The Peabody Essex Museum is the finest museum in New England outside of Boston, and arguably the most distinctive art museum in the country. It grew from the collections of Salem's 18th-century merchants, sea captains, and scholars, and its holdings still reflect that cosmopolitan trading heritage: maritime paintings, East Asian export art, carved ivories, Indian temple sculpture, and the extraordinary Yin Yu Tang, an entire 200-year-old Chinese merchant's house transported beam by beam from Anhui province and reassembled inside the museum.
The building itself — a major Moshe Safdie expansion opened in 2003 — wraps around several original historic houses that now serve as galleries. Permanent collection highlights include the Asian Export Art wing, the American decorative arts holdings, and the maritime collections that document Salem's golden age of trade. Budget a full morning or afternoon; this is not a museum you rush through. Check the website for special exhibitions, which can be worth timing a visit around.