Group retains lease on Pioneer Village By Lisa Guerriero/salem@cnc.com Friday, January 19, 2007 - Updated: 03:28 PM EST The nonprofit Salem Preservation Inc. has held on to management of Salem 1630: Pioneer Village for another year, but members say their vision for the property extends much further than that. For the last three years, Salem Preservation Inc. (SPI) has operated the living history museum and gradually worked toward restoring its neglected grounds and buildings. With the three-year lease approaching its end, the Parks and Recreation Commission met Tuesday night to decide whether to grant SPI a one-year extension on the lease or to open the process to other managers interested in running the property. “We told them last night we are committed to this property. We are drawing the right kind [of] people and experts we need do something on this scale,” said SPI president John Goff. One party interested in taking over management was Leif Rochna, a former Salem Wax Museum executive director who has also been chairman of the city’s Haunted Happenings Committee. Ultimately, the Parks and Recreation Commission granted the one-year extension to SPI and decided that in May 2008 the city will accept proposals from anyone interested in managing the property. Rochna declined this week to comment on whether he would again pursue management of the property when it is opened up in 2008. The commission’s decision delighted SPI members, who hope to return the village it its former glory over the next 20 years. “I do feel very confident that we finally have all the pieces in place that we need,” Goff said. “It’s taken a while but it’s been a complicated undertaking (due to previous neglect).” Pioneer Village is one of the nation’s oldest living-history museums, and once operated much like Plimoth Plantation, with students and other visitors coming in droves to tour the grounds and see the trained, costumed historical interpreters. Eight historical buildings stand on three acres of land. Goff says the property needs to have a long-term manager if it is to succeed. Many of the property’s maintenance problems are extensive, he said, like the pond that routinely floods and the tree branches that fall on the buildings. Moreover, he said, it’s hard to generate money to revitalize the village when SPI doesn’t have a long-term lease. “No major donor will write a major check if the continuity is going to be gone in a year,” said Goff. When the city accepts proposals next year, SPI will propose a 20-year plan that will culminate with the village being fully restored by 2026, in time for the city’s 400th anniversary. “We know that year the village will be very important to telling the story of Salem’s history,” said Goff. He added that SPI wants the village to be financially self-sustaining. In the meantime, SPI is shooting for a partial opening by next spring, with the village available for school groups and other scheduled visitors. Erik Smith, the village’s volunteer caretaker, has been working with Salem Academy Charter students to restore the wigwams, while Biff Michaud, CEO of the [Salem] Witch Museum, has joined forces with SPI and will work to promote the village. Perhaps most importantly, Gordon College professor David Goss, an SPI member, has secured a $50,000 grant to train guides for the village. A museum studies and early American history professor, Goss will use the money to train and costume students in his museum studies classes to work as interpretive guides at Pioneer Village. “It’s a cultural treasure,” Goff said of Pioneer Village. “People are beginning to look at it as an asset, not a liability.”

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