We Go To Visit Salem -- Massachusetts, That Is!

Today we drove in the Toad the 88 miles to Salem. (When I did a "check-in" on Facebook, a couple of my friends thought we were on our way to Salem, Oregon and got excited because we were almost in Washington State...) I had checked things out on-line and discovered that there was a "reasonably-priced" parking garage right across the street from the NPS Visitor Center. I was able to plug the address into the GPS unit and we drove right to it.

We arrived at the Visitor Center just in time for a quick potty break before we watched their film, Salem Witch Hunt: Examine the Evidence. It gave us a good overview of the history of the witch hunts and how it came to pass that 22 people were hung as witches during the craziness.

As has become our custom in these heavily touristy historical cities, we took a trolley ride tour to get a sense of the city. The weatherman had been right on with the forecast for today -- it was 98 degrees!

The only original building connecting to the 1692 witch trials is the Corwin House. Jonathon Corwin, one of the men who presided over the witch examinations, lived here.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church on Church Street --

The city is full of beautiful houses built in the Federalist style. Note the third floor windows on the yellow house and the one with blue trim. Many were built with the windows 3/4 size to give the building the illusion of being taller (and the smaller the window, the less the tax!).

 

A statue of Governor Roger Conant, founder of Salem, stands by the City Commons --

The Charter Street Cemetery, also known as "The Old Burying Point," is the oldest cemetery in Salem. Magistrate John Hathorne who served as the Interrogator in many of the witch examinations, and is the forebear of Nathaniel Hawthorne, is buried here.

After our trolley tour, we went back to the Visitor Center and found a book about the 1691 trials for Granddaughter Claire. Claire has the part of one of the young girls in the theatre production of Witches, A Musical, which will be presented in Mount Vernon this summer. We reclaimed Toad from the parking garage (the parking was indeed reasonable for a city -- $6.50) and then drove to see the House of the Seven Gables.

This is the house that the cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in and the house he used for his novel, The House of the Seven Gables. (Hawthorne actually changed the spelling of his last name because of his abhorrence of his relative's role in the witch trials.) Once again, there was no photography inside, but it was a fun house to tour. There is a secret staircase in the chimney on the right that takes you up to the attic on the third floor. It is VERY narrow and tight!

The grounds of the house have been beautifully restored. The climbing roses were just coming into bloom --

 

The house and gardens overlook Salem Harbor --

The house that is Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth place -- and where he wrote The Scarlet Letter -- has been moved onto the grounds as well and is also open to the public.

Across the street from the House of Seven Gables is the oldest candy company in America, Ye Olde Pepper Companie --

According to the history, the company dates back to 1806 when an English woman named Spencer was shipwrecked and landed in Salem in a rather destitute condition. When her neighbors learned that Mrs. Spencer knew how to make candy, they all got together and purchased her a barrel of sugar. She sold her candies first on the step of the church and later from a horse-drawn wagon.

I did  buy a package of Black Jacks, a candy stick made from blackstrap molasses. They are really good!

As we left Salem, heading back for Auntie Violet, I spotted this one last bright blue house across the street from us --