| Check out our free interactive Salem vacation guide and discover Salem's biggest attractions, best restaurants and much more. If you've visited Salem before tell us your vacation tips and help other travellers enjoy great vacations in Salem. |
| Salem was settled in 1626, and although it was at one stage an international hub of merchant shipping, it became notorious for the infamous witchcraft trials in 1692, when prejudice and hysteria brought about the deaths of 20 people. Today Salem cashes in on its notoriety and promotes its association with witchcraft as a tourism tool.
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Peabody Essex Museum - East India Sq, the collections and artefacts in this museum cover the 400 years of the seaport, including the witch trials. Informative and entertaining, the museums displays of the many strange curiosities brought back by sea captains returning from distant lands.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site - 174 Derby St., the exhibits on site here include a full-size replica of a 1797 East India merchant vessel that vanished during the 1812 war. The three-mast tall ship as been fitted with diesel engines, but other than that, is perfect reproduction of the original. A tour of the site includes the Derby House, built in 1762 as a wedding gift to Elias Hasket Derby, an influential shipping magnate. There are numerous other interesting houses and business premises on the site as well.
Salem Witch Museum - 19 1/2 Washington Sq., capitalising on its reputation as witch-hunters, the Salem Witch Museum presents some interesting, and suitably bloodcurdling, dramatisations of the trials in a half hour presentation of the trials. Accurate, well researched, and very scary, especially seeing one of the victims crushed to death by rocks piled on a board laid across his chest.
The House of the Seven Gables - 54 Turner St., there is more than one house on the grounds where the House of the Seven Gables is sited, as well as the period gardens overlooking the harbour. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s cousin house has six rooms with furniture, secret staircase, and other items mentioned in the famous novel, and the other buildings include the Retire Beckett House (1655), the Hooper-Hathaway House (1682), and a counting house (1830).
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Cappy's Seafood – 175 fort Avenue, In the town where the first ice cream cone was presented, you can enjoy some of the delectable home-made delight in Cappy’s. Also available are fried clams, fried dough, and hamburgers, obviously the good folk of Salem are not too concerned about calories and cholesterol, so go with the flow and enjoy.
Genghis Salem - 177 Fort Avenue, not only can you sit down to savour the Willows Chop-Suey sandwiches and other Chinese fare served at Genghis Salem, but if you haven’t the energy or nerve to step out at night, you can have your meal delivered by this restaurant.
Ocean View House of Pizza – Fort Avenue, What can we say, pizza, that everyday essential to good living can be enjoyed here while gazing over the ocean and imagining all those seafaring captains and their tall ships sailing in from distant horizons.
Willows Variety & Deli - 153 Fort Avenue, serving daily breakfast and lunch specials, this is a great place to stock up on other stuff as well, like toys, candy, juice, and milk. The views of the ocean are clear and uninterrupted from here.
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| Salem willows – 171-185 Fort Avenue, it is not all dark and unholy in Salem, there are also beautiful shady places by the sea, picnic areas, children’s rides, and much more in Salem Willows Amusement Park. Take a break and your kids to the park to enjoy the arcade and all the recreational facilities.
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