[Salem, day two, after noshing on Ziggy and Sons donuts.]

[Once considered as a possible domicile for our hosts.]

[I believe once a habitat for Nathaniel Hawthorne.  And I believe I could be wrong.]

[Somewhere along the way to, or in (?), Marblehead, just a few miles to the southeast of Salem.  Dick was driving the narrow colonial era streets, often one-way, and just having fun getting lost and musing, “Haven’t we been on this street before?”]

[We found water . . .]

[And the waterfront.]

[The Landing restaurant in Marblehead.]

[How New Englandy!]

[A little chilly for a dip.]

[Redd’s Pond in Marblehead.  Just over the “ridge” on the right side is the ocean.  Wilmot Redd was a victim of the 1692 Salem witch trials.]

[Or why the Northeast is doing so well in the Men’s and Women’s Frozen Fours.]

[Trying to wend our way out of Marblehead.]

[Marblehead]

[Over the bridge north to Beverly where Dick and I lunched at the local hotspot, the Depot Diner, where we had an appropriate wait that was worth it.]

[Back “home” to our place in Salem.]

[Day 3, the supervisor with “Grouchie” McMullen.]

[We decided as older people that it was a long climb up to their condo, but we could get down quickly merely by falling.]

[And witches!  Don’t forget the witches!]

[Dick and the supervisor peruse the headstones.  Yes, it was still uncomfortably cold.]

[Must have been a vampire on the left – a stake through the heart?]

[Spooky!]

[Creepy!]

[A witch (?).  There were a circle of these markers in the cemetery – 1692 was the epicenter of the witch hangings.  And these folks came to America to escape the religious persecution in Europe?]

[Distant relatives leaving flowers?]

[They got warlocks (?), too.  Though it’s likely he tried to save women in his family by refusing to turn them as witches while more and more stones were placed on his body.]

To clarify one point in your blog’s narrative about Salem – Gile Corey (your “warlock”) wasn’t really protecting his wife in being crushed.   In fact when she was first accused, he believed she might be a witch because all the respectable judges couldn’t be wrong.  I believe his wife was hung.  But then when he was accused, he began to figure it out.  He was crushed to death because he wouldn’t confess.  Of course, if he had confessed, he probably would have been hung and consequently would have
lost his property so his children couldn’t inherit.  So he was crushed without confessing and his children were able to inherit his property.  Most people who had stones put on their chests usually confessed. ~ Rose

[R.I.P., Harry Potter kin.]

[Witch alley – well, for commercial purposes.]

[As I understand it, only non-Red Sox fans are persecuted these days . . . 😉 ]

[Leaving Salem for a day trip West . . .]

[Past what once was the city jail – but is now a restaurant.  We will return here!  😉 ]

[To a glimpse of my personal history.  Joshua Eaton School, Reading, Massachusetts, where I matriculated for the 1956-57 school year, a/k/a, my 4th grade.  My first visit back since then!]

[Where we lived that year.]

[186 Summer Avenue, about 1/2 mile down the road to the school.]

[It’s on The National Register of Historic Buildings (internet photo, and below).]

[Along with the Little Red School House, in the vicinity of . . .]

[The grist mill, as part of . . .]

[OK, I already said that . . .]

[Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury.]

[A closer up of the photo above this photo.]

[Where we went for lunch . . .]

[Because life is always about the next meal.]

[Yup, we’re officially here now.]

[Not bad for a place built in 1716.  Why yes, it is America’s oldest still operating inn!]

[Rose is trying to figure out the famous “leaning candle.”  OK, I made that up.]

[Hi!]

[Ole Henry Wadsworth himself.]

[18th century jogging attire.]

[Serta perfect sleeper mattresses?]

[For goodness sakes, let’s eat!]

[Table 3?]

[I want Table 4!]

[Finally!  The supervisor, adventurer that she is, ordered the “Coow Woow,” which is, of course, America’s first cocktail, consisting of white rum and ginger brandy over ice.  I thought I was “local enough” with a Sam Adams.]

[Then, due to miniscule mid-week, mid-day, cold weather patronage, we were given a private double secret probation tour of the little-known haunted bedrooms in the place.  Eerie!]

[I feel the presence of ghosts!  Or, more likely, a draft.  We had some kind of geographic connection with our tour guide – she may have been Minnesotan?]

[Messages left by, or for (?), the ghosts in the rafters.]

[The Little Red School House]

[Then it was on to Concord, and Walden Pond.  The supervisor does a little window peeping in Thoreau’s replica home there.]

[They moved his original place someplace else?]

[Henry David himself.  We heard he moved to Walden Pond because it had WiFi.]

[Where we were.]

[This is Walden Pond.  I believe it could qualify as a lake.]

[The ladies looking for the path less taken (oh yeah, that was Frost).]

[Walden Pond beach – expansive enough to discourage skinny-dipping.]

[People were skating.]

[Goodbye, Henry!]

[Back home to Salem and the jailhouse restaurant, the Great Escape (more later).]

[Another Hawthorne abode?]

Up next, the next day in Salem.

Good memories of long ago! The family and I visited Lexington, Concord and ate at the Wayside Inn when Beth was maybe 9. The vacation was by van and lasted long enough that we started Camp Brosius the next year! We also vs. Claire Barker family in suburbs of Boston and a friend of Lyle’s from high school in New Hampshire. I still remember the hanging chickens on the old north side markets!  ~ Rita