Salem and Boston; More than Witches & Tea
Salem, Mass is a cool town. Before I went there, I thought Salem would be only about the witch trials, but there is so much more history in this town that I wish we had stayed there longer. Salem was actually a larger and more important port than Boston at one time. Because of this great wealth in Salem, there is fabulous architecturally interesting homes to tour. In fact, there is one street, Chestnut Street, which has been declared an historic landmark--the entire street! On this street is the Phillips Memorial Trust Mansion. When Jamie and I arrived on a beautiful summer day, we ended up being the only guests on the tour! The tour guide was full of interesting stories about the family who owned the house and the local history. I love when stuff like that happens.
We stayed at the Coach House Inn which is a beautiful bed-and-breakfast. Our host put us in a two-room suite, but when I went exploring around the house the next morning, I spotted a vacant room on the third floor which felt cozier than ours. It had slanted ceilings and a little window seat with a view of the water. Our host graciously moved us to this room. The smaller room evoked a greater feeling of romance which is the whole point of a bed and breakfast! Not that we even spent much time in the room, but I just loved being able to sit in the window seat at the very top of the Inn.
We toured some of the witch history locations, but I cannot express enough how there is so much more here than witches. The museums are amazing as are the historic homes and historic villages. After a few days exploring Salem, we took the train to Boston for the day. Boston is a fun town. The people, the history, the different neighborhoods. We walked the Freedom Trail and saw Paul Revere's home, Faneuil Hall, Old North Church, the site of the Boston Massacre and many more. We also went over to the Beacon Hill neighborhood and walked through some old antique shops. As always, we were all over Boston that day. We had purchased trolley tickets which were supposed to give us unlimited hop-on/hop-off privileges all over the city. Unfortunately, we must have forgotten that the trolley stopped picking up ticket holders around 5 p.m. So when I saw the trolley driver a little after 5 p.m., I flagged him down. But he just kept on driving by, as he pointed to his watch and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, "Sorry!" I looked at Jamie and asked, "What just happened?" We were trying to get back to the Faneuil Hall area, so I asked some guys who appeared to be locals how many blocks we would have to walk. They got a good laugh at our expense when they told us it would be "about twenty blocks that way." Hardy, har, har...
We made it back to the Faneuil Hall area and had a great dinner of seafood before catching the train back to Salem. If you are planning to go to Boston, make a side trip to Salem and give yourself at least two days. We spent more time in Salem than Boston and do not regret it one bit.
