Harboring History: The Salem Maritime Site and America's Cultural Treasures

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Imagine walking along a historic wharf, the wooden planks creaking underfoot, the salty sea air filling your lungs. You're surrounded by the echoes of the past, tall ships bobbing in the harbor, a storied custom house standing guard over the waterfront, and the distant sounds of a town that once bustled with maritime trade. This isn't just any seaside locale. This is where cotton, rum, sugar, and slaves were traded in colonial America. This is where merchant sailors defended the colonies during the Revolutionary War.

This is where anti-submarine patrols were flown during World War II, where the first air-sea rescue station on the Eastern Seaboard was designated. This is the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, a place where every corner, every cobblestone, and every wave whispers stories of America's past. Here, in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts, history isn't just remembered, it's palpable.

Salem Maritime is not just any National Historic Site, though. It's the first place the National Park Service was tasked with preserving. that wasn't about nature, scenery, or wildlife. Over 160 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it was time to preserve our history. In today's episode, we're not just exploring a place.

We're uncovering a legacy, the legacy of the National Historic Sites Act of 1935, an act that preserved not just land, but the stories and the spirit of a nation. I'm Jason Epperson. Welcome to the America's National Parks Podcast.

America at the dawn of the 20th century, a nation on the cusp of monumental change. The Industrial Revolution was reshaping the landscape, both literally and figuratively. Cities were swelling, factories were burgeoning, and railways were stitching up. Stitching our vast country together. like never before.

New buildings reached for the skies, and the clamor of construction was a symphony of progress. But amidst this bustling growth, there was a cost, a gradual eroding of the physical landmarks of America's past. Fields where battles were fought, homes where founding fathers pondered the nation's future, harbors that welcomed explorers and revolutionaries. These sites were vanishing in the shadow of cities and expanding industrial complexes. The relentless march of progress was, in many ways, a march over our historical roots.

It was against this backdrop of rapid change and loss that the movement for historic preservation gained speed. Visionaries and historians started to raise their voices, advocating for the protection of these sites. They argued that these were not just relics of the past, but had become essential threads in the fabric of American identity. People like Charles W. Elliott, the president of Harvard University, and Harlan H.

Barrows, a geography professor at the University of Chicago. Their efforts, fueled by a passion for history and a sense of urgency, laid the foundation.

At that time, these parks only conserved landscapes west of the Mississippi River. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, work began to expand the National Park System by identifying historical and archaeological sites across the United States that represented our history. President Roosevelt's Executive Order 6166 of June 10, 1933 brought historic sites administered by the Departments of War and Agriculture under the National Park Service. Then, during the Great Depression, work crews provided labor and professional archaeological and historic preservation expertise to care for, develop, and document historic and archaeological sites. Together, these activities created a tipping point for a national preservation program.

The Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act, or simply the Historic Sites Act, was signed into law on August 21, 1935, and it gave the National Park Service this preservationist role, establishing that, quote, it is a national policy to preserve for public use historic sites, buildings, and objects of national significance, for the inspiration and benefit of the people of the United States. The Act authorized the Secretary of the Interior, through the National Park Service, to carry out programs to survey, research, and acquire historic and archaeological sites of national significance, to collect documents, photographs, and objects associated with sites, to cooperate with states, organizations, and individuals, to preserve or operate sites, to restore sites and maintain museums, to erect commemorative tablets, to operate and manage sites acquired under the Act, and to develop a public education program. The Act also established the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments to advise on national park matters, administration of the Act, and policy development. The Act led to a major expansion of the National Park Service's role in historic preservation. New offices and programs were established, and their activities yielded inventories of significant historical and archaeological sites in the nation's history.

Notably, some of these sites, such as Hopewell, Iron Furnace in Pennsylvania, Fort Raleigh in North Carolina, and Grand Portage in Minnesota, became National Park Service units. Many others are designated National Historic Landmarks. The Act was a milestone. For the first time, it provided a legal framework for the identification, preservation, and management of historic sites across the country. But what did this mean?

in practical terms? It meant that places of national historical significance, like battlefields, homes of notable historical figures, and landmarks that witnessed the birth of ideas and movements, could now be preserved for future generations.

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Now that we've set the stage with the sweeping changes of the early 20th century and the birth of the National Historic Sites Act of 1935, let's zoom in on a specific example of this act in action. Salem, Massachusetts is a name that resonates throughout American history. Known for the infamous witch trials of the 1690s, Salem's story extends far beyond that dark chapter.

The Salem Harbor was one of the major international ports in colonial America. When the Thirteen Colonies declared independence, the Continental Navy had only 31 ships. To support their efforts, letters of marque were issued to private merchant ships to authorize them to attack enemy merchant ships. George Washington's army numbered 11,000 men. There were another 11,000 privateers at sea in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and between Ireland and England.

One of the goals was to obtain gunpowder, outlawed for import by the British. Over two million pounds of gunpowder and saltpeter were brought in by the privateers and merchantmen into Salem. They also captured British soldiers and over 10,000 seamen from the British Royal Navy.

By the late 18th century, Salem had grown into one of America's most significant seaports, engaging in trade that spanned the globe. Before 1819, the U.S. Customs Service occupied at least 13 rented facilities in Salem. Eventually, it became clear that the Customs Service officials needed a secure and permanent headquarters, and the federal government wanted to declare a strong and impressive presence in Salem. So, in 1818, the U.S.

Treasury purchased property directly across from Derby Wharf. The following year, construction began on the still-standing Salem Custom House. The officers of the Custom House worked for the Collector of Customs. The Collector of Customs was assisted by a Deputy Collector, mainly responsible for record keeping in the Salem Port. Third in command was the Surveyor of the Port, who supervised inspectors, weighers, and gaugers.

