Salem Museum in Salem, Virginia
Preserving 300+ years of history, art, and sports in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains
"The Candidates" Staged Reading
Saturday February 21, 2pm
Volunteers willing to read roles in the play are needed! Please contact us if interested!
The Salem Museum is excited to host a staged reading of Colonel Robert Munford's “The Candidates; or, The Humours of a Virginia Election - A Comedy in Three Acts."
Written and set in the early 1770s on the eve of the American Revolution, this farcical tale about a Virginia House of Burgesses election satirizes the corrupt campaigning culture of the day. With stinging critiques of electioneering and witty dialogue to boot, Munford's three act comedy will be put on in the Roanoke Valley for the first time ever through a staged reading at the Salem Museum.
Volunteer Steve Aaron will lead this production, and is actively seeking participants to read for numerous characters. If interested in reading a part or volunteering on the project, please contact the Salem Museum via phone at 540-389-6760 or via email at info@SalemMuseum.org.
The Totero Town Symposium
Saturday February 28, 11am-4pm
Discover the ways the environment impacted local Indigenous life in the first ever Totero Town Symposium, organized by the Headwaters Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia!
Hear from four distinguished lecturers about topics such as the local deer skin trade, the 1671 Batts and Fallam expedition through Salem, the practical applications of fish weirs, and more.
The program will begin with complimentary coffee at 10:30 AM, provided by Bean Bliss Coffee Bar, and an invitation for visitors to explore the Museum’s two Totero Town exhibits.
The lecture schedule is as follows:
- 11:00 AM: Dr. Michael Barber, Longwood Institute of Archaeology, “Six Events that Changed the Trajectory of Native American Cultures in Virginia: A Punctuated Equilibria Approach”
- 12:00 PM: Dr. Elizabeth Moore, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, “Totera Town, Ethnozoology and the Deerskin Trade: Adaption and Agency in a Time of Change”
- 2:00 PM: Dean Ferguson, President of the Headwaters Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia, “Reconstructing the Monacan Village at Natural Bridge: The Archaeological Record’s Interface with Public Outreach”
- 3:00 PM: Drs. Hayden Bassett and Madeleine Gunter-Bassett, Virginia Museum of Natural History, “Riverine Settlement and Aquatic Resource Use in Late Woodland Virginia”
From 12:00 to 3:00 PM, guests can also enjoy lunch and refreshments from Dale’s Diner Express food truck, available on site.
This free event is proudly sponsored by Blue Ridge Beverage, Sherwood Memorial Park, Mac and Bob’s, The Lofts at Downtown Salem, Dale’s Diner Express, Bean Bliss Coffee Bar, and the Robertson Endowment for Exhibits and Events.
A Night in the American Revolution
Saturday March 28, 6-8pm
Held at The Historic Wilson Warehouse, 421 Lowe Street, Buchanan VA
Join us for a special VA250 Dinner Theater Experience
The historic Wilson Warehouse will be transformed into a Revolutionary War era tavern where you can enjoy food and drink of the era while nine historic interpreters and actors play various Revolutionary War figures around you. Learn about the Founding Fathers and everyday colonists who helped win the Revolutionary War. Includes a three-course Revolutionary-era style dinner. Join us for this unique fund-raising event to support preservation of the Wilson
Warehouse. Feel free to dress in period attire.
Order your tickets today – Seating is limited to the first 45 people. $75 per person
Order by phone with payment (due by March 15th) (540) 817-5772
Order and pay online with Eventbrite HERE
Brought to you by the Buchanan Town Improvement Society and the Salem Museum & Historical Society.
The First People of the Roanoke Valley
On Display in the Feature Gallery through Spring 2026
In 1671, European explorers Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam encountered Totero Town, a village believed to have been located in present-day Salem and inhabited by Eastern Siouan-speaking members of the Tutelo tribe. Centuries later, the remains of this village were uncovered during archaeological excavations conducted during the construction of the James I. Moyer Sports Complex on the same site.
Visitors will look back into the time of the Tutelo and learn about the thriving world of the early Roanoke Valley. Drawing on archaeological artifacts, maps, and interpretive displays, the exhibits reveal how the Tutelo and other Eastern Siouan peoples shaped the land long before European settlement. Examine tools used in hunting, view pottery once storing a winter’s meal, and discover the many uses of animal hides and bones!
The Eastern Siouan of the Roanoke Valley
On Display on the Ground Floor through Spring 2026
Explore stories of Indigenous resistance and persistence in a dynamic new timeline display. Over the last 400 years, the Tutelo and Monacan Alliance have met challenges and created victories for themselves as they adapted to the changing world around them. Featuring illustrations and photographs of significant moments in Tutelo and Monacan history, this display reveals how their communities endured and evolved through centuries of transformation.
Teen Homeschool Literary Course
February 18, 4pm
Read the debut novel of a Harlem Renaissance leader. The tale of a boy in rural Kansas during the era of Jim Crow.
HOURS OF OPERATION
Open Tuesdays — Saturdays, 10 am to 4 pm.
Closed on July 4; Thanksgiving; Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas; New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the day after New Years.
If the City of Salem Schools are closed for inclement weather, the Museum does not open.
LOCATION & DIRECTIONS
Located next to Longwood Park in Downtown Salem
801 East Main Street
Salem, Virginia 24153
From I-81, take exit 140 and head toward Salem on Thompson Memorial Blvd. At Main Street (US 460), turn left. Go .3 mile; the Salem Museum is located at the top of the hill on the left. Our entrance is across from the Berglund Ford service entrance. Look for the “OAKEY FIELD” sign. There is plenty of free, on-site parking.
ADMISSION IS FREE.
DONATIONS ARE
APPRECIATED!
Admission is FREE for all self-guided visitors.
Guided tours are $10 per adult age 15+, and $5 for children. For school groups and educational groups, students are $3 and chaperones are free. Group visits are available when booked at least two weeks in advance.
The Salem Museum & Historical Society is an independent nonprofit organization preserving and celebrating the history of Salem, Virginia, founded in 1802, as well as the surrounding areas.
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Sun - Mon: Closed
Tue - Sat: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
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Sun - Mon: Closed
Tue - Sat: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
© 2026 Salem Museum. All Rights Reserved.