Established in 1639, the Colonial Burying Ground contains the grave of Major Robert Pike, one of the prominent voices in the Massachusetts Bay colony. Major Pike was a militia leader, an important Salisbury judge, and a member of the General Court, representing Salisbury for 37 years. At the time of the 1692 witchcraft trials, Pike was 76 years old.
On June 29, in Salem Town, Pike recorded many of the depositions in Susannah Martin’s trial. In response to the numerous charges of spectral evidence leveled against her by her neighbors, Martin denied that she had ever used witchcraft.