September 01, 2022, Thursday, Salem, Massachusetts Part I

- September 06, 2022

Salem, Massachusetts

Part 1

JTH Steps 10,168

The Salem Ferry it was bigger than I
thought it was going to be

Today we went to Salem via Ferry. The first ferry left at 9:30 so we decided to walk down to Starbucks, get a coffee and pastry. We sat in an area with tables and again enjoyed the view, we can't get enough of it. It was a beautiful day and we couldn't have been more lucky. The ferry ride was about an hour to Salem and follows the shore. You also can see the ship lanes marked by buoys all along the route. Even though it was morning everyone on the ship was in shorts and short sleeves. The entire trip we could see huge houses along the coastline. They must get hammered during a storm. I can't even imagine.

Deck we waited for our ferry while
enjoying our Starbucks. Look how clean it is!

Even the littles were in short
sleeves it was so nice

Coastline view all the way to Salem

Large homes along the coastline

Our ferry arrived at 10:30 AM and we had an 11:00 AM tour scheduled at the House of the Seven Gables, the home Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about. Once we landed we needed to make our way to the house promptly to make our tour. Again, who decided on these early morning tours.....meeee but don't tell anyone. We arrived in plenty of time and was able to walk around a bit. Our tour guide was quite the character, with some sarcasm I found amusing. Nathaniel Hawthorne's cousin, Susan Ingersoll, became the owner after her sea captain father died at sea. She never married because she would lose her wealth....smart woman for the times. We got to walk up the "secret door" stairs to another room. It was added onto the house later because she thought it was cool, not the word used then. It has 17 rooms and 8,000 square feet. It's the oldest colonial mansion in North America. I loved this tour and the gardens. Beautiful property. The ocean views from the windows were priceless. I especially loved the diamond shaped window panes. I know there are many photos posted of this house but there is nothing like touring yourself and taking your own photos. I took many photos and had a hard time deciding what to post. These are my choices below and hope you appreciate them.

Garden View of the home

Garden outside the house

View of the ocean from the garden

Apothecary room but I think this would
be a great craft room!

Diagonal windows I love

The House from the garden

Nicely hidden liquor closet

One of the children's' room but they also used
this room to entertain which is an interesting concept

The secret stairway-If you look closely you can
see how small the stairs are

Our next stop was Nathaniel Hawthorne's home he was born in. He didn't live there long and it was moved next to the House with the Seven Gables much later when the Hawthorne Hotel was built. The house sat on the site the new hotel was being built on. This home was much smaller so this was a self guided tour. So cool to see these old colonial homes in person after only seeing them online.