoration of the site was prohibitively expensive, and plans were made to demolish the site to make way for condominiums (Koreith 1990:49). In 1985, however, the Pioneer Village Management Association, organized by Peter LaChapelle, then the head of interpretation for Salem Maritime National Historic Site, and David Goss, then director of the House of Seven Gables, led the effort to save the site (NobleNet 2021; LaChapelle 2021). Restoration work funded by the City and private donations was guided by 1930s photographs and construction documents, and was undertaken by skilled trades and craftsmen. New sills were added to all of the buildings, and roofs were replaced. The leaded windows in the Fayre house were rebuilt as well (LaChapelle 2021). Retired local carpenter Robert LeBlanc replaced rotten floors, built the current blacksmith shop and built a cottage, as well as a saw pit and the stockade fence.1 Seventh-generation thatchers from Ireland, Michael and William Cahill, worked at the site for two summers, rebuilding and covering one of the wigwams and three cottage roofs using traditional tools and techniques. Livestock was donated by 1 The blacksmith shop was modified by a succession of three blacksmiths in order to make it more functional and improve efficiency. Curtis White, retired Supervisory Park Ranger and blacksmith at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in nearby Saugus, MA, was an historical advisor for the blacksmith shop (Goss 2022). ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 6 SAL.GM See Data Table Plimoth Plantation (now Plimoth/Patuxet) in Plymouth, and raised garden planting beds were established throughout the site (Koreth 1990:50). Although limited modern construction materials, such as circular sawn boards and galvanized nails, are evident in some places, they were a concession made by Peter LaChapelle and the Pioneer Village Management Associates, in order to get the site reopened as quickly as possible (Koreth 1990:50). A small number of trees were removed in order to control squirrels, which were eating the thatching on the roofs (LaChapelle 2021). Due to water runoff from the surrounding park, a French drain was built along the fence, and an outfall pipe directed into the pond in order to control overflow into the village (LaChapelle 2021). Based on photographs in previous inventory form and maps, a blacksmith shop remained in its original location near the dugouts until at least 1988; it was later demolished (Dempsey 1988; see Figure In June of 1990, The Salem Pioneer Village held a grand reopening and in 1991 John Goss and Peter LaChapelle won the American Society of Travel Writers Phoenix Award for their restoration effort (McAllister A 1993 pamphlet (Figure 7) held in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library shows that the village consisted of an admissions and gift shop in the new single-cell cottage, a saw pit and three dugouts at the west edge of the village, an English wigwam, a visitors’ cottage with adjacent stocks and pillory, near the west entrance to the site, the governor’s house and garden, a dunking stool, two thatched cottages, a blacksmith shop, animal enclosures, fish weir, and a long house, which was not open to the public. The fish weir, constructed by the Massachusetts Ponkapoag Tribal Council, was part of a larger effort to broaden the cultural interpretive history of the site, and ensure that Native voices were part of the story. In the early twenty-first century, the site was again closed to the public, and again became the focus of a major restoration effort, this time in support of the 375th anniversary of John Winthrop’s voyage to America (Goff 2004:14). In December 2003, Historic Salem, Inc. listed the site as one of the most endangered historic resources in Salem. The restoration efforts were run by Salem Preservation Inc., led by John Goff, between 2003–2008 in collaboration with the Boy Scouts, the City of Salem, Ponkapoag Tribal Council, Salem Harbor Alliance for Reliable Energy, and many volunteers (NobleNet 2021). During this time, bridges and fences were fixed, thatched roofs were repaired, and dugouts were reconstructed (NobleNet 2021). The site reopened in 2008 when Gordon College’s Institute for Public History signed a 5-year lease for use of the Old Town Hall and Pioneer Village for their interactive theater program (NobleNet 2021). In 2013, Gordon College did not renew their lease to manage the site and the City took over operations, maintaining the property as a historical attraction. In the summer of 2021, Camp Harbor View, run by the Salem YMCA, moved to the site from Camp Naumkeag near Salem Willows. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES American Antiquarian Society. “George Francis Dow.” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. Vol 46, pt. 2, October 1936. Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Architecture Photograph Collection, Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection, c.18651973, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archive. Board of Park Commissioners. Guide to Salem, 1630: Manual for Participants and Spectators. Salem, Boston Globe. “3000 to Appear in Tercentenary Fete.” July 29, 1930a, p. 6. “Thomas M. Carter at 89 Leads Big Band on Common.” August 22, 1930b, p. 11. “YMCA Stages Pageant in Franklin Park Playstead.” August 22, 1930c, p. 17. “Finds Tercentenary Help in Depression.” December 31, 1930d, p. 20. Boston Herald. “50,000 See Big Fete at Salem.” June 13, 1930, p. 1, 33. Bremer, Francis J. “Remembering–and Forgetting–John Winthrop and the Puritan Founders.” Massachusetts Historical Review, Vol 6 (2004), p.38–69. Carpenter, Richard P. “The Termites Have Been Evicted From Salem’s Pioneer Village.” Rutland Daily Herald, Rutland, VT. October 18, 1987. Chase-Harrell, Pauline, Carol Ely, and Stanley Moss. Administrative History of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. National Park Service, North Atlantic Regional Office, Boston, MA, 1993. City of Salem. Salem City Records, 1929–1930, Vol 43. City of Salem archives, records.salem.com, accessed September 2021. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 7 SAL.GM See Data Table Dempsey, Claire. MHC Area Form – Pioneer Village, Salem (SAL.GM). On file, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston, MA, 1988. Dow, George Francis. Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Boston, MA: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1935. Dow, George Francis. Letter to Percival Hall Lombard. May 22, 1931. Bourne Historical Society Archives, Bourne, MA. Glassberg, David. History and the Public: Legacies of the Progressive Era. The Journal of American History. Vol. 73, No. 4, (March 1987):957–980. Goff, John. “The next frontier.” PortFolio Spring 2004, p. 12–14. “Help wanted for rebuilding historic dugouts at Pioneer Village.” Wicked Local, June 29, 2007. accessed August 2021. “A Reconstructed Ruck House?” Salem Gazette, September 7, 2007, pgs. 4–5. “A landmark year: Milestones marked for Pioneer Village, the Arbella and more.” Wicked Local, January 18, 2008. accessed August 2021. Goss, David. Personal communication with Elizabeth Peterson, City of Salem Parks, and provided to PAL project staff. September 2022. Hosmer, Charles B. Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949. Charlottesville, VA, University of Virginia Press,1981. Johnson, Carl. “Pioneer Village Buildings Torched: Blaze Blamed on Vandals.” Salem Evening News, April 1, 1976, p.1–2. Koreith, K. “Recreating the Re-created.” Americana Magazine, New York, NY. October 1990. LaChapelle, Peter. Personal communication with Gretchen Pineo, September 2021. McAllister, Jim. Pioneer Village – Salem 1630. Salemweb.com, n.d. http://www.salemweb.com/tales/pioneervillage.php, electronically accessed August 2021. Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection, Salem State University Archives and Special Collections, Salem, MA. National Environmental Title Research, LLC (NETR). Historic Aerials of Salem, MA: 1938–2018. accessed September 2021. North of Boston Library Exchange (NobleNet) “Pioneer Village.” Electronic Resource, 2021. Accessed August 2021. Orwig, Timothy T. Joseph Everett Chandler, Colonial Revival Architecture, and The Origins of Historic Preservation in New England. Ph.D. Dissertation, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2010. Peterson, Elizabeth. Personal communication with project staff, September 6, 2022. Pineo, Gretchen. Forging History: The Creation of the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site. Master’s Thesis, Boston University, Boston, MA, 2013. Pineo, Gretchen Kristen Heitert, and Laura J. Kline. National Register Nomination – Aptucxet Trading Post Museum. Barnstable County, Massachusetts, NRIS 21006301, 2020. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA). “Fort Massachusetts, North Adams, Mass.” http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/collection/itempage.jsp?itemid=15722, accessed April 2018. Snell, Charles, Patricia Heintzelman, and Cecil McKithan. National Historic Landmark – John Ward House. Essex County, Massachusetts, NRIS 68000045, 1968. Stillinger, Elizabeth. The Antiquers. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. U.S. Conference of Mayors. With Heritage So Rich: a Report of a Special Committee on Historic Preservation. New York, Random House, 1966. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 8 SAL.GM See Data Table Salem Pioneer Village Salem, MA Data Sheet MHC No. Assessor’s No. Historic Name/Feature Est. Date of Const. Architectural Style/Type Photo No. C/NC SAL.4473 33_0743 Admission and Gift Shop Ca. 1960–1970 Colonial Revival 2 C SAL.4474 33_0743 Woodbury Cottage 1930 Colonial Revival 2 C SAL.9069 33_0743 Dugout Shelter 1980 No Style 3 NC SAL.9070 33_0743 English Wigwam 1930, 1987 Colonial Revival 4 C SAL.4475 33_0743 Governor’s Fayre House 1930 Colonial Revival 1, 5–8 C SAL.4476 33_0743 Blacksmith Cottage ca.1986 Colonial Revival 1, 5, 8 NC SAL.4477 33_0743 Lady Arbella Cottage 1930 Colonial Revival 8 C SAL.4478 33_0743 Blacksmith Shop ca. 1986 No Style 1, 9 NC SAL.4479 33_0743 Visitor Center 1976 No Style 10 NC SAL.4480 33_0743 Ticket Booth ca. 1970 No Style 11 NC ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 9 SAL.GM See Data Table PHOTOGRAPHS Photo 2. (L to R) Admission and Gift Shop and Woodbury cottage, looking west. Photo 3. Dugout, looking east. