Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

August 29, 2014

Salem, MA: Witch City

So Salem is cool.  WICKED cool.  I will so totally be going back up there again!!!  I'd like to go in the fall for sure.  I shot quite a few pics so this will take a couple/three posts.  It's amazing!!!

Moriah & Bruce were visiting family in New Brunswick in mid-August and they decided to take a quick side trip into New England (and they made the most of that visit too, I might add...she's now seen more of parts of NH and Maine than I have!).  Moriah & I have been friends since about 2008, from Facebook, and she used to live in Victoria, BC.  We got together for dinner once in Tacoma in 2009, and for dinner & Ghostly Walks in Victoria in 2010.  The year I moved back, her husband was transferred to Ottawa.  We decided to meet in Salem, which was roughly half way from where I live and where she was staying in NH.

First, I had to endure the morning rush hour slog through South Boston which really sucked.  Good thing I left at 7:45 to be there by 10!!

After the split for the airport, traffic opened up in the tunnel and on the Zakim Bridge. 

I got up there pretty quickly after the traffic lightened up, found the parking garage and visitor center where we were meeting.  I had about 10 minutes to spare so I took a quick walk around the block.

Inside the visitor center

Very cute historical vignettes and displays set up.


Funky art on the parking garage.

Love the architecture.  More brick here than in most of the other places I've visited.


America's version of Ollivander's.






We just didn't have time to stop in this time.  I will definitely go next time though.


A lot of places were closed the day we went, which was on a Monday.  There was a locked gate to this alley, so I couldn't get better angles of this mural.

There were quite a few role players roaming the streets! 

Bruce & Moriah!  How cute!







20 comments:

  1. Beautiful city,loved the mural,thanks for sharing,& happy weekend! Phyllis

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    1. Thanks Phyllis! Have a good weekend too!

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  2. Salem was a port I think. That means many of the ships coming in were using bricks as ballast which were offloaded when they took on cargo or other commodities. These bricks were then used for building or roads. Interesting town to visit though. As usual you pix were great.

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    1. Yes it was a very busy port at one time. Thanks!! :)

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  3. Salem looks like a lovely place to visit . . . especially since they no longer burn, hang or drown suspected witches.
    I love the little fairy birdbath, she's adorable and I'd love to have one like it for my garden.

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    1. If you were accused of witchcraft in those days, you were really stuck between a rock and hard place. If you survived any of the methods meant to test if you were a witch, you were a witch and killed anyway.

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  4. I would love to see that witch museum too. Looks like you did another great photo study, JoJo. Boston may have had a brickyards back in the 1800s, since Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas was built with bricks from Boston that had to be shipped all the way down to the islands in the Gulf of Mexico.

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    1. Thank you! There will be many more pics to come of this fantastic city. Boston is definitely a brick city too...the old buildings. But the smaller seaside towns and ports seem to have more wood structures, like Provincetown.

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  5. Anonymous5:10 PM

    Oh wow JoJo, how cool is this? Salem is most definitely on my "To Do" list. Your pics are always, always, AMAZING. I look forward to more posts on this!

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    1. Thank you so much! You are too kind. Believe me, all i'm doing is pointing and shooting. The rest is the camera and scenery!!! I would love if you came to visit.

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  6. Hey JoJo,

    Hope you are sitting comfortably! Yes, I'm actually commenting. Now that was quite the virtual tour I had and your friends just added to the festivities. I reckon my ex wife would have to stay well away from Salem. I've been to Salem, Oregon :)

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

    Gary

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    1. Hey Gary! Glad you are back!! There are about 3 more posts from Salem so sit back and enjoy them. It was awesome. I, too, have been to Salem OR. I took a picture of a church sign that said, 'this is the church hell warned you about.'

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  7. Jojo, those pics were amazing!! The first thing I thought of when you said Salem was...Salem's lot!! Eekk! lol Especially loved the little white house/building, what was it's use? The little town I live in has about 7,000, and that's busy enough for me. lol Hate to have to travel through any peak hour at any day. Country girl, that's me.
    Cheers, Anita.

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    1. Thank you so much! I have no idea what that little building was. It was in a parking lot and I had to really struggle to get an angle that didn't show the cars parked in front of it. It looks like a guard shack of some kind!

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  8. The history of witchcraft interests me. Like England America hanged witches, didn't burn them. I was a student at Lancaster where the Lancashire witches were tried in the castle. You could go in the dungeon and have the door closed - it was completely black! Poor women. One of my friends was descended from a "witch" family, the Nutters (for real) but he changed his name to Netter when he became a teacher. Nice and easy for the kids to say, Mr Netter is a Nutter!

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    1. It is a very interesting history for sure. A lot of the hysteria has been possibly attributed to ergot mold on rye grains made into bread, which causes hallucinations. I will have to check out the museums next time and I also want to see Gallows Hill.

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  9. Now that would be the PERFECT place to wander about on Halloween...

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    1. Maureen, Salem has tons of events which culminate on Halloween. It really is THE place to be in October. I, however, really dislike traffic so I think if I do go back this fall, it'd be in Sept.

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  10. I bet that is a great place to visit around Halloween. Loved seeing the pictures!

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    1. It's a total mob scene in October,especially on and near Halloween, which falls on a Saturday this year!

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