6/20/21

Today we drove down to Salem, where the famous Witch Trials took place in 1692. There are several venues depicting this historic event, we chose the Salem Witch Museum, located across the street from a huge city park, where there were clean park benches under shade trees. We found one and parked ourselves until it was time for us to get into line. It’s still very hot here and it doesn’t look like there is going to be any relief soon!

Roger Conant, even though he kind of looks like a male witch, he is actually the founder of Salem

The park is the Salem Common

Salem Witch Museum, ironic that it looks like it was once a church building don't you think? They didn't allow photography inside.

WWII Monument in the Salem Common

The Salem Common, it's a huge park

We are fascinated with the architecture and size of these old houses 

The Salem Maritime National Historic Site

The Pedrick Store House and the ship, Friendship of Salem. She is a replica of an East Indian ship built in Salem in 1797. The original ship made 15 voyages before its capture during the War of 1812

The Custom House, built in 1829. Massive scales and devices for measuring cargo was stored here. Weighers and measurers carted scales, dipsticks and gauges to the wharf. After the surveyor recorded the data, clerks calculated the duties owed to the United States by the ship owner.  Customs duties is what kept the young nation afloat during the early years.

 

1871 Derby Light, one of four lighthouses used to navigate Salem Sound, this is the only surviving structure.

This is where we had lunch, just a block up from the Maritime NHS, the food was good and they had air conditioning!!!

What do you know, we found the home for aged women

We passed these houses on our way back to the truck, parked about a block away.

An antique in and of itself

It was somewhat unusual for a single woman to have her own house, according to everything I have read, anyway.

Essex Shipbuilding Museum, Essex, MA

 6/19/21

After leaving the Hammond Castle, we drove to Essex to visit the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. This is still a working yard where restorations and repairs are done, so it’s kind of an organized chaos. The inside portion of the museum is nicely done and one of the ladies in there gave us a short tour of what they have. She also suggested that we visit the school house around the corner and down the street for more shipbuilding information, tools and history.

Back in the day, 1800’s, Essex was a shipbuilding mecca. The Essex River made the location ideal for boats and ships of all sizes. The river was deep enough that a full-sized ocean-going ship could be launched floated downriver.

The inside Museum

Phil says this is old ship wood that the museum has salvaged from ships that can't be repaired and to be used in ships that can be repaired

This was once a school house, maybe even a church at one time, the little building below is the "Hearst House". It is now an extension of the Shipbuilding Museum.

The grave yard behind the school house. Someone has gone through this grave yard and cleaned all of the stones.