Salem Massachusetts

Day 32: 11.08.09Salem, Massachusetts

Today we took a short drive down to the seaport town of Salem, Massachusetts. Our first stop was the Visitor’s Centre where we watched a short presentation on the history of Salem and Essex County. Founded in 1626, Salem was a thriving seaport in early maritime trade and grew to become a major industrial centre particularly in leather and cloth. It is also renowned because of its witch hangings in 1692.

Made famous by Arthur Miller in his play, “The Crucible”, the Salem witch hunts are a tourism feature of this town. Everywhere you go there are testaments to witch craft and witches. Consequently, we decided to visit the Salem Witch Museum. Located in an interesting Gothic Revival building, the focus of the museum was a presentation of the witch hunts and trials of 1692. This presentation was based on actual trial documents and was presented using 13 distinctive stage sets. For a short time we were able to experience the web of lies and intrigue surrounding the events in Salem at this time. After the presentation we viewed an exhibition charting the history of witches through the ages. Even the boys agreed that it was a fascinating presentation. Naturally, we also perused the extensive gift shop searching for that perfect souvenir.

After the museum, we took a walk around downtown, had a look at the waterfront and found somewhere for a satisfactory lunch. Upon our return to the RV Park, it was still quite hot so the kids spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool.