Blacksmithing at Pioneer Village

Pioneer Village has a working blacksmith shop with a coal-fired forge. If you didn't know, a blacksmith is a person who makes and repairs things in iron by heating, hammering, and forging by hand. If you visit Pioneer Village on Sundays or Fridays you may be treated to a demonstration of the blacksmith's trade by "Mr. Snitch", one of two part-time resident blacksmiths. Mr. Snitch has been smithing for many years and enjoys regaling visitors with stories from the trade and perhaps a sea chantey or two. Stop by and say hello!

Pioneer Village: Movie Set?

If you have visited the Salem visitor center, watched PBS or the National Geographic Channel you may have caught glimpses of Pioneer Village, and not even realized it. Over the years Pioneer Village has been used for filming several productions about 17th-century life, Salem and the Salem Witch Trials.
Some recent productions shot at Pioneer Village have been:
We Shall Remain,  a five-part, 7.5 hour documentary series about the history of Native Americans spanning from the 1600s to the 1900s. The first segment of that series entiltled After the Mayflower which tells to story of  Wamanoag leader Massasoit. In that segment, Pioneer Village doubled for the Plymouth settlement.

Witch Trial Conspiracy a documentary hosted by Jon Briggs and published by National Geographic in 2011, which presents a new theory about the Salem Witch Trials implicating that the Reverend Paris played a much more active role in inciting the hysteria than was previously believed.

The latest film to be shot there is: The True 1692  a 3D film which tells the true story of the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692. Produced locally in a collaborative effort between CinemaSalem and History Alive! the film is, according to the Cinema Salem website;
"Historically-accurate, suspenseful, and emotionally-captivating, this new film immerses the audience in the dangerous realities of life in Salem Village at the end of the 17th Century and dramatically reveals the odd coincidence of forces, external and internal, which set in motion the tragedy of the witch trials". The film has its public premiere at Cinema Salem in October of 2011.