Photo: Brooke McCarthy (WBZ)
SALEM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A new exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is teaching visitors that there is more to the city than witches and Halloween.
The museum's Salem Stories exhibit features 26 vignettes about the people, places, and events that have shaped Salem into the city that it is today, organized by the letters of the alphabet from A to Z.
"These are famous events that people know about here in Salem that reaches well beyond just the story of witchcraft," PEM Associate Director of Exhibitions Daniel Finamore told WBZ NewsRadio Tuesday.
The exhibit covers events such as Alexander Graham Bell completing the first successful long-distance telephone call from Salem in 1877, the production of the Parker Brothers' celebrated board game Monopoly, and President Barack Obama signing legislation in 2013 recognizing Salem as the birthplace of the United States National Guard.
"Our letter V we decided should be for vessels because Salem was a big shipbuilding center," Finamore said. "The very first deep water luxury yacht in America was built and sailed out of Salem."
More than 100 works from PEM's collection are used to make up the exhibit, including paintings, photographs, textiles, sculpture, decorative arts, manuscripts, posters, books, natural history specimens, eyewitness accounts, and even a murder weapon.
"I just love the history of everyday life in this town," Finamore said.
WBZ's Brooke McCarthy (@BrookeWBZ) reports.
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App