Perhaps the most famous Salem Inspector of Revenue was novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who occupied the post from 1846 to 1849.

. When vessels sailed into the Salem Harbor, the Custom House yard bustled with activity. Inspectors, weighers, and gaugers gathered up portable scales and headed toward the water. Giant scales were assembled on the wharf where Customs Service employees measured and counted all the incoming cargo. Accounting for cargo and assessing duties could be a long process, sometimes taking more than two weeks for one ship.

Inside the Custom House, in the Collector's public office, ship captains and merchants paid duties on their imported cargo. But what if the duties assessed were too high? In 1790, the Derby-owned ships Light Horse and Astrea returned to Salem carrying a large cargo of tea from China. The newly established U.S. Customs Service assessed their value and determined $25,000 in import duties were due.

Ironically, this is only 17 years after Bostonians threw 92,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea into the water just 15 miles south of Salem to protest taxes.

Unable to pay the cash up front and unwilling to flood the market with an oversupply of tea, Elias Haskett Derby petitioned Congress to establish a bonded warehouse system. This new system allowed goods to be stored in a Customs Service warehouse for an extended period of time until duties and storage fees could be paid. The concept proved popular, allowing merchants to store their cargo for a fee as they waited for market values to increase. When the new Salem Custom House was built in 1819, it included a bonded warehouse known as the Public Stores. Despite paying high taxes, it was not unusual for captains and merchants to turn upwards of a 100% profit.

Today, you can visit the Collector's Public Office in the Salem Custom House, where the duties collected became an important source of revenue for the young United States. It was also in this room where Customs Service clerks kept meticulous records on ship enrollments, crew lists, manifests, and various other forms filed by captains and merchants. This room still houses original ledger books, in addition to numerous other artifacts. On March 17, 1938, Salem Maritime National Historic Site became the first National Historic Site established by the National Park Service. Its purpose is to promote the maritime history of New England and the United States and preserve part of the historic waterfront in Salem.

Together, this collection of wharves and buildings was preserved to tell the story of the development of colonial port towns, the importance of international trade to the early economy of the United States, and the connection between maritime trade and growing industrialization. Initially, the site consisted of the three wharves on the southern side of Derby Street and four buildings on the northern side of the street. Derby Wharf, built in 1762, extended to its current half-mile length in 1806.. Alongside it, Hatch's Wharf, built in 1819, and Central Wharf, built in 1791, are the only wharves of the over 50 that lined the waterfront in Salem during the height of the town's international trade in the early 19th century that still retain their 19th century appearance. When the National Park Service first looked at creating the site in 1935, there were about a dozen buildings on the property.

Only five were judged to be important enough to keep. The rest were modern buildings that were knocked down to open up the space. The five buildings were the U.S. Custom House, built in 1819, a fine example of federal-style government architecture, the Hawks House, finished in 1800, another example of federal-style domestic architecture, the Derby House, built in 1762, a small gem of Georgian architecture, and two warehouses, Forrester's Warehouse, which stood on Central Wharf and unfortunately later had to be taken down, and a warehouse built by Henry Prince in 1800 and today known as the West India Goods Store. Over the years, several other homes and buildings have been added to the site.

In 2007,, Salem Maritime began reassembling an 18th century warehouse on Derby Wharf. Built in 1770 on the Marblehead waterfront, Pedrick's Storehouse is a rare survivor of what was once a common building on American waterfronts, the warehouse. Today, Pedrick's Storehouse provides workspace for the support of the reproduction Tall Ship Friendship, which has been moored at Derby Wharf since 1999..

But what makes the Salem Maritime site truly fascinating is not just the buildings or the artifacts, but the stories they tell. Stories of prosperity, of global connections made by Salem's seafarers, and of the economic and political forces that shaped the early United States. It's here, walking among these historic buildings, that visitors can almost hear the bustling noise of the once busy port, sense the ambition and risk of Salem's sailors and merchants, and appreciate the city's role in a wider world. This site is not just a collection of old structures. It's a portal to understanding the broader American story.

And that's what makes historical preservation so important. The preservation of Salem Maritime Site under the National Historic Sites Act is a testament to the foresight of those who recognize the need to protect such places. Without their efforts, sites like this, which offer a tangible link to our past, might have been lost to time and progress. The impact of the Historic Sites Act extends across the country. today.

It has led to the preservation of countless sites, each narrating a unique chapter of the American story. From the battlefields of the Civil War to the homes of artists, activists, and innovators, these sites form a mosaic of our nation's history and culture. The Salem Maritime National Historic Site is not just the first, but it serves as a shining example of what a National Historic Site can be. It's a living, breathing space where history is experienced, not just read about. It's a place where each visitor can step back in time and walk in the footsteps of those who came before us.

These sites are classrooms without walls, where people of all ages can learn about the complexities and the triumphs of the American story.

This episode of America's National Parks was hosted by me, Jason Epperson. If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a rating and a review. If you're new here, make sure to subscribe to the podcast to get new episodes delivered to your feed. If you're looking for photos and tips about visiting national parks, check out our America's National Parks Facebook group, and if you're interested in RV travel, we hope you'll also check out our RV Miles podcast and YouTube channel. Today's show was sponsored by L.L.

Bean. Follow the hashtag BeAnOutsider and visit LLBean.com to find great gear for exploring the national parks. And by Solostove. Use promo code PARKS20OFF to get $20 off your next purchase of $200 or more at Solostove.com.