As I have grown older, I have become to realize there are all kinds of people in this world. Some you wonder if they are really who they say they are, and others you applaud for their stance in life. All of them you…Read More

As I have grown older, I have become to realize there are all kinds of people in this world. Some you wonder if they are really who they say they are, and others you applaud for their stance in life. All of them you accept for who they are. I had one of those experiences one morning in Salem, MA. We had gotten to the small, historic center early in the morning before anything was really opened. I guess we were excited to start our vacation. So we started walking the streets observing and taking lots of pictures. Since nothing was open yet, I did a lot of window shopping. What I found was a menagerie of stores selling things to do with magic. Not the rabbit in the hat kind, but the real Wiccan kind. There was books containing spells, herbs and things to make the spells and lots of glitter to make things pretty. I just kept wondering how much of this was just for show, I mean this was Salem, MA and Salem is known for its history of witches. I just wasn’t convinced.

As we continued our tour around town, the stores began to open and we decided to visit a few. I found some of them were filled with trinkets "selling" the town, while others seemed more sinister in their purpose. I remember walking through this store where every isle was packed with books, skulls, clear large glass balls, wands, and lots of things to do with Satan. Now I was brought up a Christian and was taught at an early age to pray for safety. I had done that before we ever left the motel that morning, but I will tell you I felt a dark presence that day in that store. I felt as if something was following me and breathing down my neck and it was not a peaceful feeling. We got out of there as quickly as possible without stopping or breathing more than we could. Luckily I didn’t feel that way again all day in Salem.

On our tour we found the vintage photo shop, the Salem Witch Museum, the town square with its historical stories etched into every turn. Not all of it is witch related; there is a lovely statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne in the town square. He was the author of dark romanticism inspired by Puritan New England and wrote The House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter. Did you know that one of his ancestors was a judge at the Salem witch trials? I’m sure that had something to do with his statue being in front of the witch museum.

Salem overall is a cute and whimsical town. You will see a lot of Wiccan and psychic shops but you will also find a variety of seafaring fun. We found a crowded and rustic shop that sold handmade, wooden statues for your garden. We wanted the lobster fisherman but couldn’t figure out how to get him back to Oklahoma. Maybe someday we will return and buy one. We ended our town tour with a stop at the water’s edge. As I sat there I wondered how many people had sat on the same rock looking out on the water and thought about the magic of the town.

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Once Japan was open to trade with the western world, the Geisha became a symbol of desirable enticing women from that country. Nagasaki, Yokohama and Kobe were famous seaports offering the charms of those secretive, mysterious, talented women. As we moved from one…Read More

Once Japan was open to trade with the western world, the Geisha became a symbol of desirable enticing women from that country. Nagasaki, Yokohama and Kobe were famous seaports offering the charms of those secretive, mysterious, talented women. As we moved from one display to the next, in that special exhibit, called Geisha Beyond the Painted Smile, in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, their exotic mysterious lifestyle slowly unfolded.

Oil paintings, depicting 19th century Geisha entertaining westerners, were in the first room. Young girls were sold to an okiya by needy parents or instilled in that lifestyle by a Geisha, who happened to, also, be the girl’s birth mother. She was trained to play musical instruments, to dance while other Geisha played and to sing and act out beautiful love stories familiar to Japanese culture. Her training was a very expensive undertaking by the house that owned her. Her manners and deportment were above reproach, and her elegant appearance was superior to even the wealthiest women in Japan.

Apprentise Geisha had their hair styled once a week and learned to sleep with their heads on a block of wood to keep their waxed hairdo undisturbed. Full Geisha wore wigs; several were on display. Beautiful hair ornaments and lacquered combs, intended to be used for particular seasons of the year, were only part of that informative collection.

We watched a video of the Geisha’s white makeup being applied. Designs, made with templates, completed the face "mask" on the neck area and was expected to be very enticing where the natural skin was exposed under it. She painted her lips a blood red and her eyes were accented by very feminine eybrows.

