[2] The settlement of Salão can be traced back to 1620, to a Castilian family that moved there from the adjacent community of Santa Bárbara (now the area of Praça in Cedros).

A local fountain (Portuguese: Fonte da Carapeta) supported the small community (of mostly Spanish settlers) in its infancy, until it was destroyed in the 1926 earthquake.

But settlers continued into the area, settling in communities such as Lomba, Barreiro, Cela and Canto: by 1730, Salão became a civil parish.

In 1834, the church received three golden altarpieces from the destroyed Convent of São João (Portuguese: Convento do São João) in Horta, a new pulpit, and extensive remodeling to include two chapels dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Rosário (Our Lady of the Rosary) and Nossa Senhora das Dores (Our Lady of the Stigmata).

The zone of Salão, which occupies the space between the Riberinha Graben and Cedros Plateau is an area of deposits of lapilli particulars, or tephra projectiles smaller than 64 mm.

The parish is located on the north coast of Faial, between Riberinha and Cedros, linked to other communities by the Regional Road E.R.

Crops cultivated in these hortas were common and sweet potatoes, beans, peas, local yam and taro, as well as fruit trees (such as oranges, lemons, apples, figs, cherries, tangerines and apricots).

The ending of commercial whaling resulted in the refocusing of the community to subsistence fishing and agriculture, as well as the dairy industry.