voss adventures: Salem, Mass; and Concord, NH

We had a fun day exploring historic Salem, Mass. on Friday. It is about 70 miles south of us.
The area had a carnival atmosphere, with lots of wax museums, witch related museums and “horror” houses

We did not go to the Peabody Essex Museum, the oldest continual museum, dating back to 1799, because we were told we could easily spend all day there and wanted to see as much as possible! It has a diverse collection of objects from all over the world. in 1825, the East India Marine Society as it was called, moved into its own bulding, the East India Marine Hall which today has the original display cases and some of the very first objects collected. Hope to see it some day....on another visit to the area!

We attended a re-enactment of a witch pre-trial, complete with the arrest in the street,

the proceedings in the old town hall,

and the vote of the congregation.... us! The vote was 92-56 there was not enough evidence to hold her over for trial.

The accusers were represented by chairs with the names of the five young girls who accused many of the women accused of being witches.

In the local “burying point”, or grave yard, the judge that presided over the cases during the year 1692, John Hathorne, and many of his family, are buried there. It is the oldest cemetery in Salem

There is a memorial beside the grave yard to honor the 20 wrongfully hung between
June 10, 1692 and

September 22, 1692

A great great grandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, added the "w" to his name to distance himself from the ancestor. He is the famous author of Scarlet Letter and House of the Seven Gables, owned by a cousin, which we toured.

At the house site, the home where he was born and lived for four years has been moved to the site as well, when his father died at sea.

The surrounding neighborhood had some great old homes

In the eighteenth century, about a fourth of the women became widows, since many ships did not return from sea. The Brookhouse was gifted to help women in 1861.

Views of the bay were beautiful..... peaceful now, not the bustling port it was back in the days when ships were coming and going constantly.

Mansions were built along the wharf

along with stores.

The counting house was right on the wharf, with a storehouse in back. This is the site where Hawthorne wrote Scarlet Letter.

Not only is this place the coffee house gathering place prior to the Revolutionary War, it is a popular local restaurant today.

This is where we had lobster ravioli for lunch.....to die for!!!! Last weekend we had lobster roll. This IS lobster country. And both of us were still at our lowest level, weight-wise this morning!

On Saturday, Paul wanted to catch up on some maintenance issues on the RV and to prepare for giving a devotion on Sunday morning, so we stayed home. There was a group of students here, and the camp was shorthanded, so I helped out for a few hours, and then on Sunday morning we both helped out with the breakfast. It really was fun working!

Sunday after church here at the camp, we went north to try out a restaurant one of the other MMAPers recommended, then “meandered” through the colorful roads of New Hampshire.