Salem Historic District

Salem's historic district occupies the center of a village in central Washington County, New York, near the Vermont line. Shaped like a cross, it follows Main Street and Broadway and takes in 79 residences, shops and churches, about ten of them from the twentieth century and most of the rest from the later 1800s. Main Street is the commercial spine, rebuilt in frame after a fire in 1840, with one- to three-story buildings that sit together harmoniously. Architectural examples include a Georgian frame house of 1790, a brick Federal house with an elliptical fanlight, and Greek Revival buildings with full-height columns, such as the First Presbyterian Church. The district matters for its age as well. Settlers from Massachusetts and Irish immigrants seeking religious freedom arrived in the 1760s, and Salem is probably the oldest continuously existing settlement in the county. The academy, Proudfit Hall and the county courthouse reflect its former economic and civic weight.