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 10 SAL.GM See Data Table Photo 4. English Wigwam, looking northwest. Photo 5. Governor’s Fayre House and Blacksmith Cottage, looking east. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 11 SAL.GM See Data Table Photo 6. Governor’s Fayre House, looking north. Photo 7. Interior, Governor’s Fayre House, looking northwest. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 12 SAL.GM See Data Table Photo 8. (L to R) Governor’s Fayre House, Blacksmith Cottage, Arbella Cottage, looking northwest. Photo 9. Blacksmith Shop, looking southeast. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 13 SAL.GM See Data Table Photo 10. Visitor center, looking north. Photo 11. Ticket Booth and palisade fence, looking northwest. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 14 SAL.GM See Data Table HISTORIC FIGURES Figure 1. Blacksmith shop (left), dugouts (center), and saw pit (right), ca. 1949 (Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection, Salem State University Archives and Special Collections, Salem, MA). Figure 2. Wigwams, 1930 (AIC 2022). ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 15 SAL.GM See Data Table Figure 3. 1930s view of dugouts, saw pit, wigwams, and rooftops of cottages (AIC 2022). Figure 4. Postcard view of the Blacksmith Shop, 1930 (AIC 2022). ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 16 SAL.GM See Data Table Figure 5. Ruck House (left) and Arbella (right), July 1949 (Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection, Salem State University Archives and Special Collections, Salem, MA). Figure 6. Ticket booth (not extant), cottages and English Wigwams, ca. 1935 (Nelson Dionne Salem History Collection, Salem State University Archives and Special Collections, Salem, MA) ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 17 SAL.GM See Data Table Figure 7. 1993 site map. Resource names in the text deviate from names on the map, based on historical documentation. The animal enclosures, fish racks, dunking stool, and saw pit are not extant. ---PAGE BREAK--- INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET SALEM SALEM PIONEER VILLAGE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 18 SAL.GM See Data Table National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form Check all that apply: Individually eligible Eligible only in a historic district Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by_Gretchen Pineo and Virginia H. Adams, PAL, September 2021_ Salem Pioneer Village (SAL.GM) is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C for its association with the tercentenary celebrations of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1930. Under Criterion A, the property is significant at the state and local levels in the area of Commemoration for its association with the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary celebrations in 1930. The site has further significance in the area of Commemoration for its association with the life and work of George Francis Dow, an antiquarian, museum innovator, and architect who championed the Colonial Revival concept of living history in America. Under Criterion C, the property is significant at the local level in the area of Architecture as a collection of wood-frame buildings and structures that represent 1930s and 1960s understandings of First Period architecture, as influenced by the early twentieth century Colonial Revival. It was one of three Massachusetts tercentenary reconstructions, and one of the two extant of these properties; the other, the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum, is listed in the National Register (BOU.AG, NRDIS 2021). Salem Pioneer Village meets Criteria Consideration E for reconstructed properties because it has achieved significance in its own right for its association with important trends and events in the history of the United States. The property also meets Criteria Consideration F for commemorative properties, as the significance of this resource arises from its value as an expression of the Colonial Revival movement and the commemoration and interpretation of the American past embodied in that movement. The site retains integrity of location, setting, association, feeling, workmanship, materials, and design. The village remains in the same location it was constructed in 1930, and, although the site has been enclosed by a palisade fence, the setting remains largely the same, with a baseball diamond to the west and Salem Harbor to the east. Pioneer Village continues to be an open-air historic museum set within Forest River Park. All but three of the buildings on the site were constructed under the direction of George Francis Dow, with in-kind repairs made as needed. Three buildings post-date the construction of the site and are replacements for buildings destroyed by fire, constructed to match the originals.