Salem Mass

This past summer I had the opportunity to travel to Boston for the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute. I can't say that I was totally enamored with the city or the area, but my perspective was from a dorm room at Boston University, taking the transportportation system everywhere I wanted to go, and eating meals in a campus cafeteria. I am not much of a 'city girl' so these were things that made the trip not so enjoyable, but I tried to soak up the culture as much as I could, and I made a list of 'things to see and do' on a return trip with my husband.

The R and R day was Thursday of a very long week, and I really enjoyed our plans for that day. Ethan Heicher from the Kokomo chapter put together a group to travel to Salem and visit that historic city and then enjoy dinner at Legal Seafood in the evening, right on Boston Harbor.

The boat trip to Salem from Boston was fantastic. The wind in my hair, water droplets hitting my face, bright warm sunshine....ahhh...bliss..especially after feeling caged in a tiny dorm room all week.



I loved the ride to Salem and back, plus we were able to view many historic and non-historic sites along the shore. Fun.



At the dock in Salem our group split, and I opted to roam the city with three ladies, total strangers to me, to check out several spots of interest. I learned quickly that their interests were a little different than mine. I wanted to see Hawthorne's Salem, the witchcraft trials, the House of Seven Gables, the cemetery where the hanged witches from The Scarlet Letter era were buried.





They had no interest in that. Witches on broomsticks, black cats and cauldrons, spiders and tarantulas..those piqued their interest instead.



After a nice lunch at a seaside restaurant (fish of course), we wandered to a Witch Museum and then parted ways.





I sat on the square for quite a while, thinking about the times of Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale. I stood at the shoreline later, waiting to board the boat for the return trip to Boston and thought how the Pilgrims must have felt as they landed in this new country, some to be burned and hung as witches. Plus I watched a group touring the city on these things:


Because we were off to check out t-shirts with witches and broomsticks and spiders on rubbery webs, I did not have time to explore the House of Seven Gables from the inside, so I will have to save that for the next trip. But I did enjoy the brief visit to Salem, and I am excited about a return trip sometime with my husband.