We left Maine and New Hampshire behind, and in the morning crossed over to Massachusetts, state #42! Our plan was to spend most of the day in Salem, a city northeast of Boston that's famous for its the witch trials in 1692, where locals were executed after being accused of practicing witchcraft.
On our way we needed to dump our waste so we found a water treatment plant which turned out to be one very stinky affair indeed. Michael was gagging.
Once we arrived, we noticed that it was like it was Halloween already--it was super busy with lots of traffic, people were walking around dressed in costume, and some streets weren't allowing parking due to an "event." As it turns out, October is THE month to be in Salem because they celebrate Halloween all month long, and we were in town for Halloween parade that evening! Every October, "Haunted Happenings" is a celebration of all things Halloween and fall, with ghost tours, musical events, shows, and all sorts of activities.
We worried that we wouldn't be able to find parking, and ended up driving into a big lot near Shetland Park, which had a variety of businesses, and right by the South River. We figured we'd have lunch here and get our bearings, and as we were sitting in the RV, a security guard came around to ask us what we were doing. Michael told her that we didn't realize that we'd arrived on a busy day, parking was a nightmare and we were trying to figure out what to do... and the security guard said we could just stay here until after the parade (we just couldn't stay overnight). Legend--thanks, Bianca!!
Salem on Foot
Leaving our RV, we walked to picturesque Pickering Wharf, with its shops, restaurants and hotels. It turns out that just before this was where the parade would be starting this evening. Further along by the water is the Salem Maritime National Historic Park. The area also includes the Pedrick Store House (otherwise known as "The Sail Loft", which was used in the 18th century), and a replica tall ship. Across the road from this is the Custom House, a grand and impressive red brick building with stately white columns and a golden eagle perched on top. There has been a customs house to collect taxes since 1649(!), starting with imported cargos for the British Government during the Colonial period, then for the American Government after the U. S. Customs Service was established in 1789. This Custom House was built in 1819.
Another venerable building is Ye Olde Pepper Companie (note the spelling!), the oldest candy company in the US, and home to the famous Gibralters and Blackjacks sweets. The building is a lovely yellow and white structure with a red door, and there was a queue of people outside waiting to enter the little store. Once you enter, the line just snakes around until the cashier (there's no room to step out of line to browse around, although it's a small enough store that you're just browsing as the line moves). There are handmade chocolates and all sorts of sweets. The Gibralters have been made the same way since 1806, and are candy pieces made of sugar, water, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and oil of peppermint (there are also other flavors of candy available at the store). Blackjacks are a type of molasses stick candy.
We're not familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne's work--he's a Salem-born novelist and short story writer who is known for his books including "The House of the Seven Gables." It turns out that there is a mansion by this name that was the inspiration for Hawthorne's book, and it costs about $30 (during peak season) to go on a tour inside. We saw the outside of it, facing the water, and curiously, noted a sign that read "Rising sea level forced The House of the Seven Gables to move from this spot after 400 years", dated May 3, 2068. An ominous prediction from the future?
We walked briefly through Salem Common, a village green that's been around since the 17th century, where tonight's parade would end. We also jostled elbows with people lining outside of the Salem Witch Museum, where long queues had formed for folks eager to enter, before heading to the Old Burying Point (also called Charter Street Cemetery), the oldest European cemetery where judges involved in the Salem Witch Trials, Revolutionary War victims, and other notable locals are buried. While the people accused of being witches who were executed are likely buried in unmarked graves, the Old Burying Point Cemetery has rock monuments with the names of these people memorialized around the cemetery's periphery, and visitors have left flowers, coins and other items here.
Salem on e-Bike
We walked back to the RV, stopping by the Visitor Center and also the chocolate shop right near where we'd parked, called Harbor Sweets (got a free sample, very generous size and delicious! The treats Were on the expensive side, so it definitely seems to be upmarket). Ahead of the parade, we'd explore the rest of Salem by e-bike, with Sheila along for the ride.
The Ropes Mansion is a striking Georgian Colonial mansion that was built sometime in the 1720s, and was also made famous for appearing in the movie "Hocus Pocus." Near this is the "Witch House," which was once the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin and is one of the few remaining buildings that has direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692. Both of these houses can be toured inside, but you need to buy tickets to do so.
There are, unsurprisingly, a lot of museums and other sights centered around the witch trials of 1692. The Witch Dungeon Museum is not where the trials or executions took place, but it's where there are live reenactment shows of the witch trials, plus tours through a replica dungeon. There are also several pillories outside of the building (the medieval wooden or metal frame that held a convicted person's head and hands) at varying heights, adding a grim visual to the city's history. Meanwhile, "The Witch Gaol"--the jail where the accused were imprisoned--no longer exists (it was razed in 1957), but there is a marker for the site, including a mention that one of them, the Aged Giles, was "pressed to death on these grounds." Torture and execution methods were gory and appalling in Salem!
A totally different plaque is outside the entrance of Turner's Seafood, a New England seafood restaurant that had a long queue of people waiting outside. Here, in this building that was called Lyceum Hall in 1877, Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated a long distance phone conversation.
But back to witches! One of the most popular TV witches was of Samantha, in the 1960s TV show "Bewitched." There's a sculpture of Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress who played Samantha, in Lappin Park, right by a busy plaza where there were a ton of people milling around... and a long line of folks waiting their turn to get a photo next to the Bewitched sculpture. We were getting hungry, however, and the crowds slowly started to thin out, indicating that the parade was going to be starting soon! We decided to order some quick and easy food (pizza), and went to the nearby Garcon SuperSlice Pizza Pie Parlor to get some, figuring it would be more economical to get a whole pizza rather than a couple of slices each.
Why is it that when you're in a hurry, that something happens that slows you down? Our order ended up getting messed up, so we had to wait while the restaurant made our pizza again. By this time it was getting cold and the sun was setting, so we were impatient to get going! Finally the pizza was ready, although we had no straps to tie the huge box (and bag) down to the back of one of our bikes, but Michael expertly was able to hang onto it while cycling back--and when we opened the box back at the RV, the pizza was perfect, with not even a single slice of pepperoni askew! What was just as impressive was that the pizza was humongous, we absolutely wouldn't be able to finish it all in one go. Fortunately pizza is one of those dishes that tastes good, even cold, the next day!
Salem's Halloween Parade
For the first time in months, we rugged up to go to the parade, with Lisette even wearing a beanie! Sunset these days is around 6.15pm, so with the parade starting at 6.30pm, it wasn't long before people were walking, cycling, dancing or riding around in the dark. There were school bands playing music, dance schools moving along to a set choreography, and folks of all ages, from little kids stumbling along with their parents, to seniors and everyone in between! We saw people wearing costumes from the nostalgic and adorable, such as the characters from the Wizard of Oz and Ghostbusters. Then there were scarier costumes, like the Bride of Frankenstein, spooky skeletons and characters from slasher films. A lot of folks were handing out candy to people in the crowd, and the kids across the road from us were going absolutely ballistic, shrieking excitedly to get attention and receive as much candy as possible!
There were quite a lot of people lined up along the barricades but we'd fortunately found a great spot to watch the parade not far from where we'd parked. As time progressed, Sheila was becoming more restless and anxious--at one point barking constantly at someone who scared her a bit. She also understandably wasn't a big fan of some of the loud bangs, screams, and even sirens from the parade. We had been there already for a while and the crowd was thinning out in places, so we took this as our cue to leave, driving out of Salem before the inevitable traffic jams once the parade finished. Our final stop was in a shopping center parking lot, near a Target and a number of other stores. It was a much colder night, so we still rugged up going to bed!