September 2, 2008 Part 2

Part 2~~~From here we ate lunch and then we went to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.. The port town of Salem was a major northeast trading point for early America. They have kept the old look and at the water are authentic 18th and 19th century wharves with historical buildings open for exploring. The only thing we knew about Salem town, Mass. was the stories we have heard of the cruel punishment and execution of the woman of the town for supposedly being witches or possessed, 19 victims lost their lives during the Witch Hunt of 1692. They have a cemetery where they have markers for each person that was executed in the town square. It has their name on it and the crime, they were not buried in the cemetery, they were put in unmarked graves elsewhere. This actually only was done for a short time, (a few months) and then it was abandoned. The town still gets a lot of attention from silly tourists like us. Sharon was more interested in the witchery than the history of the of the sailing vessels. We had fun acting up with their props as you can see in the pictures. From here we went to the Nathaniel Hawthorne's "House of 7 Gables. "(pictures) We also drove to where they made the movie "A Perfect Storm" The boat is under repair as it caught fire and the pub- restaurant in the movie was a prop made very much like the real one.(picture of sign) On our way home, we stopped at a seafood Restaurant that one of our good friends who used to live in the area told us about. They serve the largest, most tender, delicious fried clams we have ever seen or ate anywhere. They serve them with onion rings and french fries and they give you so many clams, Sharon couldn't eat all of hers, and that is a first!!! It is called " Woodman's" and if any of you ever come to Mass., you must go there.