A Geisha wore her obi tied in the back, identifying her from a prostitute, who wore it tied in the front. All her clothes had symbolic significance showing the seasons of the year, her status as a Geisha and/or encouraging good luck. On display was a ten ribbed fan, covered with brightly colored paper and used when she danced. Because of their high class elegance, the Geisha could command enormous sums of money when they entertained enabling them to be somewhat selective. A collection of name cards on one wall had, at one time, been used to remind patrons who their favorite Geisha was. Pictures were not allowed in the special exhibit, but I was able to purchase a replica of a little 19th century ivory toggle, used to hang pouches from a sash that closed her kimono. It allow her to have a place to store items she might need. It depicts a Geisha entertaining a westerner, probably a Russian.

The tsuzumi hand drum, that looked like a large hour glass, made different tones when its cords were squeezed and it was struck. A larger drum, called a taiko, created excitement with its rhythmic rumblings. The Geisha were also trained in the use of the shamisen, a three string instrument that looked like a banjo. A wood lacquer flute from the Edo period was in the exhibit.

In Japan today, the Geisha are still highly skilled entertainers with impeccable talent. Their life is still very secretive, but photographer, Yoko Yamamoto, gained their confidence and, after a twenty year friendship, was able to photograph them and write about them. Her pictures were part of the exhibit. The exhibit was open from February 14 to May 9, 2004.

These are the types of exhibits you can expect from this museum.

Most people come to Salem for the witches, and a cottage industry of witch attractions--the Witch Dungeon, Salem Witch Village, and Salem Witch Museum to name a few--thrives here. Unfortunately for witch hunters, there's not much left in town that has a direct connection to…Read More

Most people come to Salem for the witches, and a cottage industry of witch attractions--the Witch Dungeon, Salem Witch Village, and Salem Witch Museum to name a few--thrives here.

Unfortunately for witch hunters, there's not much left in town that has a direct connection to the witch trials. This is partly due to Salem's growing prosperity during the 18th and early 19th centuries, when the old houses were modernized beyond recognition or torn down to make way for more modern buildings, and partly due to a fire which swept the town in the early 20th century. The one building in town that has a connection with the trials is the Witch House on the corner of North and Essex streets. The Witch House was the home of one of the witch trial judges, Johnathan Corwin.

Some of the homes of those accused in the trial still stand--just not within the boundaries of today's Salem. The Rebecca Nurse homestead is a museum in Danvers, just west of Salem, and the John Proctor house is a private home near the Northshore Mall in Peabody. If these names sound familiar, that's because each person was the model for a character in The Crucible.

But Salem is more than just witches. It was once a great trading center, and one of the wealthiest towns in the US. The remnants of this prosperity can be seen throughout the town, most prominantly in the historic district surrounding Salem Common, and in the grand Federal homes lining Chestnut Street.

If you want to go inside one of these mansions, try the Stephen Phillips Memorial Trust Museum on Chestnut Street. Entry is free, and the tour describes the home's interesting history--as a teaser, there's a War of the Roses caliber divorce involved.

After the Revolution and before President Jefferson's embargo and the war of 1812, Salem was at the height of its prosperity, most of which was generated by the China trade. The curiosities that the merchants brought home from their travels came to rest in the Peabody Essex Museum (on the Essex Street pedestrian mall) and became the germ of one of the finest collections of Asian art in the country. The PEM also has a collection of restored homes that are furnished with period antiques, if you are interested in seeing how Salemites lived in the past. If you're curious to see how 18th century traders lived in southern China, visit the lovely Yin Yu Tang house, brought over from rural China and reassembled in a new wing of the PEM.

For a quiet, off the beaten path diversion, visit the Athenaeum on Essex Street(pronounced Athen-nee-um, in case you were wondering). The attractive neo-Colonial building houses a collection of books both antique and modern, complete with fireplaces, comfy chairs, and a pleasant back yard. You can't take anything out, however, unless you become a subscriber for a modest yearly fee.

