827. Salem, Essex County (MA01)

Oh, Massachusetts!

I can’t not note how ironic it is that the site of the Salem Witch Trials would become America’s Witch City.  As we pulled into town, I wondered if there would be a lot of witch stuff about, considering it was the beginning of the Halloween season.  I thought there would be some, but not a ton.  Halloween was a month away, after all. 

I was wrong by at least a couple of orders of magnitude.  The witch hats were everywhere.  The pumpkin-styled clothing was on point.  My favorite was the (I assume) guy wearing a demon mask, clawed gloves, and cloven hooves, walking down the street in a suit with a coffee mug in one hand and a newspaper under his arm.  He raised his cup to me in greeting as he walked by, and I nodded back.  Keeping it weird, thy name is Salem.  But, for me, the real excitement was the courthouses!  And yes, that’s plural!

You see, I photographed the 1909 courthouse, which is still in use for county functions.  Next to the courthouse on the left was the most current courthouse, completed in 2011.  It was acceptable, but I neglected to photograph it.  I would have chosen the 1909 courthouse for aesthetic reasons, anyway.  More importantly, to the right was the 1862 courthouse!  And farther to the right was the 1841 courthouse!  Oh, happy day!  Callooh!  Callay!  I had no idea that I would be on a courthouse row or that such a thing was even … a thing!  But that was not the most important thing for us to do in Salem (for me, perhaps, but not for everyone).

Add to that the fact that I passed the spot where the courthouse was during the Witch Trials themselves!

The moment we arrived, Godot jumped out of the car to start working the twelve-stage Whereigo, Witch City Tour, with others eventually catching up with him towards the end.  Some of us spent some time enjoying the witchy tourist opportunities.  Razorbackgirl and I went off to find a few other caches, including the Mystery cache, which called itself the Witch City mini tour.  

We saw Roger Conant and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  We visited a witch museum and a plethora of fun little holes-in-the-wall offering entertainment and the opportunity to be separated from our hard-earned lucre.  As much fun as we had combing the streets of Salem, I made a horrid mistake that I would never forgive myself for (until the next morning when I woke up at home).  We passed by a graveyard, and I missed a chance to add another celebrity grave to my list—specifically the man, myth, and legend Giles “More Weight” Corey.  But it didn’t matter in the greater scheme of things.  What mattered was that we all had fun. Even courthouse-obsessed me!  And once we had bought gifts, lattes, and souvenirs, we were on the move again.  Time was ticking down until we had to catch our flight. Though Salem was actually the highly anticipated penultimate stop of our trip, for my sake we still had to make a quick stop in…