Welcome to Salem

There seems to be just one thing that Salem, MA is known for, The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, as for you theatre fanatics you may know it better as The Crucible. Oddly, Salem is one of the very few towns on this trip that I have previously been to. But if you think that’s stranger, what gets stranger is that Rebecca Nurse (one of the first “witches” hanged, and a leading character in The Crucible) is something along the lines of my 8th or 9th great grandmother. I vaguely remember being here when I was maybe 13 or 14 years old to visit my uncle who lives nearby. We visited the Rebecca Nurse homestead and I remember cheesy tourist stores selling anything related to witches. One memory I have (and I’m not joking!) is that on our way out of town I remember we all saw a cloud that was in the shape of the stereotypical witch head, long nose, pointy hat, etc. Scary!

Salem is a bigger town that I remember from 10 years ago. Here I’m staying with best friends of one of my friends and favorite professors. Art and Melanie have lived here in Salem for only four years and are situated in a condo on one of the main drags. Art is a minister and Melanie is a preschool teacher. Oops! Sorry for going down the one-way street the wrong way Melanie! But hey, I’m new in town, didn’t see the sign.

It will be just two nights here in Salem before heading closer to Boston and meeting up with some more supporters who found my story in the recent magazine article. Hopefully I can catch the Boston Pops and big fireworks show in Boston over the Charles River. And maybe a game at Fenway? I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

And thanks to a visit to the Peabody Essex Museum I think I have a new favorite artist on my list, Joseph Cornell.