Foster's Pond Corporation Annual Meeting

Featured Presentation: The Salem Witch Trials

This is an open meeting of the Foster's Pond Corporation, featuring Emerson Baker discussing the Salem witch trials and the local connection.

This event is free and open to the public. The evening will begin with a brief business meeting of the Foster's Pond Corporation, and then the featured presentation discussing A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Witch  Trials and the American Experience. 

It took a perfect storm of factors ranging from religious discord and frontier warfare to political factionalism and the worst weather of the century to create the greatest witch hunt in American history. A third of a millennium –333 years– later, the 1692 Salem witch trials still resonate in the American psyche. History professor Tad Baker will explore the context and lingering effects of this shocking episode, and debunk popular myths that cloud our understanding. The trials had a particularly profound impact on Andover, where more residents were accused than in Salem itself. Among them: Ann Foster, the aging widow of Andover’s 22d resident, Andrew Foster. Despite Andrew’s prominence – his land on what had become known as Foster’s Pond was just part of his extensive estate – Ann would die in prison.

Emerson "Tad" Baker is a professor of History at Salem State University and has previously served as vice provost and dean of the graduate school. He is the award-winning author or co-author of six books on the history and archaeology of early New England, including A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience and The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England. Baker has served as consultant and on-camera expert for historical documentaries and TV shows for networks ranging from PBS and TLC to Smithsonian and the History Channel.

This event is co-sponsored with the Foster's Pond Corporation.

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