Jan's Musings: Friday November 3 (Salem)

It dawned another lovely day but early this afternoon the clouds came over and we actually had some rain, lol!! I had a lazy morning and then showered before getting ready for my outing.

I am so lucky again, Mindy Starr picked me up from my hotel and took me to visit Salem. We called in at her apartment briefly and I met her Persian tuxie, Nestle (I borrowed the photo, lol). It rained very hard for a short time and we followed the clouds to Salem.

We parked up and walked the Main Street and then decided to eat at a restaurant, Rockafellas. that used to be a bank! There is a table in the vault but there is only room for one, lol! It was so mild, we ate outside, I ordeered the ribs and they were cooked to perfection.

After diinner, we wandered over the road for some photos with Bewitched, then we walked down to the water, passing some interesting sights along the way.

There are many small shops related to Witches, spells and other paraphenalia as well as cafes and restaurants. The full moon was gorgeous in all its glory as by this time the clouds had cleared away.

We saw the only original house from the time although it has been moved from its original site. We walked past the cemetery where many of the people who were hanged are buried.

By this time we had followed or passed many people on the walking tours, there are still quite a few people on these.

Beside the cemetery there is a house that Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in, he married into the Peabody family and one of the sisters was very involved in bringng public education into the US.

Hawthorne wrote several books, including one based around Grimshawe House, it is called Dr Grimshawe's Secret.

We then passed by the Salem Witch Trial Memorial, each stone bench has the name of one of the people who were hanged etched on it. The one in the photo says: Samuel Wardwell Hanged Seot 22 1692.

Back to the car we went and our final stop was at ‘Far From the Tree’ where we tasted four of their brews of cider: BOG (Cranberry), Apple of my Chai, Macachusets (crisp apple) and Cherry Dive. They were quite tasty!

Mindy returned me to my hotel then headed home. It was a lovely afternoon/evening and a big thank you goes out to Mindy for driving me round and showing me Salem.