Qualla: Salem, Virginia

Salem, Virginia: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ray schumin, CC BY-SA 2.0. On December 31, 1967, Salem stopped being a town and became a city. The motivation was not vanity but survival. Roanoke was growing and annexing, and the only way for Salem to stop being absorbed into its larger neighbor was to charter itself as an independent city under the Virginia constitution. Salem had already grown into Virginia's largest town - over 16,000 people after annexing South Salem in 1953 - and now it had to take the final step. The new city held onto a strange title even after separation: it remained the county seat of Roanoke County, even though the county administrative building sat in unincorporated Cave Spring and Salem itself was no longer technically part of the county.

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Image: ray schumin | CC BY-SA 2.0

Salem, Virginia: Totero Town to Salem

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ray schumin, CC BY-SA 2.0. Archaeological evidence at Salem reaches back 8,000 years. Europeans first explored the area in 1671, when Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam encountered a village of the Siouan-speaking Totero people - the Tutelo of later historical records - who guided them west. The explorers name...

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Image: ray schumin | CC BY-SA 2.0

Salem, Virginia: Two Colleges, Two Lives

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ray schumin, CC BY-SA 2.0. Salem became a college town in 1847, when Virginia Institute - a small Lutheran boys' preparatory school - moved south from Staunton, hauling its belongings in a single covered wagon. By 1853 it had a college charter and a new name: Roanoke College, after the valley. The campus r...

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Image: ray schumin | CC BY-SA 2.0

Salem, Virginia: The Improbable Championship Town

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ray schumin, CC BY-SA 2.0. Salem's biggest export, oddly, is championship sports. The Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl - the NCAA Division III football championship - was held at Salem Football Stadium every year from 1993 to 2017. Once the NCAA discovered how well a city of this size could host a championship, more...

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Image: ray schumin | CC BY-SA 2.0

Salem, Virginia: Monuments to Many Wars

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aet28, CC0. Salem's downtown carries a layered set of historical markers. The Roanoke County Confederate Monument, a 28-foot granite and marble statue of a standing soldier, was erected in 1909 by the Southern Cross Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy beside the Old Roanoke Co...

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Image: Aet28 | CC0