Oh, yeah, the minute I include ‘witches’ in my title, you probably can guess that we’re in Salem, MA today. If that is what you’d guess, you’d be right. But, actually, if witches is all you think of when you think of Salem, then you’re missing a lot of Salem’s history and its importance to America of the 17th - 19th centuries.
If you walk the streets of Salem, you can catch whiffs of two currents that run throughout Salem’s history: the effects of the ocean and the effects of the witch trials in the 1690’s. Much of Salem today is the hustle and bustle of a modern town with shops, coffee houses, retail stores and boutiques. But you can also step back in time to wander streets lined with homes built in the 1700’s and 1800’s, cemeteries with stones of Mayflower passengers and wharves and counting houses that line the waterfront. It is a veritable open-air museum. But, interspersed among these will be a shop for a warlock, a store devoted to witchcraft and ghost tours in the evening. And, lots of ice cream.
And, there’s even a statue of Samantha, the witch from the TV program. I understand that some local wiccans and witches weren’t happy with this but, when the TV program donated a large sum to clean up the area around the statue, the town couldn’t turn it down.
Salem was founded in 1626 but found its greatest glory in the early 1800’s when, free of England’s shackles, privateers who gained their wealth from capturing 445 English ships during the Revolutionary War turned this wealth into trading vessels that opened the Orient to American trade. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, it was one of New England’s busiest ports, with ships bring goods from all around the world to Salem for trade.
So, we’re off but first a breakfast in a local restaurant. We checked Yelp and found one we wanted but then checked with our neighbors who live about 2 miles away and they recommended Red’s. And, they were right - mostly locals but a lot of tourists had found the place, we had New Yorkers on the left and Vermonters on the right. Huge servings and delicious veggie-cheddar omelet with herbed potatoes. The serve home-made blueberry bread French toast, pancakes as large as man-hole covers and eggs Benedict's with home-made English (or should I say ‘Salem’) muffins. We’ll be back next week. I put most of mine into a take-home container but then, ‘plundered’ Gary’s potatoes like a ‘pirate on the 7 seas.’ This is Gary’s description of my taking one or two of his potatoes while I was waiting for him to finish his breakfast. He often tends towards hyperbole.
We started with the Salem Maritime National National Historic Site where we got a run down on places to see by Bob, the 86-yr old volunteer who has written several pamphlets for the NPS to pass out to tourists. A guru as it were. Then we were off. First stop was the Witch Trial Memorial, a moving memorial to the 20 who died during the 6 months of hysteria between the 1st of March, 1692 and the 22nd of September of 1692. Here were cantilevered benches in a shady treed plot with the name of each of those killed and the date. Because they were witches, they could not be buried in 17th century Charter Street Cemetery, just over the wall.
Here’s the short story about the witchcraft in Salem. In 1692 hundreds of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, defined by the court at the time as a felony. Eventually 19 people were hung and 1 was crushed by stones. The trials and accusations only ended when Governor Phipps’ wife was accused and he called off the special court that had been set up to try the accused. It’s too bad that Salem with its rich history is known only for this but it is a great example of the twin evils of intolerance and self righteousness.
Of course the Charter Cemetery itself intrigued us and we found this stone for a Mayflower Pilgrim. Note that it has been repaired so that it will not fall down. I haven’t seen this done before and we’re toured lots of old cemeteries but have seen it done several times now.
We then headed to the Custom House where the goods brought in by the myriad of merchant ships were weighed, measured and taxed by the customs agents.
Gold eagle on the top.
Until the 1900’s, there was no income tax and the customs tax was the major share of money going to fund the government. Thus - it was a very important job. They had some actual paperwork showing ships, tonnage, captain, etc. In another room was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s desk when he was the Custom’s Agent. By the time he had the job, the shipping had decreased, and he could spend time pacing back and forth devising his plots. But, check out the view from his desk - and note that it is a standing desk. No sitting for the Salem Customs Agents. Great view out his window to the harbor below - all the better to see the ships coming in and those going out - and the better to charge the right amount in custom duties.
Here’s a pen set and a blotter book - both original.
Interesting fact about Nathaniel Hawthorne. Originally his name was Hathorne but he added the ‘w’ to it because he was appalled by a relative of his, Hathorne, who had presided at the Salem Witch Trials.
We walked a bit further into the old homes area of Salem and found some marvelously designed homes.
The ship in the harbor is the Friendship which is open for touring and we took advantage of this. Here are some kegs in which the water was kept. Now, warm water goes bad after a while but, with the addition of a bit of rum to it, it clears right up and goes down ever so much better.
Note the bucket in the picture above. A kid who was also touring picked it up and asked what it was for. ‘That was the Captain’s ‘bathroom’ during the nights’ was the reply from the Ranger on duty.
We also saw the manifest for the first cargo that the Friendship carried. Most are not unusual but ‘dragon’s blood?’ What in the world is that?
And, finally, we headed on over to the H7G which was written on our receipt for admittance until I realized that this was the House of 7 Gables. They had a picture of an item that the gift shop carried long ago. Remember these? They obviously came way before my time. Ha. Ha.
‘Half-way down a by-street of one of our New England towns, stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in its midst.’
Originally built by a Captain Turner, it continually went through renovations as the Turner fortune increased. Later it was bought by the Ingersolls who made more renovations. By Hawthorne’s time it had only 3 gables but his cousin, Susannah Ingersoll, told him stories about the house’s history and where the mortises in the attic indicated the original 7 gables. In 1908 the house was purchased by philanthropist Caroline Emmerton who restored the house so it could be used as a museum whose admission fees would finance her philanthropic projects. She remade the 7 gables to attract more tourists interested in seeing Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables.
Pretty cool tour. The house is mostly original and the furniture is period but what was really cool was the secret passageway in back of the of the fireplace with the 2’ wide narrow steps up to the second floor. The door to this passageway looks like a wood closet but there are steps winding around the chimney up to the second story. Funny, this ‘secret’ passageway, as much fun as it is, is not original to the house. Emmerton actually had this built into the house. Since I could not take pictures, I got these online. The house is furnished in period style but it is neat to see the original walls, floors, and ceiling beams.
I looked at our receipt and it said H7G at the top - took me a while before I realized that it was the House of the 7 Gables. It was right on our way home and, after our tour, we kept on walking back to our park. Long day, long walk but oh so interesting.
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