Having spent a lovely half a day and restful night in the Jeremiah Mason House, sitting in tiny, leafy Limerick, Maine, it was time to press on. We needed to be back in Cambridge, MA to drop off the car by 6pm. The…Read More

Having spent a lovely half a day and restful night in the Jeremiah Mason House, sitting in tiny, leafy Limerick, Maine, it was time to press on. We needed to be back in Cambridge, MA to drop off the car by 6pm. The planned itinerary was to drop directly onto the coastal road of Southern Maine and head south, trying to take in as much of the Maine coast as we could on the way.

As it turned out, this idea turned into little more than a semi-desperate photo stop, and I don't think we did that area of southern Maine justice. In hindsight, a two-night stopover in Maine would have given us a better opportunity to take in the Kennebunkport area. This was sacrificed as we sped on towards famed Salem, MA. We expected this to be the highlight of this leg.

In reality, we found Salem to be a strange place. The source of the "problem," if there is one, is that it allows itself to get pulled in two directions that I'm not sure sit that well together. On the one hand, it has its interesting and disturbing past, with plenty of sites (like the burying point) and exhibitions (like the Peabody Museum) that put you in mind of those times. It also has a beautiful harbour with tall ships to view. On the other hand, it has a load of tacky-witchy-Hallowe'en-y shows and sideshows that are so prevalent that they totally cheapen the place. I reckon that if you're Roswell, New Mexico and these sideshows are all you have to draw in the crowds, then good luck to you, make the most of it. But Salem has more to offer, and the good stuff is being stifled. These so-called "attractions" are in fact reasons NOT to visit. A bit of a shame.

On a more positive note, parking the car in a central multi-storey pay car park was relatively easy, and Salem, like Boston, has marked out its routes on the sidewalk, making it quite easy for you to tour on foot and take in good stuff like the Peabody Museum, which is great for setting the history of Salem in context and separating the fact from fiction for the visitor. The harbour is well worth a view and very picturesque with its tall ships. There's also the eerie sites such as the Burying Point and House of Seven Gables,. All in all, worth a visit, but not as good as it SHOULD be.

In the summer of 1692, 19 women were hanged for witchcraft in the small village of Salem. One of them was my 9th great grandmother, Susannah Martin. We had come to this epicenter of 17th century hysteria to see what we could find…Read More

In the summer of 1692, 19 women were hanged for witchcraft in the small village of Salem. One of them was my 9th great grandmother, Susannah Martin. We had come to this epicenter of 17th century hysteria to see what we could find about Susannah. From what I'd read, she was a small, pretty woman with a salty tongue. Those were probably her main offenses, since she was also accused of making "unwomanly advances" to her male neighbors. Contrary to popular belief, the witches were not burned at the stake, that gruesome method was mostly a century earlier in Europe. However, on July 19, 1692. Susannah and four other women were "turned off" (the quaint euphemism for "hanged"). Throughout that summer of 1692, 14 more women would meet the same fate.

The hysteria of that summer still echoes through Salem and overrides the fact that Salem was also has a substantial maritime history. The harbor here was once filled with tall ships and many a China clipper set sail under a Salem master. It’s also a charming town of cobbled streets and historic buildings, many open to the public. There are several museums in Salem celebrating both their bewitched and maritime past. The Salem Wax Museum divides its displays between both. In 1992, the 300th anniversary of the Witch Trials, they erected a monument to the victims of the hysteria. It's a low stone wall with each of their names carved out.

Since we were staying pretty close to the Common, we only followed bits and pieces of the Heritage Trail that takes you from the House of the Seven Gables, around the Common, and up to the Old Burying Ground, but the whole walk is less thatn 2 miles. You can also take a little trolley around to the various sights. You can pick up maps of the route marked with the various historic sites just about anywhere. Close

While in Salem, roam the streets with the other revelers and do not miss the Witch Museum, Pirate Museum and shops. Also pick your medium and have your fortune told. Prices for a reading range from $5-$500, and may be done via tarot,…Read More

While in Salem, roam the streets with the other revelers and do not miss the Witch Museum, Pirate Museum and shops. Also pick your medium and have your fortune told. Prices for a reading range from $5-$500, and may be done via tarot, palm, or even an actual witch! We spent $10 per person and had a witch tell us our futures and it was great entertainment.Close