Maintained by the Salem County Historical Society, this 1721 pattern brick mansion houses a research library, exhibits on Salem in the Revolutionary War, and rooms of 18th and 19th century furnishings. The collection includes the Colonel Benjamin Holme tall case clock, an elegant example of the spoils of war. On March 24, 1778, when British troops raided the residence of Colonel Holme, commander of the local militia, they took what they could and set fire to the rest. The Colonel's prized Chippendale clock, which could be set to play one of nine minuets on the hour, ended up in British headquarters in New York. He was able to reclaim it after the war.

Treason trials took place in several buildings in Salem in 1778, when local Patriots indicted and tried neighbors suspected of aiding the British during the Salem Raids of that February and March. Four men were condemned to death for crimes of high treason, but all were pardoned by Governor William Livingston and exiled from New Jersey. The Old Salem County Courthouse (corner of East Broadway and Market Street) retains its distinctive bell tower despite a number of additions and renovations since its 1735 beginnings. The Salem Friends Meeting House (corner of East Broadway and Walnut Street), built in 1772, was the largest public building in the area at the time of the trials.



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