Salem County Courthouse

Old Salem County Courthouse
Market St. and E. Broadway
Map / Directions to the Salem County Courthouse
Map / Directions to all Revolutionary War Sites in the town of Salem

Parts of the Old Salem County Courthouse were built in 1735, making it New Jersey's oldest continuously operating courthouse. It is the second oldest in the country. King William County Courthouse in Virginia is the country's oldest.

The Courthouse's connections to the Revolutionary War began a year before the war actually started, when New Jersey was still a British colony. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party occurred in Boston, Massachusetts, when tons of British tea were dumped into Boston harbor in protest of British taxation. In retaliation, the British blockaded and occupied Boston. Shortly after, a resolution was passed at this courthouse to provide aid and relief to Boston and its citizens. In March 1775 the citizens of Salem County gave four hundred and twenty dollars that they had raised "to be forwarded to their suffering brethren in Boston." This is the equivalent of about $13,000 today.

After the March 1778 British occupation of Salem, a series of treason trials known as the "Long Court"  was held here. On trial were local Tories suspected of having assisted the British during the occupation of Salem County. [16] Tories were Americans who remained loyal to the British in the Revolutionary War.