Salem Magistrate serves both the city of Salem and Roanoke county in the Twenty-Third judicial district of Virginia.

There were people in Salem over 8,000 years ago but you would not recognize them since they are only known through archaeological evidence. The best known of the early settlers in the 18th century was a pioneer and patriot who led colonial forces chasing out of Virginia the last hostile Indian force and evicting the last British royal governor from Virginia. After his death, his heirs sold off parts of his land one of which was purchased by an investor who laid out a town he named Salem. The Great Road, the main thoroughfare for travelers going to the unsettled west; the Roanoke Navigation Company's establishment of riverboat traffic on the Roanoke River; Salem's selection as the county seat of the new Roanoke County; the relocation of Roanoke College to Salem and the construction of the Virginia and Tennessee railroad through Salem all led to the explosive economic growth of Salem. The exhibits at the Salem Museum at present include items of technology from bygone days, a collection of exotic pieces from Third World cultures, the Hometown Art of Salem native Walter Biggs, artifacts of some of the cool stuff from the Salem Museum collection, the Fashion Dolls of Pete Ballard, collections of historical portraiture, a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the lives of the Native American evidence and of the earliest pioneers.