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

- September 10, 2022

Salem, Massachusetts

Part II

JTH Steps 10,168

From Nathaniel Hawthorne's house we steered ourselves toward the Salem Witches Museum. We had about a 10 minute walk and followed the map with no problem. The building was originally a church and I would like to look up the history of the church at some point. Some of the reviews talk about how "cheesy" this museum is and I agree the beginning part is, but the important part is the narration at the beginning of the tour. It walks through the main events that happened. I didn't realize the witch trials were only from February 1692 and May 1693. The red circle photo below is on the floor of the front part of the museum and is lit from underneath. Very cool to see all the names of the people that were executed. Mary Easty is somehow connected to Barry's family but I don't know how. I need to help him through an investigation of the relationship....that would be so much fun to research!

If you look between 12:00 and 1:00
you can see Mary Easty's name

The next room is some artifacts but what I liked was a timeline of the events and how they related to the rest of what went on in the world during the same time. I couldn't get the whole timeline in a photo so I bought a little book that gives the same information and can't wait to read through it. On another wall is a display how fear and scapegoating lead to the witch trials and a few other world events. I thought this is one of the highlights of the exhibit. I stood there and thought about this for a few minutes and could see the correlation. I have never thought of this before but makes total sense to me. We bought a few things in the gift shop and headed down the street to the Hawthorne Hotel to have lunch in the Tavern. One of the people from the giftshop recommended it. Yes this is the Hawthorne Hotel where Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth house was located from.

Think about this formula

The Hawthorne Tavern was everything we thought it would be. A little history is at the top of the menu and posted below. I had a watermelon Pink Lemonade that was delicious; pink Whitney Vodka, Lemonade, and Watermelon Puree. Doesn't that sound thirst quenching? There is also a short video of The Tavern below.

Great lunch menu

After lunch we headed to The Witch House or The Jonathan Corwin House. Judge Jonathan Corwin lived here and is the only building still standing that is related to the Witch Trials. He is the judge that investigated the witch accusations. The house was believed to be built between 1620 to 1642. This house is where we saw the document with Mary Eastey's name on it, a family ancestor. A part of the transcript from the witch trials. Mary was hung as a witch.

The front of the Witch House or
The Judge Jonathan Corwin House

The examination
of Mary Eastey document.

The back of the Witch House. This is where
we entered.

The table in front of the 2 women on the right has the
Mary Eastey document displayed. The document was
covered by another but one of the docents moved it
for us in order for Barry to take a photo.
She was so helpful.

Since this is an original home this section
of a wall was removed in order to see
how the walls were constructed.

These markings are on the stairs
leading to the 2nd floor. This was
to ward off evil spirits from
moving upstairs.

From here we decided to walk over to the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall. A section of the street that is paved with cobblestone and plenty of shops to browse through. We stopped by the Chamber of Commerce for a restroom break. The door was locked but a woman came from down the hall and she was going home for the day and opened it for us. She was an attorney who has been in Salem for some time and introduced herself as Effie. We ended up talking to her for 30 minutes. She was full of current information about Salem and the "true" history of salem, other than the witch trials. She says there is more to Salem than witches. One of the other attorneys is creating an organization to start tours that focus on the history of Salem that does not include the witch hysteria. She is also not happy with the element of people the witch history brings to Salem from now until Halloween. Not everyone, but just the people that feel it gives them an excuse to come her and create havok. I wish I could remember everything she spoke about.

Essex Street Pedestrian Mall is one witch shop after another. We only went one that Effie told us about, Black Craft Cult. The people that opened it this year are from the Bay Area. They are in an old bank location and painted the interior all black, something she felt destroyed the architecture of the building. Can't say I blame her. The photos below are dark because of the black so you will have to blow them up to see the inside of the store.

This shop is owned by a couple that moved
to Salem from the Bay Area.

We walked back to the wharf and sat at the wharf side bar and had a drink before we took the last ferry back to boston. A gentleman and his wife sat next to us and he had a Vietnam Vet hat on. I asked if he served and we talked a bit. We also bought them a round of drinks for his service. They were very thankful. What a great way to end our day in Salem. The ferry ride back was very cool so we sat inside most of the trip. Tomorrow we take a ferry to the Boston National Historical Park to see the USS Constitution.

Below are random photos I took walking through Salem.