Salem: The Witch City *part one

Every October, thousands of people descend on the town of Salem for their month-long festival, Haunted Happenings. Lucky for us, there is a boat that travels between Boston and Salem several times a day. After a really relaxing hour on the water (I wish I could travel by water all the time!), we arrived in Salem, excited to explore this famous and historic town. Even though we’ve been here before.

One of the sites close to the ferry dock is The House of the Seven Gables, of Hawthorne literature.

It’s pretty, isn’t it? Salem Harbor is right behind me, making it an even more spectacular place. True confession, I have never been inside. Lines are so long!

This section of town has the most New England-y, clapboard-y buildings.

East AND West India … a nod to the maritime trade era of Salem’s history.

These plaques are on all the historic buildings in town.

Almost every house looks like this. I love this faded yellow color and the peeling paint.

This is the oldest candy store in America. It’s right across from the House of the Seven Gables, if you plan to visit.

Oh, October sky, you are spectacular!

This is the Nathaniel Hawthorne statue. We had lunch at the Tavern at the Hawthorne Hotel, not far from where this is located. Little tidbit: the Mr. and I had our wedding reception in the building where Mr. Hawthorne was married in Boston.

Doesn’t he look like the Jeepers Creepers guy? (Super scary movie, by the way!) It’s actually Roger Conant, the founder of Salem. He’s not even associated with the Witch Trials. He died way before they started. But he seriously is the scariest thing in this town!

His statue is across the street from Salem Common and the most popular attraction in town, the Salem Witch Museum. Lines for this were out of control!

Salem also has a long maritime history.

This is the Friendship, a replica tall ship.

I love that the area around it looks like this! Like its just parked in that house’s backyard.

This burial ground holds the remains of a Mayflower passenger (this is the second time this year that I’ve seen pilgrim graves) and one of the judges from the Witch Trial. Crazy to think about, right?