We started
out from Mystic around 9:00am and got on I-95 headed for Salem, Massachusetts. We quickly exited Connecticut and entered
Rhode Island. Rhode Island zipped by and
in seemingly no time we were approaching Providence.
Mona was navigator and while looking at the maps she noticed that Plymouth was
only about an hour out of our way. We
decided that we’d probably never be any closer to Plymouth Rock so we did a
little rerouting and headed to the coast.
Plymouth Rock Ravillion |
Mona and the Mayflower |
Plymouth is
a quaint little town right on the coast.
It didn’t take us long to find a parking spot about 500 feet from “the
rock”. Plymouth Rock is about 6 feet by
4 feet, set under a little pavilion of columns.
Not a lot to it, but it’s pretty cool to see the rock we’ve heard about
all our lives. A little to the north of
the rock is a replica of the Mayflower which we toured. Amazing that 102 people lived on this tiny
boat for 9 weeks. Afterwards, we did the
walking tour of Plymouth….seeing the memorial park, the grist mill and several
old homes.
Witches Literally Everywhere! |
Now we
headed north on Route 3 and then on I-93 through downtown Boston. Loved the tunnel! (Well, at least I did…Mona was driving and
her story might be a little different.)
Salem was
our destination and we quickly checked into the hotel and began our walking
tour. This city is typical of the other
seaports we’ve seen, but with a decidedly different twist. Witches. Witches. Witches. Everywhere you look you see witchy things…signs, shops, museums…all
about witches. We walked through much of
the downtown area, visiting a couple of witch shops and two museums. We learned how the witch frenzy was
widespread throughout New England back in 1692 …over 150 arrested for witchcraft. Twenty humans were executed, all in Salem,
and three dogs were tortured and executed as familiars.
At 8 PM we
joined the Ghost Tour of Salem. Our
guide walked us through the dark streets to points of interest including cemeteries
and homes where murders had occurred.
There was also a stop at a church where they had built an addition to
the church on top of a cemetery. They
took the headstones and incorporated them into the interior masonry of the
church walls. The tour ended up with a
visit to the home where Captain John White was murdered in 1830. This murder story and the home served as the
basis for the game of Clue and the lead pipe and the knife were actually the
murder weapons!
The Home that Inspired Clue |
We took lots
of pictures on the tour, hoping to catch an orb or apparition…..no such
luck! However, many people have seen
such things on their tours and some of their pictures are posted on the Ghost
Tours site. Feel free to check them out: http://www.salemghosttours.com/apps/photos/
Salem is interesting,(and it's amazing how bloodthirsty the early colonists were) but it’s time to move on. Maine is our
next destination…..just not sure where in Maine. We’ll find out tomorrow!
That sounds really cool. Would love to visit salem. Never thought about it until now. :-) is that the actual mayflower or a replica ?
ReplyDeleteThe original Mayflower disappeared from historical records around 1624. The Mayflower II was built in England and sailed to Plymouth in 1957. It is a close a match as possible, with only a few modifications to make it legal and to make it usable for tours.
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